Category: Essays

Rick Poynor|Essays

Mevis and Van Deursen: Rueful Recollections, Recycled Design

In their self-edited monograph, Dutch graphic designers Mevis and Van Deursen turn their backs on their professed commitment to ideas and treat the book mainly as an opportunity for undemanding aesthetic play.

John Thackara|Essays

Self-Service Economy [June 2005]

Report on international call centers, Neighbor Power: Building Community The Seattle Way, the marketing strategies of evangelical America, Fast Company's review of In the Bubble, the "Building Everyday Democracy" organization, and more.

William Drenttel|Essays

Maps of Cyberspace

AIGA Poster Designed by Corey McPherson Nash. Enlarge.When this poster for the upcoming American Institute of Graphic Arts conference in Boston arrived in the mail this past week, I immediately thought, oh, another map of cyberspace. It …

Roy Behrens|Essays

A Designer Remembers the Writer Guy Davenport

Photo: Ralph Eugene Meatyard portrait of Guy Davenport, 1966.I seem to have misplaced the copy of my first letter to Guy Davenport — the American essayist, fiction writer, poet, translator, painter, illustrator, university scholar, and …

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Method Designing: The Paradox of Modern Design Education

Over a century ago, Konstantin Stanislavsky revolutionized the modern theatre by introducing a new system of training, in which the actor would draw on his or her own emotions to achieve a true understanding of a character. "We protested …

Rick Poynor|Essays

But Darling of Course it’s Normal: The Post-Punk Record Sleeve

There have been collections of post-punk music and now, finally, there is British music critic Simon Reynolds' 500-page history of the genre from 1978 to 1984. It's a brilliant book. He argues that post-punk music's explosion of creativity …

Momus|Essays

REDESIGNDESIGN

On October 24th 1793 the French introduced a new concept in calendars which was, quite literally, revolutionary. Out went the old months—January to December—and in came Vendémiaire, Brumaire, Frimaire, Nivôse, …

Tom Vanderbilt|Essays

Material Issue

Materials scientists rarely get their due in the design world. The ones that create the breakthrough products, the ones that soon adorn every home or consumer product, usually suffer the fate of seeing their creation become a mere …

Michael Bierut|Essays

On (Design) Bullshit

In Concert of Wills, the fascinating 1997 documentary on the building of the Getty Center in Los Angeles, architect Richard Meier is beset on all sides by critics and carpers: homeowners who don't want the Center's white buildings ruining …

Lorraine Wild|Essays

A Design Annual Captures 1968

The images above are taken from one of the oddest artifacts of the design profession created during the sixties: a booklet documenting the work chosen for the 14th Annual Type Director's Club Show of 1968 (not to be confused with …

Rick Poynor|Essays

Getting Louder: Chinese Design on the March

The “Get it Lounder” design exhibition in Shenzhen, billed as the first of its kind in China, reflected the lifestyle aspirations of its participants. Will Chinese design be able to confront social reality in more overtly …

John Thackara|Essays

"In The Bubble" Special [May 2005]

Report on the release of In the Bubble: Designing In A Complex World, talks, reading, signings, and more in support of John Thackara's book.