The story of our company's name goes back to when our founder, Cara Carpenter, attended the School of Design at NC State University (now the College of Design). The study of design requires a lot of time in studio classes, and you really get to know your classmates and their work. Ms Carpenter:
"I had one classmate who really leaned towards the idea graphic design as almost fine art. He was all about meaning -- aesthetic was important, but secondary. And ugly wasn't bad if if supported the message.
"Another colleague was all about the 'pretty'. He could care two bits about the meaning of things, as long as they looked fantastic. And at the time his stated career goal was to design killer CD covers for a major pop star.
During the final crit of their senior year, while everyone evaluated the work that was a culmination of all they had learned, Ms. Carpenter found herself standing between these two classmates. At that moment, it crystalized: her design philosophy fell somewhere between these two positions. She decided that she held a pragmatic view of design, and knew that design can serve people on a daily basis -- largely through business -- while meeting a high aesthetic standard.
BUT WHY THE "K"?
We spell "Pragmatik" with a "k" in homage to the design principles of the Modernist movement, and in particular, the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus School was founded in Germany and became one of the most influential forces in art, architecture, product design and graphic design in the twentieth century. These are principles that Ms. Carpenter learned early on from her design education and from her father, who is a landscape architect and attended the NCSU's School of Design.
