Jesus... the show is really well done and the people are incredibly talented and inspiring. Can we not just chill out and enjoy shit anymore?

I can only assume that "Chef's Table" make chefs insane, the same way hospital dramas make medical professionals insane. The inherent boredom of any profession and subsequent tedium of problem solving must give way to dramatic formula.

Whenever I watch these types of shows, I feel like I'm just watching a three act structure about broken people who just happen to be making things other people romanticize. The craft on display is not cooking or design, but rather, as usual, filmmaking.

Whatever dude. I like it. The car design one was pretty cool.

I don't really buy anything this article is selling. From the loose understanding of the word Abstract (real design problems are commonly found through abstraction of a specific situation to a broader set of issues – this is a real technique). A series with the title Abstract shouldn't be about lower-level process. That's an absurd assertion.

Sure they could have toned down the idolization of the designers, focused more on the process (the Paula Scher meeting insight was terrific) and all sorts of others ideas. But that's subjectively splitting hairs. For an inaugural season it was definitely well met.

I've only watched the first episode so far but was very impressed. Some of my friends who know nothing about design or creative work also liked it.

The first episode also hit a nice balance between: "oh look I'm so happy and creative" and the challenges that the designer faced in his career and how he met those challenges.

Am I crazy to think they're using the alternate definition of Abstract for this?

noun ˈabˌstrakt/ a summary of the contents of a book, article, or formal speech. "an abstract of his inaugural address" synonyms: summary, synopsis, précis, résumé, outline, abridgment, digest, summation; wrap-up "an abstract of her speech"

Great article. I actually cringed in the first episode and then stopped watching it.

Maybe design needs to be reframed into two categories like the way the sciences have "Hard Science" and "Soft Science".The Hard Sciences are the ones that are more math based and measurable, and then you got the 'softer" sciences like Psychology and Sociology which are more theoretical and less measured. I think that designers that stick to the dictum that design it's just about solving problems are taking that from Industrial Design. Industrial Design for me is "Hard Design". There are aesthetics, but mostly this is about making an object people can use. Graphic Design and Illustration is "Soft Design". The solutions are mostly aesthetic. Yes there are questions about Typography and readability, but you have to be creative about it. Designing an album cover is an art form. It's commercial art, but dammit that's art. Don't know if this makes any sense.

I thought the show was great.

I really enjoy watching this documentary series. It makes your think of design as a whole by how it's utilized to solve problems with different mediums. The thought, process, and story the designers have tell is worthwhile.

To me the show is not about design as a trade per-say. but about the designers themselves. It tells their story, not the story of all footwear designers for example (with a bit of the requirements of the job peppered in).

Admittedly I've only watched a few of the episodes, but I'm enjoying hearing the stories of these designers told in a beautiful way and seeing their work with a taste of the process behind that work.

I found the series incredibly inspiring and makes design very approachable and informative for non-design viewers. Yes, there are aspects about design as a trade that weren't documented and glazed over but I seriously doubt anyone who isn't "obsessed" with all the day-to-day work would stick around through all the episodes if that were the case. I never once got the impression that this chalked design up to just art or even remotely compared it to something as subjective as art. Why can't we all just enjoy the great storytelling, film work, and the fact that we live in a time where design just got a documentary made about it? This article, although well-written, just screams insecurity.

What a pointless article, really. Let's get the author a kool aid and let enjoy some more "accurate" series about nowadays designers. Oh, sorry, there's none. Clickbait.

Read the article, kinda spoils some of the episodes a tad bit, but this...Feels more like an opinion, rather than criticism or a review...

Give me Abstract any day over AMC's The Pitch. That show made want to put my eyes out.

My two cents. There are and will be always two kind of designers: one that will make art and say it is design (wrong profession if you ask me) and one that will make design and it is. Design is not making things pretty or meaningful. Design makes things useable or useful.