Ellen McGirt

Ellen McGirt

A devotion to the human face

Ellen McGirt|Interviews

The face, reconsidered

Ellen McGirt

Branding the global water crisis

Ellen McGirt

Innovators, don't be afraid of the dark

True innovation requires imagination and courage.

Ellen McGirt|New Ideas

Gen-AI is a threat to human thinking

Generative AI doesn’t just change how we design, it may also change how we think.

Ellen McGirt

Lessons in connoisseurship from the Golden Globes

Connoisseurship requires context, which requires time, commitment, and patience.

Ellen McGirt|Holiday Gift Guide

Visions of sugar-plums

A year-end reflection on design’s evolving role—plus a thoughtful holiday gift guide featuring books to inspire curiosity, craft, and creative leadership.

Ellen McGirt

Dispatches from Design Week in Hong Kong

A necessary reminder of the role that design, and designers, must play in building a better world.

Ellen McGirt

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are.”

Honoring Tom Stoppard, the master of language and ideas whose six-decade career offers designers and creators a model for courage, curiosity, and craft.

Ellen McGirt|Design Juice

Making ‘change’ the product: Phil Gilbert on transforming IBM from the inside out

Phil Gilbert shares how he transformed IBM’s culture, and why treating change like a premium product may be essential in an AI-driven future.

Ellen McGirt|Commentary

AI can generate content, but it can’t generate feeling

There’s no shortcut for acquiring good taste, says Bindery's Kim Devall

Ellen McGirt|Books

No mandates, only opportunities: IBM's Phil Gilbert on rethinking change

Ellen McGirt interviews Phil Gilbert on IBM’s design-led transformation and why treating change as a product—not a skill—shapes the future of AI and creative work.