The Observatory Newsletter

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 116: A Decade in Politics, A Year in Culture

101 political images of 2010s; plus Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror; Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me; Beck’s Hyperspace; Underworld’s Oblivion with Bells; The 1619 Project podcast; Esther Perel’s Where Should We …

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 115: Thick and Blunt

Donald Trump’s handwriting; Michael Bloomberg, design patron; Jessica Helfand’s Face: A Visual Odyssey; Victor Papanek’s Design for the Real World; Heather Dewey-Halborg’s DNA portraits; Bulgarian socialist graphics

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 114: Kids Today

Painting on photographs, artists v. designers, the Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno, Richard Hollis designs for the Whitechapel.

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 113: Facing the Future

Kate Crawford | Trevor Paglen: Training Humans, Derren Brown, MoMA expands again, slime mold, Gordon Salchow

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 111: The Great British Crit

The Great British Bake Off, how to crit, Wim Crouwel, Cokie Roberts

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 110: The Style of Elements

The Periodic Table of the Elements, The Death of Design Portfolios, the 1619 Project, CityLab Maps Matter

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 109: Public Legacy, Private Equity

Monotype acquired by private equity firm; Ebony archives and Johnson Publishing headquarters; Hal Prince; Ugly Gerry; Breezewood, PA

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 108: Covers

#bookcover2019 challenge, J.D. Salinger, The demise of MAD Magazine, Oskar Schlemmer’s The Triadic Ballet, Don Wall Visionary Cities

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 106: The Twenty

The large Democratic field and the first 2020 debate, Harriet Tubman on the $20, Peter Saville’s cover for Joy Division’s “Unknown Pleasures,“ Edie McClurg.

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 105: Malta, Marketing, Make-Believe

Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition, Malta, The West Wing Weekly podcast, branded empathy, Chernobyl, Caravaggio’s Beheading of St. John the Baptist

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 104: Fade to White

Facebook’s redesign, Morning Edition’s new theme, Cris Shapan, Stanley Kubrick at the London Design Museum.

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 103: Cathedrals and Candidates

Notre Dame cathedral fire, Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg design systems, Mina Markham and Pantsuit, unidentifiable objects, Wesley Morris on romantic comedies.