Interview with James Hoefler

I am a free-lance designer. My studio is my basement workshop.

The word design means SMART to me. The concept of SMART means making things that improve people’s lives, making life easier and more enjoyable to live.

I like making things that have the broadest possible appeal; things that anyone can use or operate; things that people have fun operating and working with.

My favorite design is the one I have been working on for this competition, going on two years now. It meets all the criteria I have for SMART.

XoomRooms is my first foray into the official design world.

Wood rocks. You can do so much with it.

I feel most creative when I am driving and falling asleep.

Utility is key. If it is not useful to the broad public, it has little interest for me.

I feel lots of stimulation when I design, spiced with moments of exhilaration, and of course counterbalanced with the occasional moments of despair. The exhilaration always wins, though, and makes the despair worthwhile.

Exhilaration is the word. There is no feeling quite like it in the world.

Design is successful when it works in the hands of others.

I go back to utility. Form is nice, but function is the key.

Designers should endeavor to make the world a better place, in the long run. To bring joy to as many as possible, while minimizing the seen and unseen costs to the planet now, and for future generations.

Design is being democratized, opened to a whole new world of uncredentialed makers. It is a very exhilarating and democratizing trend.

I have never held and exhibit. I am really just getting started at my advanced age (58).

Creativity and inspiration springs from need. Need, being the mother of invention, is what inspires me to problem solve, and that’s really what design is all about.

Clean and simple as possible are the best ways to characterize my design aesthetic. It was once said that a theory should be as simple as possible, but not simpler. Likewise, a design should be a simple as can be, but no simpler.

I live in the United States, but find geographic location provides no particular advantage or disadvantage. I have taken inspiration from all over the world, and sourced things I have used in my design from all over the world. The internet makes this all possible and I am quite sure I would never be where I am with design without this essential window on the world.

I work collaboratively with the companies I have partnered with, and I listen a great deal to what they tell me.

Push, push, push. Praise is nice, but better to wrap that in suggestions for improvement. I would not be where I am today without helpful and thoughtful critique of those I have worked with

Much of what I know and use these days is self-taught and the product of much trail-and-error experimentation (lots of trials, lots of errors!). I have always loved design and always have something in mind for my next great idea, so forward thinking is also an essential element of my work ethic.

ShopSmith table saw and drill press (35 years old); iPhone; iPad; Rav4 (a beautifully designed car, for the most part), and the micrometer my dad used when he was first getting started as a machinist. I have used it more times in the last year than I have in my whole life.

I teach political science at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, so being a professor at a small liberal arts college takes up most of my working day. I do most of my design at nights, on weekends, and when traveling.

I heard an architectural professor telling a story about a student whose design for an infill project was totally bizarre. He asked the student what he was thinking and the student said he wanted to make something really DIFFERENT. The professor suggested that me make something really GOOD and worry later about whether it was different or not.

It is all good. I do not see a down side to the wonderful world of design.

Make it useful.

Sensitivity. A sensitive designer will sense need and a useful way to meet that need. A sensitive designer will also have good ears, to absorb feedback, and good eyes, to see what works well and what does not.

My eyes are my best tools. I am always looking, always watching, always trying to see things as they are, and as they are used.

I do most of my design in what would otherwise be down time, while driving, sitting in airports, and as I fall asleep at night.

I don’t think design ever ends, so it makes no sense to put a time frame on it. Time frames suggest that perfection is possible, and I just do not think that is true.

Where do your ideas come from. I always say that my ideas come from looking around and being sensitive to the world around me. If you look hard and listen carefully, design inspirations will beckon.

Living in Copenhagen, where design is in the air, was perhaps the most important job experience I have had to date.

I don not have any clients yet, but I am still young.

I like the kinds of design work that can help people live more enjoyable and productive lives.

I have many ideas that will spin off the current XoomRooms concept, and so I have enough here to keep me busy for several years.

I design solo, but always test my design ideas with others. I have had some pretty bad ideas, and thankfully others have told me so and go me back on the right path.

I have several iterations of the XoomRooms idea that I am working on; smaller ideas that may actually have a bigger impact when all is said and done.

Email is best: XoomRooms@gmail.com

A big thank you to Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA), the Danish Institute for Study Abroad (Copenhagen), Northway Industries (Middleburg, PA), and Hafele America Co (Archdale, NC). All these institutions helped me in one way or another.