Business

Lilly Smith|Interviews

Chain Letters: Julian Alexander

What made Julian Alexander become a designer, and what was it like working with 50 Cent during the start of his career?

Lilly Smith|Interviews

Chain Letters: Jason Murphy

“Inclusivity. That is the cliché. Where are they doing that?”

Bonnie Siegler|Books

Dear Client

“Ironically, there are many books for designers about how we can better work with clients...But, as far as I know, there are no books to help clients better work with creative people, who are a unique species with a unique language …

Lilly Smith|Interviews

Chain Letters: Ced Funches

“Admitting you may not be the best person to bring a vision to life is the hard part.”

Steven Heller|Essays

The Design Comb Over

Hair is more than a fibrous protein. Hair is who we are, or at least what we project we are. Hair defines personal brand identity.

Lincoln Cushing|Essays

The Women Behind the Black Panther Party Logo

A tribute to the women who shaped the Black Panther Party Logo.

Michael Bierut|Essays

Speech, Speech

The State of the Union Address is tonight. Messages, big ideas, careful details, second-guessing, refinements and revisions, anonymity: graphic design has a lot in common with political speechwriting. What kind of client do you suppose the …

Brian LaRossa|Essays

The Shape of a Design Mentorship

Before the advent of writing, everything was taught through mentorship. How to chip a stone into an axe. How to build a shelter. How to love. How to lead. Mentorship is hardwired into our DNA.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Annals of Small Town Life: The Logo Stops Here

Working with Florence Knoll, Lucille McGinnis convinced her husband, Patrick B. McGinnis, that the New Haven Railroad needed a new logo. Enter Herbert Matter, Swiss-born designer, photographer and Yale professor whose own education was …

Steven Heller|Interviews

Making Inaccessibility Accessible

If you subscribe to the belief that good design makes life better, then there can be no better use of design than as an aid—if not a curative—for the disabled.

Steven Heller|Essays

Memory of an Eclectic Modernist: Ivan Chermayeff

Remembering Ivan Chermayeff, who died this past Saturday, December 2. He was 85.

Michael Bierut|Essays

Everything I Know About Design I Learned from The Sopranos

After eight years, 86 episodes, and untold quantities of gobbagool, The Sopranos finished its run on HBO. And this is what we’ve learned, from a design point of view.