Design history: Barry Katz

- [Narrator] This is an audio course. Thank you for listening. (soft music) - [Barry] The role of the designer has shifted from stylist to coordinator, and I think the same general point could be made about some of the most progressive companies in the world that consider themselves to be design-led. It's not that they take styling more important than they used to, it's that the role of the designer has fundamentally changed. (bright music) - [Instructor] I'll bet you don't know where the term interaction design comes from, but Barry Katz does. Katz's book, "Make it New," captures the lost history of digital design that should be required reading for all in the software design industry. I first got to know Barry Katz as a professor at Stanford during my undergraduate education in product design where he taught one of my favorite classes, the history and philosophy of design. Now, typically, I was drawn toward the more project based classes where I got to spend late nights in the machine shop getting covered in metal chips and coolant, making things, but Barry's humor and knowledge of the depths of design history brought the academic side of design to life for me. In our conversation with Barry, we learned when exactly design became an essential part of technology businesses, and the origin story behind some of the challenges designers commonly have with engineering teams. This is an eye-opening episode. Let's dive in. (bright music continues)