
Michael Bierut, Jessica Helfand|Audio
May 25, 2017
Episode 57: Communion and Commerce
With more and more designers are offering advice that sounds like life coaching or therapy. Jessica worries that these paths to happiness, however appealing, are too facile:
The short inspirational quote, the draw on this page of the coloring book, the follow this thing=E2=80=A6 People like to know that there is an enumerated series of things they have to do to get to the next thing.
Alas, life is rarely an enumerated series of things.
And Michael says that making things can be soothing, but the thing itself is the point:
Whether you’re a carpenter or a writer, you paint on canvas or you paint rooms or hang wallpaper, you know shortcuts, you know things that help you achieve that craft. Still there’s a degree of skill that you master along the way that can be a form of therapy, but that’s just a byproduct of the actual work that’s being done.
Also mentioned:
Subscribe to The Observatory on iTunes or your favorite podcast app, or follow Design Observer on Soundcloud.
Observed
View all
Observed
By Michael Bierut & Jessica Helfand
Related Posts

Design of Business | Business of Design
Ellen McGirt|Audio
Making Space: Jon M. Chu on Designing Your Own Path

Business
Ellen McGirt|Audio
The New Era of Design Leadership with Tony Bynum

Business
Ellen McGirt|Audio
A Mastercard for Pigs? How Digital Infrastructure is Transforming Farming and Fighting Poverty

Civic Life
Ellen McGirt|Audio
DB|BD Season 12 Premiere: Designing for the Unknown – The Future of Cities is Climate Adaptive with Michael Eliason
Recent Posts
A quieter place: Sound designer Eddie Gandelman on composing a future that allows us to hear ourselves think It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green: ‘Wicked’ spells for struggle and solidarity Making Space: Jon M. Chu on Designing Your Own Path Runway modeler: Airport architect Sameedha Mahajan on sending ever-more people skywardRelated Posts

Design of Business | Business of Design
Ellen McGirt|Audio
Making Space: Jon M. Chu on Designing Your Own Path

Business
Ellen McGirt|Audio
The New Era of Design Leadership with Tony Bynum

Business
Ellen McGirt|Audio
A Mastercard for Pigs? How Digital Infrastructure is Transforming Farming and Fighting Poverty

Civic Life
Ellen McGirt|Audio