Pioneers: Loretta Staples

Notion Pioneers
27 Jan 202241:53

Summary

TLDRIn this episode of 'Tools and Craft', host Devin interviews Loretta Staples, a multifaceted professional with a background spanning textile curation, software design, graphic design, academia, and therapy. Loretta reflects on her early experiences with design tools like Adobe Illustrator and HyperCard, emphasizing their role in prototyping and interface design. She discusses the shift in her career from design to therapy, driven by a desire to explore beyond problem-solving to value-making and cultural critique. The conversation delves into the impact of the internet on design, the challenges of working with emerging technologies, and the importance of holding space for difficult conversations amidst crises.

Takeaways

  • 🌟 Loretta Staples has had a diverse career, including roles as a textile curator, software designer, graphic designer, professor, co-founder of Yale's Buddhist chaplaincy, painter, and therapist.
  • 👩‍💻 She has experience in various settings such as corporate environments like Apple, her own design studio, a self-run therapy practice, academia, and more.
  • 🎨 Loretta's first encounter with Photoshop was in the late 80s or early 90s, but she found Adobe Illustrator more memorable due to its innovative approach to geometry construction.
  • 🔧 In the late 80s, she used tools like HyperCard and ResEdit for prototyping interactions, which were crucial before the advent of the web.
  • 📺 Loretta worked on interactive TV prototypes for Paramount Viacom, which involved merging computer interfaces with TV, dealing with technical and corporate culture differences.
  • 🛠️ She discussed the technical and design challenges of creating a user interface for a set-top box that would allow for interactive TV experiences, including menu organization and remote control design.
  • 🏠 Loretta's interest in design was sparked by her childhood experiences with different cultures and materials, and she pursued graphic design as a form of communication and empowerment.
  • 🌱 She views design as a form of cultural practice, critiquing and expressing values through the objects and environments she helped create.
  • 💡 The rise of the internet and the shift towards a more mainstream and trendy field of design led Loretta to leave the industry, as she preferred working in more obscure areas.
  • 🌐 Despite initially dismissing the potential of the web, she later acknowledged its power and the importance of the internet in transforming various fields.
  • 💬 Loretta sees the current focus on image and self-representation in society as unhealthy, advocating for a more balanced approach to design and technology.

Q & A

  • What was Loretta Staples' first encounter with Adobe Photoshop like?

    -Loretta Staples first encountered Adobe Photoshop in the late 80s or early 90s. She found it conceptually interesting and elegant, particularly how it worked with control points and handles for constructing geometry, which was a radically different approach compared to traditional drafting tools.

  • Which tool did Loretta Staples find more impactful in her early career?

    -Loretta Staples found Adobe Illustrator more impactful in her early career due to its innovative approach to drawing geometry with control points and handles, which was a significant departure from traditional design tools.

  • What was Loretta's background before entering the field of interface design?

    -Loretta had a background in art history and graphic design, which was somewhat uncommon in the early days of interface design, as most people in the field were from computer science and technical backgrounds.

  • How did HyperCard play a role in Loretta's work?

    -HyperCard was a seminal tool for Loretta as it allowed her to prototype interactions. It had a scripting language built-in, which was used for early prototyping and scripting interactions in a time when the web did not exist yet.

  • What was Loretta's perspective on the emergence of the term 'experience design'?

    -Loretta wrote an unpublished essay called 'Are You Experienced', referring to the emergence of the term 'experience design'. She noted that in the late 80s, interface design or GUI was pursued mostly by people in computer science and technical fields.

  • How did Loretta's work in interactive TV prototypes differ from traditional design work?

    -Loretta's work in interactive TV prototypes involved dealing with technical, political, and creative complexities. It was about creating an interactive, on-demand interface that combined the worlds of television and computer technology, which was a novel concept at the time.

  • What was unique about the interactive TV project Loretta worked on?

    -The interactive TV project was unique because it required blending two different corporate cultures and technical systems – the TV executive and cable infrastructure world, and the computer world. It also involved creating an interface that was not yet common, with challenges like menu organization and remote control design.

  • What was Loretta's approach to design in terms of cultural critique?

    -Loretta viewed design as a form of cultural literacy and critique. She believed that by giving form to something, designers inscribe cultural values. Her interest in design was also tied to the idea of value making and expressing through the built environment.

  • Why did Loretta Staples eventually leave the field of design?

    -Loretta left the field of design because she felt she had reached the limit of her engagement with problem-solving, which she felt was the core of design. She wanted to move into a space where she could create and explore rather than just solve problems, leading her to painting and later therapy.

  • What did Loretta Staples find challenging about explaining new concepts like hierarchical menus to executives?

    -Loretta found it challenging to explain new concepts like hierarchical menus to executives because these ideas were foreign and strange to them. She had to describe the implications for pricing and organization without the executives having a clear understanding of what menus or digital interfaces entailed.

  • How did Loretta's childhood experiences with different cultures influence her interest in design?

    -Loretta's childhood experiences with different cultures, through her family's military background and living in Germany, exposed her to diverse design aesthetics. She noticed differences in toys and products from different countries, which sparked her interest in how design shapes cultural values and expressions.

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Related Tags
Loretta StaplesTextile CuratorSoftware DesignGraphic DesignTherapy PracticeYale ChaplaincyDesign CultureUser InterfacePrototypingHypercardInteractive TV