William Drenttel

William Drenttel|Essays

David Hughes: Caricaturist of Our Time

"Gulf War," illustration by David Hughes, Observer Magazine, 1991.In the 1970s, I worked at the Forum Gallery in New York City. My job was to sort through hundreds of unattributed portraits by David Levine — the caricaturist for the …

William Drenttel|Essays

Katrina: Designer News & Resources (09.10 Update)

This updates our efforts to support relief initiatives for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Regular posts to Design Observer have been greatly reduced, and may be infrequent in the coming weeks. The American contributors will be in …

William Drenttel|Essays

Katrina: Designer News & Resources (09.08 Update)

This post is an archive of news and resources to help designers from the New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf States area, devastated by Hurricane Katrina. This resource list will not be updated after 09.08, when it was moved to both the …

William Drenttel|Essays

Reading the News & Charting Death

A few weeks ago, Michael Chertoff, the Secretary of U.S. Homeland Security, made the mistake of suggesting that security in the subways (after bombings in London's "Tube") was less of a priority than security in the air. "The truth of the …

William Drenttel|Essays

Small Town Meetings

Zoning regulations are how a town designs its future. They determine what kind of development is encouraged, and what kind is discouraged. In Meetings, Paul Shambroom visited 150 local government meetings in 32 states. The photographs are …

William Drenttel|Essays

Signs of Religion in the American South

Photo: Michael Brenner, 2005.DOWNLOAD FREE MP3 OF "STILL WATERS" BY JIM WHITE. Courtesy of Luaka Bop Records. (Click here.)Some months ago, we designed a CD package for Luaka Bop, the music label of Yale Evelev and David Byrne. Jim White …

William Drenttel|Essays

Catastrophic Imaginings: The Design of Disaster

A still from Refraction, a video by Aernout Mik.A decade ago, we were living in a loft on a quiet park in the shadows of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. One spring evening, I took our dog for her late night walk — it was …

William Drenttel|Essays

Maps of Cyberspace

AIGA Poster Designed by Corey McPherson Nash. Enlarge.When this poster for the upcoming American Institute of Graphic Arts conference in Boston arrived in the mail this past week, I immediately thought, oh, another map of cyberspace. It …

William Drenttel|Essays

Ten Years of Design Leadership: Richard Grefé

In 1995, the American Institute of Graphic Arts was an organization with 36 chapters, a new building on Fifth Avenue and 7,900 members. It was perceived by many as a New York City club, but it was slowly gaining a reputation as a trade …

William Drenttel|Essays

Moving the Axum Obelisk

In the mid-1990s, I saw an exhibition at the New York Public Library of the greatest illustrated books of the 19th century. One book stood out for me: a massive tome by Henry H. Gorringe, titled Egyptian Obelisks and dated 1882. It’s …

William Drenttel|Essays

Stop The Plant: The Failure of Rendering

There is no single rendering ominous enough to create public fear; no image so compelling as to create political momentum; and no symbol so memorable as to unite the opposition. Whether through artistic renderings or compelling information …

William Drenttel|Essays

Chris Marker: La Jetée

For years, I've owned a copy of La Jetée, a book about the film by Chris Marker, the experimental filmmaker. Designed by Bruce Mau and published by MIT Press/Zone Books in 1993, this is one of those design books that has ascended …