Steven Heller

Steven Heller|Essays

Where Do I Put My Stuff: Saving Graphic Design Ephemera

Designers more often than not tend to be collectors, if not crazy hoarders, of design and pop culture stuff.

Steven Heller|Essays

The Sunday Funnies on Wednesday

This story is as much a tribute to Peter Maresca’s incredible preservation vision as it is a salute to his latest collection: "Gross Exaggerations: The Meshuga Comic Strips of Milt Gross."

Steven Heller|Essays

Creative Director/Strategist Wanted for USofA

The United States of America more than once employed a creative director.

Steven Heller|Essays

Harsh Words from T.M. Cleland

Design criticism may be comparatively new, but critical designers are not.

Steven Heller|Essays

Christmas Schmaltz

I adore Christmas schmaltz — the sounds, the smells, and the graphics. I don’t mind that the clichés of the season pop up earlier and earlier every year.

Steven Heller|Essays

Why Does John Baeder Paint Diners?

John Baeder's goal for the past three decades has been to record on canvas and paper just about every diner and roadside eatery.

Steven Heller|Essays

Ramparts: Agent of Change

Ramparts magazine has been dead for almost two decades, but to look back at it, it stands out as one to remember.

Steven Heller|Essays

People in Glass Apartments

People in glass apartments shouldn’t throw stones or other projectiles. Nor should they engage in private acts directly in front of their floor to ceiling windows.

Steven Heller|Essays

My First Taste of Political Satire

On the sad day that Ted Kennedy died I came across a tattered copy of MacBird, the 1966 play by Barbara Garson.

Steven Heller|Slideshows

Covering the Good Books

When reading was more fundamental than tweeting, Time Life Books played a significant role in getting the general public to acquire books on almost every subject.

Steven Heller|Essays

A Good Trademark: A Historical Perspective

Textile Brand Names Dictionary, included were more than 4,000 names of fibers, yarns, fabrics, and garments registered with the United States Patent Office between 1934 and 1947.

Steven Heller|Essays

When Satire Was More Than Funny

"L'Impudique Albion," caricature d'Edouard VII by Jean Veber, L'Assiette au Beurre, Septembre 1901At the turn of the century the French Republic was threatened by a military-church-aristocracy coalition and a huge bureaucratic …