I first encountered John Maeda during my third year as a student at the Rhode Island School of Design. I was fascinated by his work, which merged the elegance of design with the immediacy and power of new technology. Since then, his way of communicating rich ideas with simple statements has influenced my thinking and the way I communicate. As you might imagine, I was thrilled to learn that he had been elected as RISD’s president in 2008 (though maybe a little jealous of my fellow alumni-to-be). After connecting with him on Twitter and exchanging a few messages back and forth, he graciously agreed to answer a few of my questions…