Interview with Yours Truly on CranbrookDesign.com

College view book cover I designed for The Boston Conservatory

I was honored when my friend Arjen Noordeman of Elasticbrand recently asked for an interview with me for the Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni site he runs. I talk about my professional design work, my work as a design educator, my painting practice, my yoga practice, and my love of the outdoors (whew! that’s a lot!)... An excerpt is posted below... Check out the entire interview at CranbrookDesign.com. Thanks, Arjen!

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Arjen Noordeman: 1. Over the past ten years you have been involved with teaching at the college level, is this something you purposely chose to do, in addition to working as a designer, right out of Cranbrook?

Danielle Foushee: It sort-of happened by accident. About a year out of Cranbrook, I got a call from Denise Gonzales-Crisp, who was teaching at Art Center at the time, to sub for her class one day. I had a great experience with the students and was asked to teach a full class the following term. I think I was younger than half the students in the class, which gave me the opportunity to cultivate a certain kind of collaborative, cooperative environment that I have tried to maintain as I’ve gotten older.

AN: 2. Has being an educator and a mentor to young designers influenced your outlook on the profession in particular ways over the years?

DF: My thesis at Cranbrook was all about the emotional connection between our thoughts and our actions, and that is still my main motivation eleven (!) years later. If graphic design is primarily about persuasion, then we have to know how to get the audience to act on our messages. We have to understand the audience’s emotional motivations. I think emotion trumps reason every time, so my work always comes from that point of view.
The interesting thing about this is that I’ve found it to be true with my professional design practice and also when I design projects for students. If students can’t find some reason to buy in on a personal level, they won’t have the most rewarding learning experience in the classroom. Almost all the projects I assign give students flexibility to tailor the assignments to their own personal story. In my professional work, I also try to open up a space where my audience can situate themselves personally into the story I’m telling/selling.

Click HERE to read the entire interview.