Production designers are omnipresent throughout a film.
They curate the entire visual aesthetic of a cinematic journey—not entirely unlike, say, a creative director in the world of graphic design.
Ina Mayhew knows about bringing fictive worlds to life. A graduate of SUNY’s Purchase College, she has been working as a Hollywood production designer since the late 1980s, and her credits are vast: The upcoming Respect. Netflix’s “Heartstrings.” Spike Lee’s Get on the Bus and Girl 6. Ava DuVernay’s “Queen Sugar.” A dozen Tyler Perry films. MTV’s “Teen Wolf” series. Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s “Family Feud” video. And on and on.
Though she excels at bringing the narratives of others to life, in this episode, Design Matters explores her own.
After you listen, stick around for interviews with 10 creators of color whose brilliant minds, stories and perseverance through struggle inspire. Use these episodes to scratch the surface of their worlds—and then keep digging. There’s an incredible amount of beauty to be found within them.
