Category: Essays

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Edward Tufte: The Dispassionate Statistician I

I went to college with a very sharp guy who once claimed that the problem with sociology was sociologists, who were, as far as he was concerned, merely self-proclaimed experts on the obvious. "All sociologists really do," he once observed, …

William Drenttel|Essays

VAS: An Opera in Flatland

I first saw the work of Stephen Farrell while walking with Richard Meier through the opening of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Triennial in 2000. Stephen made a 600+ page book about at typeface, Volgare, inspired by a Renaissance …

William Drenttel|Essays

Twin (Cities) Type in Flux

An article in late July in The New York Times discusses the new typeface commissioned for the City of Minneapolis by Jan Abrams, director of the University of Minnesota Design Institute, that moves when the wind blows.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

The Art of Elegant Abstraction

Bill Morrison's surprising 66-minute film is now playing on the Sundance Channel. For listings, see: http://www.sundancechannel.com/film_finder/index.php?startingLetter=d

Jessica Helfand|Essays

The Real Declaration

It is the rare piece of journalism that considers the role of typography in history. Rarer, still, is the idea that such a piece leaves the ghetto of same-old design publications, and pierces the frequently inpenetrable veil of the …

William Drenttel|Essays

Paul Rand: Bibliography as Biography

This is bibliography as biography, and a posthumous testament to the considerable scope — and ongoing life — of one designer's mind. A Selected Bibliography of Books from the Collection of Paul Rand

John Thackara|Essays

From Movies to Moblogging [August 2003]

Report on the future of Kodak and Fuji, Moblogging, Japanese teenage girls and cell phone use, Alan Bradburne, mobile games, and more.

John Thackara|Essays

Danger: Disappearing Computers [June 2003]

Report on the Disappearing Computer conference, "anthropocentric interfaces," Greger Linden's thoughts on "psychosocial computing," Convivio's 2003 design summer school,project LifeLog, and more.

John Thackara|Essays

Life in Traffic [May 2003]

This free monthly newsletter starts conversations on issues to do with design for resilience — and thereby reveals opportunities for action

John Thackara|Essays

Interior Design at War [April 2003]

Report on design in the war in Afghanistan, the Pearl River Delta in China, the Media Lab Europe (MLE), the 50th anniversary of the German Design Council, New Mobility, and more.

John Thackara|Essays

The Promise of Proximity [March 2003]

Report on Marko Ahtisaari's thoughts on proximity as a design criterion, Massimo Banzi's restauraunt-from-hell analogy, Axel Thallemer, Dutch foundation Eternally Yours , The Futures of Everyday Life, and more.

John Thackara|Essays

Remembering Ivan Illich [February 2003]

Report on the death of Ivan Illich, the Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF), the Sonic Lights festival, Politics of Code — Shaping the Future of the Next Internet, the 2003 International Architecture Biennial, and more.