Theory + Criticism

Brian LaRossa|Commentary

Questioning Graphic Design’s Ethicality

If designers take care during client selection, can they evade the type of intense ethical quagmire that’s only resolvable through radical action? Are particular modes of working within the field of design more conducive to …

Steven Heller|Commentary

Should Designers Be Design Critics? Why Not?

Criticism is not always an attack on someone or something; it is also analysis that includes history, context, and other relevant factors that result in a specific work.

Michael Bierut|Essays

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mentor, Or, Why Modernist Designers Are Superior

Does a strict upbringing make you a better designer?

Jessica Helfand|Essays

The Karaoke Effect

The illusory bubble populated by thousands of fame-seekers who fervently believe in their own righteous, if highly fictional talent.

Rick Poynor|Exposure

Exposure: Brodsky, the Tie Seller in Paris

Every photograph is an enigma

Rob Walker|Essays

Object Vs. Object

The Re Made Plunger satirizes the Best Made axe — a great example of object-as-critique.

Alexandra Lange|Essays

Criticism = Love

Why you have to love design to be a critic.

Alexandra Lange|Essays

“Year of the Woman” Revisited: Alexandra Lange on Criticism, Mentorship, and Memory

A year-end wrap-up of my favorite stories. The common theme? Women and the making of design.

Rick Poynor|Interviews

Collage Culture: Nostalgia, Critique, and the Art of Remixing Modern Life

An interview with David Banash, author of Collage Culture: Readymades, Meaning, and the Age of Consumption.

Alexandra Lange|Essays

Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer, Freelancer

One of the incidental pleasures of Judith Major’s new book on pioneering architecture critic Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer is the glimpse it gives into the life of a cultural journalist at the turn of the past century.

Alexandra Lange|Essays

Learning New Tricks

Harvard doesn't have any design courses, but I've found new friends in "material culture." What it's like for a critic to go back to school.

Alexandra Lange|Essays

Praise the Partner(s)

Salute Denise Scott Brown because she deserves it, but let's not forget the other partners.