Heinz Klinkon: Design for the Monkey
It's hard to believe that it's been over a year, now. Back in January 27, 2008, we lost a great man. Heinz Klinkon was the canon of design professors. With his brilliant analogies of food to typography and his constant push for bigger and better thinking, he led most thoughtful and inspired classes of design students at Rochester Institute of Technology. He had quite the following through the many years he taught. If you look hard enough in Building 7, you might still find a "Heinz has a posse" sticker slapped on a wall. Teaching throughout the majority of his battle with multiple myeloma, he showed his tremendous heart for his students. Only reaching the age of 65, the man left quite the legend.
“When I walk into the room and there is a monkey on my shoulder you say, ‘Heinz, there is a monkey on your shoulder!’ What does he look like? What is he wearing? Is he dressed like me? Do you dress your type to match your idea? Do they match? Or is the monkey wearing one thing and I am wearing another? Design for the monkey.”
This quote of his sparked quite a bit of discussion. It was the basis of a Facebook group created by Alex Cheek, Heinz's former T.A., before Heinz had passed. This later served as a place for people to share memories of Heinz. Our AIGA RIT Student Group with some help of other fellow students, faculty and a few alums made a memorial of Heinz in which we all made monkeys as a playful way to remember him. We even found a monkey Heinz had drawn.
Posted by newyorkupstate in News | February 12, 2009
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Comments (4)
Thanks for the post Paul.
I shared an office with Heinz for 5 years. It was the best conversations I ever had about design while teaching.
Posted by: mydarndest on February 13, 2009
That doesn't surprise me. He's probably the most quoted professor that I know of.
Posted by: paulstonier on February 13, 2009
i miss him everyday. he is the reason i make what i make. he influenced so many of us in such a profound way. and encouraged us to be us.
Posted by: nicole on March 27, 2009
The passion and directness Heinz brought cut through any theories and made design personal. I miss him personally but am still inspired by his spirit. This year, Kacie Desmond, an RIT senior design student of Lorrie Frear's has made it her project to memorialize Heinz. A testament.
Posted by: cathy on October 29, 2009
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