Jessica Helfand

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.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

You Never Go Down The Candy Aisle

I used to believe that the true secret of extraordinary success in the kitchen lay in skillful grocery shopping. I was doomed, it seemed, the minute I hit the market, where I was hardwired to revisit the same aisles, to buy the same …