David Barringer

Rudy VanderLans

"Everything must come to an end, and after publishing Emigre magazine for over 21 years we're both relieved and just a little bit sad to announce that #69 will be our final issue. Inside is a look back on some great years in graphic design, while our contributors and colleagues bid us farewell. It was quite an experience. Thank you for reading Emigre."--Back cover.

Emigre: The End - #69

". . . no one has ever written about graphic design in quite this way. The title sounds more like a short story, and at times I found myself reading it as though it were a fictional exploration of a designer's consciousness. When I did, itsenergy, relentlessness, emotion, and abundance of detail made sense, as did its literary style. Barringer writes entertainingly and has a gift for intricate metaphor. . .Designers who enjoy ambitious writing will find plenty toadmire . . ." From Rick Poynor's I.D. Magazine review of "American Mutt Barks in the Yard" (Emigre; 68) By winning the 2008 Winterhouse Award for Design Writing, David Barringer firmly established himself as the freshest and most interesting writer on the subject. His articles, which have appeared in publications from Print to Emigre, are notable for his strong personal point of view, literary style, and even humor, not always attributes associated with writing about design. In this collection of essays, Barringer's first, he wonders why drug names have so many X's in them, ponders the rise of gory DVD covers, and ruminates on his father's business card collection, pythons, and the human skullproving again and again that design is everywhere you look for it, (but may not have seen) without the powerful magnifying lens of this talented and exciting observer and writer.

There's Nothing Funny About Design

If discouragement is the common cold of our emotions, then depression is the cancer. I love Jesus, I pastor a church, and I deal with bouts of depression. For years I’ve been wanting to read a book about depression not only from a Christ-centered perspective but from a leader who knew the struggle personally. It was Toni Morrison who once said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” Thus you have Speaking from the Shadows. For those who deal with depression, this is my attempt to articulate what you and I experience that others don’t understand. For those who’ve never dealt with depression, this is my endeavor to “pull back the curtain” to let you see into our world to be a support and help through shadowy times. Darkness does not discriminate, but neither does the light. So, like a lantern chasing away a shadow, my heart would be that this book would penetrate the darkness of what depression has been doing and bring hope to lives, marriages, and families. It’s time to bring light to a darkness that affects over 18 million adults every year. It’s time to bring hope to a largely ignored topic that claims more lives than homicide. It’s time to normalize vulnerability. It’s time to normalize getting the professional help we need. It’s time to recognize the healing virtue that Christ brings. There is a hope. And His name is Jesus.

A Pastor’s Response to Emotional Darkness

Speaking from the Shadows

A comic novel of contemporary suburban fatherhood, American Home Life tackles the domestic, tragicomic, and futuristic (talking appliances, chore cards, I.D. chips, corporate schools, and shock bracelets that force you to lose weight). "We all have our lists of writers we love, those writers not everyone in the world knows about but should. Sometimes we keep these writers close to us and don't tell anyone. But the hell with all that. A great, talented writer deserves to be known to everyone, which is one reason why you should read the work of David Barringer."-Bob Sassone, Professor Barnhardt's Journal"Really, really excellent, highly recommended for any dad with young kids. It's written 15 minutes into the future, so there's a few places where he's talking about a certain technology, and you're like 'Wait, do we have that?' It's fun. The chapter called 'Fact' is something I want every person on the planet to read. One of my favorite chapters of all time."-Kevin Fanning, author of Jennifer Love Hewitt Times Infinity"It's not every day I find a book I love. Barringer examines a couple's playful attempt to raise two well-rounded children, while preventing them from being trapped by greed, envy and the monotony of suburban life. The book jacket calls it 'the literary equivalent of a TV sitcom,' which would make sense if sitcoms were smart, funny and addictive."-Stacy Cottrell, San Diego AIGA"Henry Doran, narrator and father in the novel, relies on his own imagination to keep daughter Lilly and son Lance engaged with the world.... It is also, finally, a novel about how to be an artist and a father at once, as Henry struggles to balance his own writing and creativity with paying bills and washing dishes and taking care of sick children... I hope I can be as imaginative a father as Henry Doran, and perhaps write about it half as well as David Barringer has."-Steven Himmer, Tawny Grammar"Edgy, funny, heartfelt, with a smidgen of George Saunders and a touch of Aimee Bender, Barringer's American Home Life is an original American confection: bittersweet, satisfying, and true."-Dave Housley, Barrelhouse"Very funny! Another David Barringer book I could not put down. I laughed out loud!"-Kristina Moriconi

American Home Life

Dan Kennedy

Ryan Boudinot

Lee Klein

Pasha Malla

Arthur Bradford

Susannah Breslin

Andrew Bomback

Elizabeth Ellen

Susan Townsend

John Leary

Dennis Dillingham

Pia Ehrhardt

Shauna McKenna

Damon Stewart

The third print issue by both literary journals - Hobart and Monkeybicycle - it features full issues by each in a flip-cover double-issue style. Hobart features stories by Andrew Bomback, Pia Ehrhardt, Elizabeth Ellen and John Leary and artwork by Andrew Feuk. Monkeybicycle features stories by David Barringer, Ryan Boudinot, Susannah Breslin, Dan Kennedy and an exquisite corpse by Arthur Bradford, Ed Page, Whitney Pastorek Shya Scanlon, Steven Seighman and Claire Zulkey.

Hobart/Monkeybicycle #3

One of our goals in publishing a design magazine is to set Emigre apart from the herd. We want to stay off the beaten path, so to speak, and seek out what lies beyond the obvious. We want to push the limits of design publishing even as we work to survive. When we noticed that, in the last few years, design publications had suddenly become oversweetened by so-called "eye candy," we decided to challenge the imagination, not just tickle the optic nerve, and focus on design writing. Today, when it comes to design writing, we are not alone. Blogs are the new order, and the order is growing. Design blogs have their virtues, of course, but blogging about design appears to be habit-forming and has become an end in itself, with the very rapid-fire, off-the-cuff nature of blogging favoring the short, the sweet, the quick, and the now. This phenomenon triggered in us a reflexive need to once again play the role of contrarian. We wanted to do something unique, something no other design magazine had ever done, something that, whatever it turned out to be, would speak to designers in a way that a blog could not. The answer came to us in the form of "American Mutt Barks in the Yard" by David Barringer. It is the longest "Dear Emigre" letter we have ever received. The author describes it as "ambitious and reckless and impassioned," but that's putting it mildly. At 34,940 words, it fills the entire 128-page issue of Emigre #68. The essay started as a simple reply to issues #65 and #66, but exploded into an indepth, critical analysis of design and advertising that only traditional book publishing can accommodate properly. While we're aware of the paradox (after all, there's nothing unique about publishing a traditional book), we have no doubt that David Barringer's essay dares to tread where few have tread before. "I offer it for publication in Emigre," wrote Barringer. "I can imagine it literally nowhere else." Neither can we.

David Barringer

Books

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