Hasta La Ideas

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pemIn this post, our second in the series a href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/dogs_on_design_raleigh_pop_interviews_russell_flinchum_16110.asp”Dogs on Design/a, design critic and dog owner Sarah F. Cox met with Design Director of a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/”NYTimes.com/a, Khoi Vinh, to walk his dog while discussing the ever-changing business of design at the Times. Sarah’s dog Raleigh, was disappointed to be left at home to work on her blog, a href=”http://raleighpop.wordpress.com/”Raleigh Pop/a.br /
/em/p

pIt’s 8:15 on an April Saturday morning. A bespectacled, lanky man with black hair in jeans and a jacket trails his dog down the path from the parking lot to the central grassy area of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, NY. Every day before 9:00 am dogs are allowed off leash, and no matter the pack-leader dynamics at home, it is the time of day that dogs lead and humans follow. In this case, it is a black lab mix that is dragging the Design Director of a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/”NYTimes.com/a./p

pKhoi Vinh and his dog, Mr. President, have been together since December 2002, when Khoi brought him home from the Newark Humane Society in New Jersey. Selected because he was not barking like the other shelter dogs, even today Mr. President displays a calm self-assuredness that fits with his name, picked out prior to his adoption. The sleek all-black dog has been known to shun affection and may seem a bit haughty or self-important. But these days, his owner is appreciating that he isn’t needy; Khoi has a new human baby at home vying for his attention. At seven years old, Mr. President is often cat-like, content to sit on the couch and watch the humans. /p

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pOn this early morning walk, it’s apparent that Khoi is still adjusting to the interrupted nights of new parenthood. Coupled with the demands of the job, Khoi certainly has a lot on his mind, but he doesn’t volunteer it. As his friend for over six years, design writer a href=”http://www.printmag.com/dailyheller/”Steven Heller/a told me, “Khoi is a man of no wasted words.” You might say he is efficient with them, and it is this efficiency that is needed on the job./p

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pFor a man spending his days in the Renzo Piano-designed Times headquarters, time does not run on a news cycle. Unlike a paper’s art director, Khoi works on the platform of the website and its long-term enhancements. As he explains, “My job is not to design. It is to create the conditions under which good design happens,” meaning that he goes to a lot of meetings. He became Design Director in 2006, and while he began his career as a graphic designer for print, he’s been web-focused since 1998, the year he moved to New York. /pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/business/_dogs_on_design_at_the_dog_park_with_khoi_vinh_and_mr_president_16622.asp”(more…)/a
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