History

Rick Poynor|Essays

The House That Design Journalism Built

Printed design magazines continue to fail and close. Where does that leave design writing and criticism?

Alexandra Lange|Essays

Welcome to the Hall of Femmes

How should we celebrate women in design, past, present, future?

Rick Poynor|Essays

Speculative Fiction, Speculative Design

The cover of England Swings SF is one of those prescient imaginative leaps that vaulted so far it disappeared from the historical record.

William Underhill|Projects

Comradettes

New women's fashion collection celebrating history of labor

Alexandra Lange|Essays

Let’s Go! World’s Fairs of the 1930s

"Designing Tomorrow" at the National Building Museum showcases the optimisim, futurism, and dreamy design ideas of the 1930s.

Rick Poynor|Essays

Lost Inside the Collector’s Cabinet

The Collector’s Cabinet at the Frederic Marès Museum in Barcelona is a mind-bending, sense-bedazzling palace of artifactual wonders.

Rick Poynor|Essays

On My Shelf: Stefan Lorant’s Lilliput

Stefan Lorant’s use of photos in pairs could be wry, funny, bizarre, whimsical, satirical and not always kind.

Julie Lasky|Essays

Chandigarh to Create Inventory of Corbu/Jeanneret Furniture

A committee convened by the government of Chandigarh, India, is assessing the value of site-specific furniture pieces designed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret a half-century ago.

Rick Poynor|Essays

Books Every Graphic Designer Should Read

The Designers & Books website has published my list of 20 indispensable books about graphic design.

Rick Poynor|Essays

Paul Stiff, the Reader’s Champion

For the late Paul Stiff, design educator, writer, editor and skeptic, typography must never neglect to serve the reader.

Steven Heller|Slideshows

Paul Rand, Painter

Paul Rand had more in common with Paul Klee than a four letter first and last name. He too, painted.

Alexandra Lange|Essays

In T: High Fiber

"Knoll Textiles, 1945-2010" opens new territory in midcentury design – upholstery – and shows us more than a few new female designers.