Ralph Caplan

Ralph Caplan is a writer and communications consultant and lectures on design. He is the former editor-in-chief of I.D. Magazine and the author of several books including By Design: Why There Are No Locks on the Bathroom Doors in the Hotel Louis XIV and Other Object Lessons, Cracking the Whip: Essays on Design and its Side Effects and The Design of Herman Miller. Caplan is an Emeritus Board Member for the International Design Conference in Aspen. An honorary member of the Industrial Designers Society of America, he is the 2010 recipient of the “Design Mind” National Design Award.

In this audio interview with Debbie Millman, Ralph Caplan discusses being kicked out of high school, working for Industrial Design, the difference between making things right as a designer as opposed to making things nice, branding, the civil rights movement, fashion, obsolescence, and the responsibility of the designer.