The Design Observer Twenty





Adrian Shaughnessy | Books
Hello Human
Cindy Chastain, Jessica Helfand, Ellen McGirt + Lee Moreau | Conversation
Design Observer x Mastercard
Jessica Helfand | Interview
Henry Leutwyler: International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum
Susan Morris | Essay
Sundance/Slamdance 2023: Built Environment
Scott Berkun | Books
The Powerful Decide
Jessica Helfand | Essays
Stan Brakhage: Caught on Tape
Jessica Helfand | Essays
Disaster Relief 101: No Door Hanger Left Behind
Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt | Audio
S9E2: Melanie Keen
Adam Harrison Levy | Essays
The History of Being Found
Susan Yelavich | Books
Beings: Unruly Things, Golems, Cyborgs
Tom Vanderbilt | Essays
Small Worlds
Alexandra Lange | Essays
Lessons from the High Line
Alexandra Lange | Opinions
Why Nicolai Ouroussoff Is Not Good Enough
Adrian Shaughnessy | Books
Impact
Alexandra Lange | Essays
Kicked A Building Lately?
Adrian Shaughnessy | Terms of Service
Pan Afrikan Design Institute
Adrian Shaughnessy | Essays
Philosophy, Graphic Design and Virtue of Clarity
Alexandra Lange | Essays
Standard Operating Procedure
Jessica Helfand | Essays
How Hollywood Nailed The Half-Pipe
Susan Morris | Essays
MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight
Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt | Audio
S9E3: Astra Taylor
| Books
The New Art of Making Books
Connect 4 | Audio
Jonathan Jackson and Avalon Garrick: Time for Change
William Drenttel | Essays
I Was A Mad Man
Kathleen Meaney | Essays
Greening the Grocery Store
William Drenttel | Essays
Stop The Plant: The Failure of Rendering
The Editors | Watch This Space
Design Observer Community Session: Barbara Glauber
Adrian Shaughnessy | Essays
Are JPEGs the New Album Covers?


Observed


Quite possibly the most fascinating job opportunity in design right now.

Jessica Helfand on using AI as a tool to reverse-engineer a historical narrative.

Rethinking the city.

Rethinking the planet.

The problems of the user interface, one streaming service at a time. More here.

Urban design, with safety in mind. And that includes parks.

Think design thinking is over? Think again.

A museum renames a vegetable still life by Van Gogh that identified the wrong kind of allium.

Graphic design and typography obsessives—look no further!

“The challenge isn’t just that our systems default to keeping the “unlike” out,” notes Jens Martin Skibsted, “but we are, rather, in need of an interconnected worldview that appreciates the existence of other realities and contexts.”

Neville Brody’s new monograph (his THIRD)—covering his work for Nike, Coca-Cola, Tate Modern and Channel 4, as well as various informational graphics and magazine editorials—will be published next month by Thames&Hudson.

Milan Design Week wants to know your most memorable experience. Ours is easily Shaped by Water, an immersive experience exploring water as a source of inspiration for design. Co-created by Ivy Ross and her design team in collaboration with the water, light, and sound artist, Lachlan Turczan. Vote for your favorite here.

Non-profit design advocacy agency Where are the Black Designers? (WATBD?) has announced a year-long partnership with digital product studio Ustwo.

“He was mulling a career in graphic design when, at 17, he saw a searing image that would change the course of his life.” The American photographer Kwame Brathwaite has died. Considered the catalyst fo the “black is beautiful” movement in the 1960s, Braithwaite’s career spanned art, music, and more. He was 85.

The subtley, simplicity, and curious symbolism of the humble serif.

After a career of looking at pictures, she is now making them. George Gendron talks to Kathy Ryan, longtime director of photography at The New York Times Magazine.

COLLINS co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Brian Collins and co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Leland Maschmeyer will speak on branding and creativity at OFFF Barcelona this weekend.

“I can’t imagine any person with a background in graphic design made that thing without a committee of bland politicians sanding away its edges until they felt safe enough to unveil that to the public.” Behold: Logogate!

Black designers, curators, and more.

How do you stop deep-sea trawlers from harming ecosystems? Commission 10-ton marble sculptures and place them on the ocean floor, of course.

For ten years, Matt Needle has reimagined every best picture award nominee by redesigning their posters.

Coca-Cola...and art?

Don Norman‘s new book—Design for a Better World: Meaningful, Sustainable, Humanity Centered—is out March 21, from MIT Press. (Watch him discussing twenty-first century design on Youtube!)

Can design be a way to say “be careful”?

While Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ is on loan, the Mauritshuis showcases 170 imaginative renditions in its place.

David Lance Goines, who “adamantly rejected the title of artist” has died. The iconic poster designer was 77.

Now you can get a Masters degree in graphic design—online!

How much do you know about “Swissness” legislation? The case of the Toblerone rebrand!

Oh, Brother (ly love)! Philadelphia needs a new ... flag?

Parisian opera house that inspired ‘Phantom of the Opera’ becomes an airbnb.



Jobs | May 30