Jessica Helfand

Jessica Helfand|Essays

The Public Face of Disgrace

The funny thing about lying is that it's about as far as you can go from the expectation of trustworthiness with which we characterize public leadership. 

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Meet Our Intern: Paul Rand!

Our surprise upon receiving the Facebook mailer shown here, addressed to Paul Rand.

Jessica Helfand|Gallery

Mothers Day Special: Baby, It’s You!

Today, in honor of Mother's Day, we've gathered some baby photos from some of our favorite designers.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

The Royal Tweet

Long criticized for not being relevant in contemporary culture, the British royal family announces the engagement of the future King of England via Twitter.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

New Lives for Old Paper

It's difficult, perhaps impossible to imagine a designer whose eye is not drawn to ephemera — the flimsy, forgettable, never-meant-to-survive bits of two-dimensional matter that circumscribe our daily lives  — and by …

Jessica Helfand|Collections

Penny Dreadfuls

Nothing says I Love You like a mass-produced sentiment written by somebody else: Herewith, our very own collection of Penny Dreadfuls.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

The Little Savages

A century ago, art and design juries often favored the same participants, year after year, a corruption of power that was anything but fair. Especially when jurors favored applicants made in their own image.

William Drenttel|Essays

Introduction to Graphic Design II

Jessica Helfand|Essays

When Do We Call it Art?

Back in the pre-Banksy days of big cars and even bigger hair, there came a cultural moment noted for its prevalence of large-scaled words and symbols, a comparatively brazen visual trope that flirted with modernity by celebrating …

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Certificate of Approval

Jessica Helfand writes about her favorite piece of design.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Does It Have To Be A Lightbulb?

You know that joke about how many graphic designers it takes to screw in a lightbulb? To which the answer is: does it have to be a lightbulb?

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Bring In Da Ponk!

There is a reason that most Americans don't think of roasted millet as a dietary staple, and it may have something to do with the fact that extracting it requires actually thrashing the wheat stalk from which it hails.