Category: Essays

Michael Bierut|Essays

Design by Committee

"Design by committee" is usually thought to be a bad thing, but it has produced one great piece of architecture, the United Nations Headquarters Building.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Separated at Birth: Method? Or Madness?

Left: Packaging by Karim Rashid. Right: Unknown.method© was begun in 1999 by a chemical engineer and a graphic designer, with an aim to create totally biodegradable, environmentally sound cleaning products. With packaging designed by …

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Freedom of Speech or Filching of Style? The New Law of Eminent Lo-Mein

Fonts found at The Dollar Store, December, 2005.There has been a considerable amount of debate recently about the impact of DIY on the design disciplines, and nowhere has this issue seemed more unresolved than in discussions of …

John Thackara|Essays

If Pigs Could Fly... [February 2006]

Report on welfare and care systems seminar in Helsinki, KM3 from MVRDV, "emotional design," building regulations, sustainable transportation, and more.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

The D Word

Online promo for House Hunters, HGTV, 2006.People who own homes understand the true meaning of the phrase "money pit." Expenses are constant, upkeep unstoppable, and the most vexing decisions are often dominated by things you never see: …

Rob Giampietro|Essays

What Design Really Needs is a Good Scandal

Detail, I.D. January/February 2006 coverLast year's I.D. Forty was a controversial affair. In Julie Lasky's editorial note preceding this ranking of design's movers and shakers, she observes that its "most important value is that it offers …

Michael Bierut|Essays

Wilson Pickett, Design Theorist, 1942 - 2006

Wilson Pickett's advice on hitmaking, "Harmonize, then customize," would make good advice for any designer.

Adrian Shaughnessy|Essays

Robert Brownjohn and The Big Idea

Left: Robert Brownjohn. Right: Liberace. There's an essay on Liberace by art critic Dave Hickey that's so full of vivid insight that it persuaded me, on a recent trip to the US, to visit the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas. Amongst other …

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Civilian Typography: The Power and The Fury

Left: Cover of Spoiled, Tom Varisco, 2005; Right: Photograph by Steph Goralnik, 2005.John Updike once wrote that the "itch" to make dark marks on white paper is shared by writers and artists. As for designers, that same itch translates to …

Lorraine Wild|Essays

Good Font, Shame About The Reporting

A critical look at how mainstream media misreports typography and film design, ignoring historical accuracy and the designers behind the visuals that shape culture.

John Thackara|Essays

The Diminishing Spaces of Childhood [January 2006]

Report on Designs of the Time (DOTT), Henry Jenkins's essay on the changing spaces of childhood, KM3 by MVRDV, Sweden's indepenence from oil, Building Schools for the Future (BSF) in England and more.

Mark Lamster|Essays

Seeing Red

Red Bogart blamed technology and changing attitudes for the reason he sold Camp Tomahawk, but Mark Lamster knew there was something more to the story.