Category: Essays

Michael Erard|Essays

The G Word

Ten years from now, jokey newspaper articles about corporate follies will mention why the Chevy Nova didn't sell in Latin America, the hilarity that ensued when company names (e.g., Pen Island) became URLs, and how Google waded into the …

William Drenttel|Essays

Silk Road Typography

European Union's 50th anniversary logo, design by Szymon Skrzypczak, 2006Late at night, after seeing a particularly vapid, unlikely or just plain idiotic television commercial, I'll often turn to my wife and say, "Can you imagine being in …

Jessica Helfand|Essays

My Cup Holder Runneth Over

Mini-Cooper Cup Holder Console Set,  ©2005, Mini-Stuff, Inc.Glance through the door of any of the countless nail salons sprouting up on virtually any city block, and you'll see numerous women (and a fair number of men) getting …

David Stairs|Essays

Charles Eames Among the Bullrushes

What interests me is the tendency for even uneducated Ugandans to observe and learn from their surrounding world, a fundamental hallmark of design thinking.

Adrian Shaughnessy|Essays

Graphic Design vs. Illustration

Someone emailed me recently to point out that illustration isn't included in Design Observer's list of "categories" — the list you can see below, on the right of your screen. Art, typography and photography are there, but not …

Michael Bierut|Essays

Vinyl Fetish

A meditation on the joys of vinyl.

Sue Nguyen|Essays

What I Did Last Summer

Editor's Note: Sue Nguyen, a graduate student in graphic design at RISD, spent the first half of the summer working in our studio as an intern. The following is excerpted from a letter she recently sent, in which she shares her experiences …

Dmitri Siegel|Essays

More Rules

Cover art for The Information by Beck. Art direction and design by Matt Maitland/Gerard Saint at Big City Active with Beck. Sticker art by: Jody Barton, Beck, Juliette Cezar, Estell & Simon, David Foldvari, Genevieve Gauckler, Michael …

John Thackara|Essays

Juice, Fat, and Homeland Security [October 2006]

Report on Doord of Perception scholarships, Dott 07 schools projects, Joe Heapy's Journey to the Interface, the Dott 07 stuff-o-meter competition, McDonald's scannable food, and more.

William Drenttel|Essays

Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing

More than a year ago, Jessica Helfand and I agreed to co-sponsor an initiative to increase the appreciation of design — by recognizing new voices in design criticism and commentary. In partnership with AIGA, and supported by the …

Michael Bierut|Essays

Alan Fletcher: Living by Design

Remembering the late British designer Alan Fletcher, who once said, "I treat clients as raw material to do what I want to do, though I would never tell them that." For him, design was not a profession or a craft, but a life.

Michael Bierut|Essays

The Golden Age of American Commercialism

The encroachment of commercialism into everyday life seems like a peculiarly modern phenomenon. Yet around one hundred years ago, America began a romance with salesmanship that today seems almost delirious. A 1922 business directory shows …