The Observatory Newsletter

Jessica Helfand|Audio

New Horizons

Pluto is at the outer limits of the solar system. Porto is at the end of Europe.

Jessica Helfand|Audio

Places and Faces

Art, nostalgia, and community

Michael Bierut|Audio

M Is for a Million Things

Milan, Mario Batali, Michelle Obama, Moshe Safdie, Modernism, MOO (our sponsor), Michael Erard, metaphor design, Macintosh icons, Massimo Vignelli....

Michael Bierut|Audio

150 Years, 7 Minutes, 6 Seconds

Visualizing business data, a logo to mark Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation, and more.

Michael Bierut|Audio

East Meets West

Or collaboration vs. “one person making one thing at one time”

Michael Bierut|Audio

Inside the Lines

Michael and Jessica discuss the The Grid, which uses artificial intelligence to design websites, the history of grids, and the unlikely success of coloring books for adults.

Michael Bierut|Audio

The Observatory: The Inevitable

On this episode, Michael and Jessica talk about death (not taxes): how designers have to think about preventing death and representing death, and whether death is “just another design challenge.” Also, the color blue.

Michael Bierut|Audio

The Observatory: Land, Rand, Mad Men

Michael and Jessica talk about a panel they participated in at the Paul Rand exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, plus the return of Mad Men and the fate of photography giants Kodak and Polaroid.

Michael Bierut|Audio

The Observatory: Such Watch

On this episode of The Observatory, Michael and Jessica talk about Jonathan Ive, the rollout of the Apple Watch, and Michael Graves

Michael Bierut|Audio

The Observatory: FYI We Are Graphic Designers

This week, Michael and Jessica talk about graphic designers on screen, highlights from What Design Sounds Like, and Michael’s trip to Design Indaba.

Michael Bierut|Audio

The Observatory: Words, Pictures, Sounds

A few things on our minds

Michael Bierut|Audio

The Observatory: Our Favorite Things

On this episode, Jessica Helfand talks about her Paris 140 series, and Michael Bierut describes his 100 Day Project + some of the cultural highlights of the year.