DESCRIPTION:
Diane Shaw and Kathryn Hammill, the driven pair of designers that comprise Goodesign, met as students at Parsons School of Design, New York. At first they worked independently—Hammill as a designer at Matsumoto, Nickandpaul, and Slato. & Cohen Partners, and Shaw as a designer for Tibor Kalman’s M&Co and Number 17—before it dawned on each that they might not need all of those bosses. They decided to found their multidisciplinary studio whose client roster today includes the Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx Museum of the Arts, and Robin Hood Foundation.

VOICE:
Shaw and Hammill prefer functional over fussy design. They have an aversion to pretty for pretty’s sake. “The first thing is to communicate the message as clearly as we can,” says Hammill. “Then we add things, but only if they add another layer of meaning and function.” When they’re not designing for their clients, the pair is daydreaming about the premiere product line they’ll one day launch.

DISTINCTIVE MARKINGS:
Goodesign is bold with color, hesitant to leave the grid, and the firm can’t get enough Interstate and Filosofia. They’ll also do just about anything. In the past six months, they have developed a comprehensive map system for the wildlife parks in Gabon, designed a how-to glue-gun book, and created a toe-sock collection.

HABITAT:
It all happens in a converted warehouse run by slumlords in Brooklyn’s industrial Dumbo neighborhood. Goodesign is a light- filled space with a view of a gigantic cylindrical red brick smokestack out one window, and the Manhattan Bridge out the other. It is furnished with 5 percent found or donated objects, 10 percent mid-century modern, and 85 percent Ikea.

SPOTTED BY:
Ethan Trask of Helicopter, New York: “Goodesign has a very fun sense of color and style. It’s quite impressive that they transition so smoothly from art journals to corporate branding to pillows and snowboards.”

CONTACT:
718.254.8738 | www.goodesignny.com

Written by Tiffany Meyers