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Prisons and Paradise

On this episode, Michael says:

Prisons are remarkable design environments when you think about it, because there are few experience that humans can have where every aspect of them — from the architecture to the lighting to the experience design to the social design — has been minutely worked out, minute by minute, inch by inch, to deliver a certain effect

He and Jessica discuss a few examples of the intersection of prison and design, from the Guardian’s VR story about solitary confinement to experiments with design thinking workshops for prisoners.

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Thanks to Designers & Books for sponsoring this episode.

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By Michael Bierut & Jessica Helfand

Jessica Helfand, a founding editor of Design Observer, is an award-winning graphic designer and writer and a former contributing editor and columnist for Print, Communications Arts and Eye magazines. A member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and a recent laureate of the Art Director’s Hall of Fame, Helfand received her B.A. and her M.F.A. from Yale University where she has taught since 1994.

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