Observed | June 09
Is protest more potent when you adopt the typeface of your subject?
Don’t miss these photos. [JH]
Observed | June 08
Artist Corita Kent’s famed
Hollywood studio is saved in a landmark historical preservation victory. [JH]
Observed | June 01
A fascinating look back at the
internet’s major milestones. [JH]
Observed | May 27
Next week marks the 100 year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the focus of a new historic center,
Greenwood Rising, opening next week. “Greenwood Rising honors the icons of Black Wall Street, memorializes the victims of the massacre, and examines the lessons of the past to inspire meaningful, sustainable action in the present.” [BV]
Observed | May 26
How Colonial Pipeline’s
archaic branding told us all we needed to know about the company. (via
James I. Bowie) [BV]
President Biden
revokes Trump‘s controversial classical architecture order. [JH]
Observed | May 25
Design Twitter goes wild over David Hockney’s typographic reworking of the
Picadilly Circus logo. [JH]
Observed | May 19
Join the Society of Design Arts (SoDA) and AIGA Baltimore for an online talk by Rafael Cardoso, part of a virtual series created to promote the rich and plural histories of Latin American production in design.
Free registration here. [JH]
Observed | May 18
After a decade of design and planning,
+Pool has been approved by the city of New York. Listen to Michael Bierut’s conversation with founder and designer,
Archie Lee Coates IV, on Season 6 of DBBD. [JH]
Observed | May 12
Kerby Jean-Raymond will be the first Black designer to show at Couture Week in Paris. Listen to Michael Bierut’s interview with him on Season 6 of The Design of Business | The Business of Design
here. [JH]
The kind of
speculative mashup you need right now. [JH]
Observed | May 10
“Nothing is unaffordable in a C.G.I. dreamscape, and rent is never due.” Anna Weiner on the speculative design world of “
renderporn”. [JH]
Observed | May 09
Ellen Degeneres launches a new reality show to find
the next great furniture designer. [JH]
Observed | May 07
Infusing
design with equity: one designer’s perspective. [JH]
Observed | May 06
Last week Microsoft announced that they wanted the Twitterverse‘s help
picking a new default font. This seemingly trivial choice by Microsoft will determine what works looks like for hundreds of millions of people. (via Blake Eskin) [BV]
Observed | May 05
In conjunction with the Walker Art Center, BluDot announces
OpenStudio: a free design program for kids aged 9 to 14. [JH]
Observed | May 04
Titus Kaphar signs with UTA where he’ll start developing
film projects based on his paintings. [JH]
Observed | May 03
A new site celebrating the Uruguayan publication
La Semana highlights the personal and public triumphs of this memorable newsweekly. (In English and Spanish.) [JH]
Rhode Island’s license plate—known affectionately as the wave, and designed by Rhode Island native and RISD graduate Tyler Smith—
will be redesigned by the, um, public.
Holding an open design contest is bold and exciting;, writes architecture critic Will Morgan.
It is also a recipe for disaster. [JH]
Wallpaper offers
a superb roundup of advocacy and support groups working for equity, inclusion, and change in deisgn and related industries. [JH]
Observed | April 28
Lehrer Architects LA‘s second
Tiny Home Village project has opened this week to residents in North Hollywood. Yet tiny houses
aren’t always loved. Discuss! [BV]
How to really look at art:
an eight-step guide by Antwaun Sargent. [JH]
Observed | April 27
Dwight Garner reviews the new novel by Rachel Cusk and notes its unusual (and seemingly deliberate) type choice:
Optima! “Optima is unusual to see in a novel,” Garner observes. “I tried using it to type this piece. It made me feel I was working on Laurie Anderson’s laptop.” [JH]
At the nation’s newspaper of record, the term “
Op-Ed”—a relic of an older age and nod to an older print newspaper design—is being retired from duty. [JH]
How mathematicians use their chalkboards to
reveal the conceptual and visual beauty of their discipline: a new book by photographer Jessica Wynne. [JH]
Observed | April 21
Astrid Cooper is a curator in Bath, England. Also, she is five years old. [JH]
A new
illustrated children’s book—featuring a flying gherkin—from Foster + Partners. [JH]
Observed | April 20
Introducing the
whitest paint ever invented. [JH]
Just in time for Earth Day: Belgian artist Alain Verschueren’s
Portable Oasis lets you spend quality time in the garden while social distancing at the same time. [JH]
Observed | April 19
Influential American architect
Donald P. Ryder—who in partnership with J. Max Bond, Jr. was widely regarded as the most influential African-American architect in New York—has died at the age of 94. [JH]
