The Boundaries of Design: An Eames-Inspired Creative Experiment
In 1972, a French journalist sat down with legendary designer Charles Eames for what would become one of the most insightful conversations on design philosophy. Fifty years later, Atomicdust decided to breathe new life into this historic interview—but with a twist.
When design meets play.
“What are the boundaries of design?” the journalist asked Eames in that original interview. His response was brilliantly simple: “What are the boundaries of problems?” This perspective—that design exists to solve problems rather than merely create aesthetics—is as relevant today as it was then.
As a branding and design company, we’ve built Atomicdust around this philosophy. Design isn’t just about how things look, but how they work. It’s about solving problems creatively—whether through visual identity, user experience, or marketing systems.
Our Eames experiment.
This week, we were scheduled to have our standard quarterly meeting. Once a quarter, we bring the whole team together to review metrics, goals and strategies. But this time, we wanted to do something different. We wanted to make something simply for the joy of creation. So we recreated the 1972 Eames interview—but not everyone knew it.
We broke into teams, and without context, handed each team a stack of random cue cards with fragments from the interview. We asked them to record videos of themselves reciting the cue cards in locations around St. Louis that inspired them. Nobody knew the full picture until we assembled the final product.
So the teams set off into the city, hitting up some of the places that inspire them the most: Citygarden, Cherokee Street, the Delmar Loop, the St. Louis Art Museum. A couple hours, they came back with clips in hand, and we set out to splice it all together.
The result? A love letter to design, to Charles Eames (a St. Louis native himself), and to our city.
A good reminder.
The world of design today, with AI and other tech constantly changing what’s possible, is a lot different from a few years ago—and drastically different from what Eames experienced.
But Eames’ philosophy reminds me that the essence of design will always be the same: identifying boundaries of problems and solving them creatively.
The pacing and length of our version of the interview isn’t designed for today’s short attention spans—and that’s intentional. Sometimes slowing down and reconnecting with foundational design thinking is exactly what creatives need.
Designing without boundaries.
Like Eames, we believe the creative process explores not just aesthetics but functionality. Whether we’re designing brand identities or marketing campaigns, we’re always asking: What problem are we solving? How can design, creativity and technology help us get there faster?
If you’re curious about how design thinking can transform your business, we’d love to share what we know.
After all, what are the boundaries of what we can create together?
If you’re interested in Eames, check out the original “Design Q&A” with Charles Eames on YouTube. It’s a timeless masterclass that never fails to inspire me.
