Jessica Helfand

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Surrendering

Surrender is the art of uncertainty: it’s the practice of giving in, not giving up.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Sheltering

Shelter is not so much a gesture of imprisonment as an invitation to dream.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Canoeing

What is an actor without an audience? A person—that’s what.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Burning

To read a poem allows you to visit words, the same way you might, say, go to a museum to visit a particular painting.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Recalibrating

To measure your worth against what life looked like until last month is a fool’s errand.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Longing

Wanting what is not possible—no matter how you define your object of desire—is a recipe for disappointment.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Listening

Sound cuts right through you and tells its own story—whether you like it or not.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Harvesting

What kind of work would you make if you thought no one was looking?

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 123: Closing Doors, Opening Doors

Looking at COVID=19: Flattening the curve, Washington Post designers Harry Stevens on visualizing social distancing, Alissa Walker on how dots are people, Stephen Sondheim at 90

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Breathing

Breathing is one of those things you take for granted. Until you can’t.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Looking

What it means to be a maker during this pandemic.

Michael Bierut|Watch This Space

Design Observer Studio Sessions

Like many of you, we’re trying to make a safe haven out of something that can feel like solitary confinement.