The Observatory Newsletter

Ellen McGirt

Parable of the Redesigner

Reflecting on Ray Bradbury, Sara Teasdale, and Octavia Butler, Ellen McGirt explores redesign, resilience, and the quiet power of change.

Ellen McGirt|Essays

The Design Observer annual gift guide!

The winter holidays are already a tricky time for so many people, though this year feels uniquely fraught.

Alexis Haut|Cinema

‘The creativity just blooms’: “Sing Sing” production designer Ruta Kiskyte on making art with formerly incarcerated cast in a decommissioned prison

Sing Sing is a movie that takes place in a prison, but it’s not a prison movie.

Alexis Haut|Analysis

Black balled and white walled: Interiority in Coralie Fargeat's “The Substance”

You know what they say: Women take forever in the bathroom.

Brian Collins|Opinions

Design sinking

Add to the mix a blinkered “human-centered” focus, and brace for a reductionist disaster.

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 135: Home for the Holidays

2020:dinner at home, Zoom fatigue, new rules of design, watching television

Jessica Helfand|Audio

Episode 134: Fast and Furious

With Gail Bichler: Remote creative direction for the New York Times Magazine, editorial design fine art, and motherhood; Ruth Bader Ginsburg, The Fast and the Furious, Yale Mental Health Symposium

Allison Arieff|Audio

Episode 133: Urban Reckoning

With Allison Arieff: The Magic of Empty Spaces, cities during COVID-19, Solving All The Wrong Problems, harvesting honey, The Good Fight

Jessica Helfand|Audio

Episode 132: Back to School?

With Lee Moreau: How to teach during the pandemic, robust design, jigsaw puzzles, The New York Times Spelling Bee

Jessica Helfand|Audio

Episode 131: Word by Word

With Hrishikesh Hirway: games and puzzles, The West Wing Weekly, soap operas, Home Cooking

Jessica Helfand|Audio

Episode 130: Tackling History

With Bobby C. Martin, Jr.: rebranding Champions Design; football in Washington; demands for change at design schools; cooking during quarantine.

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 126: Screens and Dreams

Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration; Unorthodox; My Brilliant Friend; The Affair; Anil Dash on the dangers of social media; Anna Wiener on Silicon Valley; quarantine dreams