Category: Essays

Lilly Smith|Essays

New Album, Old School: Branding The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach

“The appeal of my stuff is that it isn’t perfect. I don’t know how to use Illustrator. Some people are stoked by and some people are turned off by it.”

Karen Keung|Essays

Slow, Don’t Stop

More so than any other object or aesthetic, time is the ultimate luxury commodity: we always seem to be running out of it.

Steven Heller|Essays

The Commencement Address I Never Gave

There are few greater honors than to be the one who launches graduates into the world.

Christopher Calderhead|Essays

Celebrating Hand Lettering

Surely the alphabet is one of the major accomplishments of mankind, and the artistic expression of this utilitarian creation can eailsy rise to the level of fine art,

Helen Armstrong|Essays

Virtual Reality. No One Can Tell You, You Are Doing It Wrong. Yet.

For better or worse, we know how to interact with web and mobile. We understand how to design for screens. What we don’t yet know is how to engage with VR.

Steven Heller|Essays

State of the Union Rats

“Scabby,” as it is appropriately nick-named, is the labor movement’s most effective protest icon and guaranteed to grab the attention of even the most blasé passersby.

Emily Ludolph|Essays

Why One of the First Waiting Rooms Designed for Children Involved Live Birds

A hundred years ago, Kodak founder George Eastman was remarkably invested in affordable healthcare.

Michael Bierut|Essays

Thinking Like a Book Designer

The various roles a designer plays in designing a book; historian, architect, author, humanitarian, performer, editor, and mechanic.

ThoughtMatter|Essays

12 Weeks of Poster Design

Who doesn’t love a well-designed poster?

Ashleigh Axios|Essays

A Standards Manual Reprinted With a New Purpose

Can we go back to the 1977 awareness and ensure the protection of the EPA’s legacy and the environment it protects?

Lilly Smith|Essays

Emmett McBain: Art Direction as Social Equity

The freedoms that AIGA Medalist Emmett McBain conveyed through his work and that he desired for others seemed to ensure a trajectory that would veer from advertising.

Steven Heller|Essays

Being Sensitive to Insensitivity

Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner advertisement won the insensitivity prize of the week. But was this truly insensitive or silly exploitation? Or was it just the proverbial good intention that misfired?