BRYONY GOMEZ-PALACIO AND ARMIN VIT
underconsideration (speak up and the design encyclopedia), brooklyn, n.y.
LENGTH OF RELATIONSHIP: 9+ YEARS
Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit met at midnight in Mexico
City at a nightclub called the Museum. She gave him a lift home,
they chatted until dawn, and he tried to kiss her. “I turned away
and sealed our fate,” she says.
A self-described design nerd, Vit says their most unusual quality
is the language they share. “We speak in a horrible Spanglish
that sends shivers down both of our parents’ spines and linguists
around the world,” he says.
Chores are pretty much split down the center. “I do the cooking
and he does the washing,” says Gomez-Palacio. Their two cats
are their children. “I love them dearly until it is time to deal with
the litter box,” she says. As for Vit, he says, “I feel like a horrible
parent when I have lots to do and say to our cats, ‘not now.’”
Neither can distinguish between work and fun, although they
do take time off to have dinners with friends and wander the city.
During the work week, both have different professional gigs.
Vit is a senior designer at Pentagram’s New York office and Gomez-
Palacio is currently freelancing out of the couple’s basement. That
leaves evenings and weekends for the popular design destination
underconsideration.com/speakup, dedicated to all things related to
the graphic design profession and its inhabitants. Its primary purpose
is to question, analyze, and agitate graphic design and its practitioners.
They are especially proud of The Design Encyclopedia, a
wiki-based, user-built encyclopedia devoted to design. “We worked
very hard together in bringing that thing to life and we are both
very invested in seeing it grow,” says Vit. Planning the show for the
Cooper-Hewitt Triennial is another favorite project they share.
“There is something magical in achieving a dynamic choreography
as you work and challenge what each other is doing in order
to attain a higher goal,” says Gomez-Palacio.
“I’m a control freak and I like to design things the way I like.
And so is Bryony,” Vit explains. “If you manage to strike a good
balance, the relationship can only be stronger. Sharing business
successes and failures together makes for a great bond.”
www.underconsideration.com/speakup | www.thedesignencyclopedia.org
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