Media

Michael Bierut|Essays

The Graphic Glass Ceiling

A week ago, I was the moderator of a panel discussion at the 92nd Street Y with Milton Glaser, Chip Kidd and Dave Eggers. Afterwards, someone asked, "Why do you — all three of you — suppose there are so few female graphic …

Dmitri Siegel|Essays

M...O...T...I...O...N

Frames from Kaboom, PES, 2005The work of two young directors, Kris Moyes and PES, reminds us that moving pictures of all kinds rely on manipulating the gaps between...moments...of...perception. Moyes and PES have both created exuberant …

Jessica Helfand|Essays

How Hollywood Nailed The Half-Pipe

Pixar and Animal Logic have mastered a particularly persuasive (and as it turns out, rather literal) form of spin that makes Road Runner look like dryer lint.

Adrian Shaughnessy|Essays

Listomania

Spin, spread from 50 Reading Lists, 2006Lists appeal to the fetishistic instincts found in many graphic designers. Hardly surprising since the typographic rendering of a list is one of the first skills the young designer learns: or …

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

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 …

DJ Stout|Essays

Remembering Ann Richards

Cover of Texas Monthly, art directed by DJ Stout, photographed by Jim Myers, July 1992In the late spring of 1992, when I was the art director of Texas Monthly magazine, I sat down with the editorial team to brainstorm ideas for an upcoming …

Michael Bierut|Essays

Helmut Krone, Period.

One of the greatest designers that ever lived was an advertising art director: Doyle Dane Bernbach's Helmut Krone. A new book celebrates his life and work.

William Drenttel|Essays

Threat Advisory Pandemic Alert System (TAPAS)

Last week, the London airline liquid-bomb threat elevated the Homeland Security Advisory System to red, the Severe Risk of Terrorist Attacks zone. This week we're back down two stages to Elevated Risk — or yellow. We have Tom Ridge …

Michael Bierut|Essays

Where the Happy People Go

The ferociously positive letters column in Architectural Digest magazine demonstrates that design can make people almost unnervingly happy.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

The Right Stuff

Illustration by Nick Dewar, 2004.I once worked for a man who marched past my cubicle each morning shouting "Coffee!" without so much as a sidelong glance in my direction. Each day for nearly eight months I did indeed get him his coffee, …

Jessica Helfand|Essays

The Right Stuff

Illustration by Nick Dewar, 2004.I once worked for a man who marched past my cubicle each morning shouting "Coffee!" without so much as a sidelong glance in my direction. Each day for nearly eight months I did indeed get him his coffee, …