The Design Observer Twenty




Chain Letters


Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Celene Aubry
 “The natural path to solving any design problem is rarely straight.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Melissa Deckert + Nicole Licht
 "We really enjoy the ideation stage of a project because it is where we can be thoughtful and considered, but also allow ourselves to entertain crazy ideas."
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Victor Melendez
 This December, we’re elevating the act of gift giving by pondering the items inside the box: examining design as craft, poring over process, and picking the brains of designers whose technical skill turn products into objets d’art.
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Dana Chisnell
 You might think these aren’t design questions, but you’re in the business of culture change.
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Toni L. Griffin
 I strongly believe—and have seen firsthand—how shared ownership in creating a vision plan inspires greater collective action.
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Chelsea Mauldin
 “Most broken government systems are not designed—they accrete, bits and pieces stuck on to address problems.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Steven Heller
 “Design is a profession that has grown out of its stereotypes.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Elysia Borowy-Reeder
 “Information is everywhere now. We need educated, well-versed curators to make sense of it.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Alexander Tochilovsky
 "Reading the imprint of past choices can teach us a lot about how to be a designer today."



Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Sean Adams
 The point regarding design history is about documentation. If the work is not documented and disseminated, it disappears.
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Margaret Gould Stewart
 Margaret Gould Stewart is Vice-President of Product Design at Facebook where she leads a global team of product designers and researchers for teams such as Artificial Intelligence and Privacy & Data Use.
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Arthur Cohen
 I support a world in which design is not elevated and codified into some idealized “other,” but rather integrated into everyday practice that is just good business.
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Randy J. Hunt
 “There are examples of designs that were the spark of an innovation and there are examples of designs that added to and evolved an otherwise already innovative idea.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Grace Jun
 “Design is way of seeing and a way of doing. A unique perspective and method that combined can lead to innovation.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Zachary Lieberman
 “Tools and jobs will always change but the fundamentals stay the same.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Paul Pangaro
 In my experience, an understanding of the processes of design and the means for expanding techniques and capabilities are a matter of practice and critique, tightly coupled.
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Dori Tunstall
 “Designing is not about a job. Design is one of many pathways for doing meaningful work in the world.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Gail Anderson
 “As a designer, I am sensitive to the way people consume information, and very concerned about the survival of print.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Joan Wong
 “I’m not sure the experience between print and ebooks is really that different.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Jennifer 8. Lee
 “In my line of work, sometimes you have to wait for the future to catch up.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Anna Gerber
 “Readers and writers are open, adventurous, and eager to try new things. Even if those experiences are not always perfect.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Paul Moore
 “Streaming has shocked new life into the music industry and the vinyl we all hold dear to our hearts. Now the platform is finding a new generation of ardent fans. As designers, that’s where we can influence a movement.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Emily Batson
 “A key part of my job is collaboration. I enjoy the negotiation of finding a concept that truly works.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Frank Ockenfels 3
 “I am a true believer of creating in the moment.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Lawrence Azerrad
 It‘s June, and you know what that means—the unofficial kick-off of summer concert season. This month, we examine design and music, and why fans everywhere benefit when these creative industries work in concert.
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Jamer Hunt
 “And it’s likely the case that most design criticism today focuses on ideology more than aesthetics, as we’re going through a period of long-overdue self-scrutiny.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Molly Heintz
 Labeling design, or anything, “good” is a slippery slope—good for whom?



Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Andrew Blauvelt
 Criticism allows for self-reflection, and that is necessary when we use words like discipline and field to talk about design.
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Alice Twemlow
 “Of course design criticism is still relevant—it just inhabits formats that we might be less familiar with.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Karin Fong
 “A bit of uncertainty is good for the design process. I would hate to be trapped in the sureness of my own thoughts.”



Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Deva Pardue
 “I don’t believe that being an artist or a designer by definition makes you an activist. I think the responsibility arises when you have something relevant to say.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Rhea Combs
 “I believe art has many functions, and one of them is to interrogate the status quo.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Lindsay Peoples
 Celebrating Women’s History month and how to better design for inclusivity with The Cut’s fashion market editor, Lindsay Peoples.
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Julian Alexander
 What made Julian Alexander become a designer, and what was it like working with 50 Cent during the start of his career?



Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Jason Murphy
 “Inclusivity. That is the cliché. Where are they doing that?”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Ced Funches
 “Admitting you may not be the best person to bring a vision to life is the hard part.”



Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Dian Holton
 "As designers, we are problem-solvers, visionaries, and teachers," says Holton. "It’s important for us to be empathic and proactive in learning about our audience, so that we can provide meaningful experiences. This means getting to know the people who may not be like you."
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Briana Como
 “We make an effort to be aware of and remove bias by focusing on behaviors instead of demographics when creating distinct personas.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Sarah Doody
 “With anything we create, the first step in the design process must be to understand. This happens through research.”
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Richard Ting
 Richard Ting, Global Chief Experience Officer at R/GA, continues our Chain Letters interview series.
Lilly Smith
Chain Letters: Jessica Gaddis
 This interview is part of a new Design Observer series, Chain Letters, in which we ask leading design minds a few burning questions—and so do their peers, for a year-long conversation about the state of the industry.



Observed


Quite possibly the most fascinating job opportunity in design right now.

Jessica Helfand on using AI as a tool to reverse-engineer a historical narrative.

Rethinking the city.

Rethinking the planet.

The problems of the user interface, one streaming service at a time. More here.

Urban design, with safety in mind. And that includes parks.

Think design thinking is over? Think again.

A museum renames a vegetable still life by Van Gogh that identified the wrong kind of allium.

Graphic design and typography obsessives—look no further!

“The challenge isn’t just that our systems default to keeping the “unlike” out,” notes Jens Martin Skibsted, “but we are, rather, in need of an interconnected worldview that appreciates the existence of other realities and contexts.”

Neville Brody’s new monograph (his THIRD)—covering his work for Nike, Coca-Cola, Tate Modern and Channel 4, as well as various informational graphics and magazine editorials—will be published next month by Thames&Hudson.

Milan Design Week wants to know your most memorable experience. Ours is easily Shaped by Water, an immersive experience exploring water as a source of inspiration for design. Co-created by Ivy Ross and her design team in collaboration with the water, light, and sound artist, Lachlan Turczan. Vote for your favorite here.

Non-profit design advocacy agency Where are the Black Designers? (WATBD?) has announced a year-long partnership with digital product studio Ustwo.

“He was mulling a career in graphic design when, at 17, he saw a searing image that would change the course of his life.” The American photographer Kwame Brathwaite has died. Considered the catalyst fo the “black is beautiful” movement in the 1960s, Braithwaite’s career spanned art, music, and more. He was 85.

The subtley, simplicity, and curious symbolism of the humble serif.

After a career of looking at pictures, she is now making them. George Gendron talks to Kathy Ryan, longtime director of photography at The New York Times Magazine.

COLLINS co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Brian Collins and co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Leland Maschmeyer will speak on branding and creativity at OFFF Barcelona this weekend.

“I can’t imagine any person with a background in graphic design made that thing without a committee of bland politicians sanding away its edges until they felt safe enough to unveil that to the public.” Behold: Logogate!

Black designers, curators, and more.

How do you stop deep-sea trawlers from harming ecosystems? Commission 10-ton marble sculptures and place them on the ocean floor, of course.

For ten years, Matt Needle has reimagined every best picture award nominee by redesigning their posters.

Coca-Cola...and art?

Don Norman‘s new book—Design for a Better World: Meaningful, Sustainable, Humanity Centered—is out March 21, from MIT Press. (Watch him discussing twenty-first century design on Youtube!)

Can design be a way to say “be careful”?

While Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ is on loan, the Mauritshuis showcases 170 imaginative renditions in its place.

David Lance Goines, who “adamantly rejected the title of artist” has died. The iconic poster designer was 77.

Now you can get a Masters degree in graphic design—online!

How much do you know about “Swissness” legislation? The case of the Toblerone rebrand!

Oh, Brother (ly love)! Philadelphia needs a new ... flag?

Parisian opera house that inspired ‘Phantom of the Opera’ becomes an airbnb.



Jobs | May 28