Skip to content

The Observatory

Home › Audio › Basic Human Needs

Michael Bierut, Jessica Helfand|Audio

October 8, 2015

Basic Human Needs

On this episode, Jessica and Michael discuss how IKEA is designing shelters for refugees, and Facebook wants to provide refugees with Wi-Fi from flying drones. Michael observes:

Private companies are stepping into the breach to launch initiatives that I think fifty years ago, sixty years ago would’ve been thought to have been the purview of governments or international organizations.

Also mentioned:

  •  Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space
  •  Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, amended
  •  Craig Mod, Future Reading
  •  John Seabrook, The Song Machine
  •  Patti Smith, M Train
  •  New York Times Adrian Frutiger obituary
  •  Molly Heintz remembers Phil Patton
  •  Phil Patton, The Coffee Lids Story

    Thanks to Blurb for sponsoring this episode.

    Subscribe to The Observatory on iTunes

    • Observed

    View all

    Jobs

    View all

    Share on Social

    By Michael Bierut & Jessica Helfand

    Jessica Helfand, a founding editor of Design Observer, is an award-winning graphic designer and writer and a former contributing editor and columnist for Print, Communications Arts and Eye magazines. A member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and a recent laureate of the Art Director’s Hall of Fame, Helfand received her B.A. and her M.F.A. from Yale University where she has taught since 1994.

    View more from this author
    View more from Michael Bierut

    Related Posts

    DBBD_Chu_768x1024_web

    Design of Business | Business of Design

    Ellen McGirt|Audio

    Making Space: Jon M. Chu on Designing Your Own Path
    DBBD_Bynum_768x1024_web

    Business

    Ellen McGirt|Audio

    The New Era of Design Leadership with Tony Bynum
    DBBD_Nathan_768x1024_web

    Business

    Ellen McGirt|Audio

    A Mastercard for Pigs? How Digital Infrastructure is Transforming Farming and Fighting Poverty
    DBBD_Eliason_768x1024_web

    Civic Life

    Ellen McGirt|Audio

    DB|BD Season 12 Premiere: Designing for the Unknown – The Future of Cities is Climate Adaptive with Michael Eliason

    ✧.*   Our online shop is now LIVE. Grab The Redesigners Classic T-Shirt and more!   ✰  Explore our collection today!   ✧.*   Our online shop is now LIVE. Grab The Redesigners Classic T-Shirt and more!   ✰  Explore our collection today!   ✧.*

    Recent Posts

    Rachel Paese|Interviews

    A quieter place: Sound designer Eddie Gandelman on composing a future that allows us to hear ourselves think

    Alexis Haut|Cinema

    It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green: ‘Wicked’ spells for struggle and solidarity

    Ellen McGirt|Audio

    Making Space: Jon M. Chu on Designing Your Own Path

    Delaney Rebernik|Interviews

    Runway modeler: Airport architect Sameedha Mahajan on sending ever-more people skyward