this throws me off.

this post shows up in SU but...

i've never heard of John Rheinfrank. looking at the company's website i feel like i should know him. like so many others that i should know, or at least have heard of. i feel sad for his family, but hope they have spent some good times together.

not knowing him and no anecdotes to contribute, i'm not sure if it makes sense to post, but then at the same time i feel like i have to.

another reminder that life is short.

make sure to enjoy it as much as you can. remember there is more than logos and taglines. good weekend everone.

Though I didn't know John personally very well (I had a few brief conversations with him at conferences), his work was extrememly influential on my own thinking about design. In fact, if not for John, I may never have returned to calling myself a designer.

Though I studied graphic design and filmmaking while a student, for several years I considered the work I was doing professionally -- consulting to companies about how to create and use software and multimedia systems to accomplish strategic and operational objectives -- to be something like "technology strategy", or even engineering or systems development. The work of a few people, John prominently among them, helped me consider my work in a new context (for example, through his chapter on design languages in Terry Winograd's Bringing Design to Software), and to reconnect it with the career I first imagined for myself at ten years old.

John helped me see that what I was doing was designing, expanding and at the same time clarifying what I understood about design, about dealing creatively with problem situations, about form and language. So, in that way, I owe much of my still-evolving career in design to him.

It is truly a great loss that John has passed from this world. Thankfully, at least a small part of his spirit, his wisdom, and his passion for the life- and world-changing power of design will live on in the remarkably large number of us that he influenced. It's a legacy I aspire to live up to.

Peter, yes, this is not a common post on Speak Up. Hugh was looking for an outlet to remember John Rheinfrank and through Design Observer we got in touch and I offered to post it. While I wasn't familiar with Rheinfrank either I was fascinated by all he has done. Which is why I thought that for those of us who did not know of him now would be a good time to do so — aside from the unfortunate circumstances.

Hopefully this will serve those who knew John as well as those who didn't.

Having lost my own father in April to cancer, I can only imagine the pain and grief having lost a man who left such a legacy. I did not know John, nor his work until now, and in some ways I am very sorry for this.

Not that it was by any means done on purpose, but it's clear that the work of John and Shelley far surpasses anything I've done in my life (as a designer) but certainly intrigues and inspires me to look even further beyond that which I already know.

In a moment of selfishness, when I first read this post, I first thought of my own loss. Now that I know a little bit more about John and his work, I can at least feel a little of the loss his friends and family are feeling. My condolences on your loss but know that your lives have been touched in many special ways.

Here is a tribute to John that I wrote for a design conference -- it may also get published. Hugh Dubberly suggested I share it with you.

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John Rheinfrank. Blame him for inflicting me upon the world of design. John and Shelley: she doesn't get off lightly either. They first headed me off at the pass when I had finished the first draft of "The Design of Everyday Things," helping me transform it from an attack on design into a study of design. From then on, John seemed to show up whenever I was about to veer into an irresponsible direction, and I can remember many long discussions (even a published interview, that he conducted), often over food.

Food. He wielded a mean knife, and I still recall the wonderful duck that he and Shelley served Julie and me from their home in Evanston, the meat sliced thinly, on a diagonal, the duck meat rare and tasty. John proudly explaining that he would help out now and then at Trio, which for those of you not from Chicago, is one of that city's best restaurants, which makes it one of the nation's best restaurants. And when I was next at Trio, I asked about John. They seemed most impressed that I knew John. Name dropping in the restaurant business.)

Spirit. John's spirit lives on. My most recent encounter was just a few months ago when I acted as a juror for the product development class that he co-taught at Northwestern. But the strangest memory of all is when he learned that Julie and I had just purchased a new BMW station wagon, and after admiring it, he rushed off to buy the same model from the same salesperson. But, our salesperson later told us, he cancelled the order the day after that, changing it into an M3, BMW's most sporty, more powerful model. The station wagon? Well, sure, it was practical, but the M3 was something special. The M3 is a designer's car: power and acceleration of course, but more than that, a superb balance and feel, putting the driver in control. To me, it represents the qualities that John wanted in everything: autos, products, design, and for that matter, in life.

Don Norman

Palo Alto, CA

If been searching for members of my family for a time and i think john rheinfrank could be my grand uncle or something like that. Now somebody if he had children? If anyone read that who can contact me please do that!

Thanks a lot nicole

For some time I have been thinking about what happened to my old friend. I had been John's de facto adviser at The Ohio State University. He was still in the MS program at that time -- it was 1967 or 1968 and John was working for me on a project funded by the U S Army where we were building a systems model of tank-anti-tank combat so as to be able to evaluate various tank designs for the future.
The most outstanding interactions I had with him related to my evaluation of a paper he had done for me re work we were doing to design a visual detection model for the Computer simulation of tank combat. I had been very rough in my evaluation on a number of grounds including his use of terminology and logic as well as the utility of what his ideas. I was pleasantly surprised with his attitude. I remember to this day how he remained totally positive throughout our discussion. However, he blew me away the next day when he came to my office to thank me for being so honest in my evaluation of his work. I never had to repeat any criticism of his work, writing style, or thought processes ever again. I could see then that he was a purest and over the years I quietly watched from the sidelines as he went far beyond me in his professional career. I was very sad to hear that he passed. The world needs more caring and carefully intelligent people like John.
Stephen Stollmack, PHD October 2008