The Observatory Newsletter

Ellen McGirt|Essays

Lessons in wandering

Explore the lessons in wandering, how small gestures, humility, and human connection shape meaningful travel experiences.

Sameedha Mahajan|Design and Climate Change

The airport as borderland: gateways for some, barriers for others

Airports promise freedom of movement for many, but for those displaced, they can become prisons. Designing for these liminal spaces means tapping into their potential not just for streamlined travel, but also for sanctuary.

Alexis Haut|Analysis

"Pay us what you owe us"

WNBA players demand pay equity, turning t-shirts into bold protest billboards. Discover how fashion fuels the fight for fairness in sports.

Delaney Rebernik

Your (A)ttent(I)on, please

GenAI art is enlivening the search for Mexico’s disappeared.

Rachel Paese

Willfully conflicted

Human friction is inevitable, but urban practitioners have a say in whether it builds or destroys cities.

Rebecca Billi|Analysis

Cop cities and covert communes: how architecture shapes urban conflict

Friction is inevitable, but urban practitioners have a say in whether it builds or destroys cities.

Ellen McGirt

Red, white, and much ado

A witty July 4th reflection on vintage postcards, American myth-making, and what a modern "Safe and Sane" movement might look like today.

Alexis Haut|Cinema

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

On the ruby-slippered heels of DO editor-in-chief Ellen McGirt’s conversation with Wicked director Jon M. Chu, columnist Alexis Haut decipherates the film’s lessons for a design community going through shiz. 

Ellen McGirt

Design is at a turning point

At MoMA’s Pirouette event, Ellen McGirt explores design’s messy brilliance, urgent challenges, and the power of turning—and dancing—through it all.

Alexis Haut|Cinema

About face: ‘A Different Man’ makeup artist Mike Marino on transforming pretty boys and surfacing dualities

On the cusp of Oscar Sunday, we’re talking award-winning makeup that gets under the skin.

Alexis Haut|Analysis

Innies see red, Innies wear blue: Severance’s use of color to seed self-discovery

With Apple’s most beloved show back on the airwaves after three long years, DO’s film columnist pens a valentine to all the ways season one used red to spell Innie liberation.

Ellen McGirt|Books

Parable of the Redesigner

Soft rains come in spite of us.