“Pay us what you owe us”

I love basketball and have for as long as I can remember. I have cherished memories of running layup drills with my dad and sister in our driveway. Of traveling to Storrs, Connecticut, to watch Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi dominate the college circuit. (It really wasn’t even fair.) Of falling asleep many nights to my dad grumbling at our beloved Knicks as they fumbled yet another lead, his laments their own sort of New York lullaby.

Over the years, I learned that to be a fan is often to be angry — at your own team, at an opposing player, at the ref. But to be a fan of the WNBA in 2025 is to contend with a level of frustration beyond any I’ve experienced watching any other sport.

To be a WNBA fan is to be angry with male-driven sports media. And with people throwing “objects” on the court. And with people and bots clogging up my social media feeds with deluded explanations of why WNBA players don’t deserve to make more money.

This last one gets me especially heated. It’s why I wrote this week’s Big Think. 

In July, the 26 WNBA All-Stars showed up to their warmup wearing t-shirts that read “Pay us what you owe us.” 

It’s high time. 

The average WNBA salary in 2024 was $127,000, and the rookie salaries for top draft picks (which last year included phenoms Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark) were around $76,500. For comparison’s sake, the average NBA salary is $10 million a season.

Though the tees are buzzy — and a strategic play in ongoing negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement — they’re far from new.

For at least the last decade, WNBA players have been putting what they believe right where we can see it: on t-shirts. It’s a brilliant move. Players’ bodies are feats of athletic wonder and targets for misogynistic ire, so why not reclaim them as billboards for what they think matters most? 

Read on to learn more about the league’s most iconic protest-shirt campaigns. I hope the rundown launches you into your week feeling empowered, and maybe a little righteously angry.

We’ll see you on Tuesday after the holiday weekend.

Alexis Haut
Managing Producer
Alexis@designobservercombigscoots-stagingcom-cn.b.tempurl.cc
LinkedIn

This edition of The Observatory was edited by Rachel Paese and Delaney Rebernik. 

The big think

On a Saturday in late July, the 26 designated All-Stars of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) streamed onto the court at Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse for warmups with a bold message on their chests: Pay us what you owe us.

The emblazoned tees are the latest action in the fight for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The players, in partnership with their union, the Women’s National Basketball Player’s Association (WNBPA), opted out of their current CBA three years before it was set to expire due to a stagnant growth rate in player compensation that was established before the league’s astronomical growth over the past three seasons.

“The world has evolved since 2020, and we cannot afford to stand still. If we stay in the current agreement, we fall behind,” former league MVP and WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike told ESPN following the decision to opt out last October.

Though the players have a number of asks on the table, there is one non-negotiable: that they are paid what they are owed.

Keep reading.

Last chance! Fill out our community survey

Speaking of t-shirts, share your valuable feedback with us for a chance to win one! Fill out this short survey to help us develop reportage and resources to help you (re)design a better, more beautiful world. Click here to share your insight by 8/31 and enter our drawing.

Some fine print

Here’s a sampling of our latest and greatest from the Design Observer editorial and contributor network.

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What does AI understand about fine art? An experiment with ChatGPT reveals unsettling truths about how AI interprets artists from diverse backgrounds. By Xintian Tina Wang.

Curious clicks

Shoutout to these archival gems you’ve somehow resurfaced and been reading en masse lately. (Srsly how? And ty.)

The renewed art of embroidered photographs. By John Foster.

When design is a matter of life or death. By Michael Bierut.

An interview with Alan Rickman. By Teal Triggs.

Review: The Mysteries of France: A Gothic Guidebook. By Rick Poynor.

Seeking nominations

Do you know of any rad collabs?Submit here.

The Design Observer 20 highlights the remarkable people, projects, and ideas that are bringing a more just, beautiful world into being.

This year, we’re shining a light on Radical Collaborators — those who are breaking silos, thinking across disciplines, and redefining design. 

Is this you? Someone you know (or know of)?

Name your nominee by 9/5 for a chance a chance at fame and glory.

(Past honorees include AI truthteller Timnit Gebru, cultural changemaker Henry Timms, and global design community Games for Change.)

Happenings

Join design titansDoug Powell and Kevin Bethune for Building Diverse Design Teams, a webinar and fundraiser to benefit DESIGN=, a program from the Diversify by Design Coalition (DxD) that provides free design curricula, training, and mentorship to middle- and high-school classrooms in under-resourced communities.

“The design industry does not reflect the diversity of the world that we design for (by a long shot),” says Powell. “This is a deeply complex systemic issue involving many interconnected factors, but one thing is undeniable: when young people are exposed to design at an early age, they have a much higher chance of pursuing a design-related career.”

Building Diverse Design Teams is a free virtual event, with a suggested donation to DESIGN=. August 28 at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. Register here.

Observed

What are you observing?Tell us.

The White House has issued an executive order called “Improving Our Nation Through Better Design,” an initiative to be facilitated by a new national design studio and new chief design officer. If you apply for this job, please BCC Design Observer. Please please. 

Too late, it’s the other Airbnb co-founder. Bloomberg reported that the government’s new chief design officer is Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, who will be responsible for leading a team to do what former government redesign initiatives — like the pointlessly shuttered 18F — were already doing really well.

Ford has developed a new method for manufacturing cars that promises to reduce assembly time by 40% and decrease EV parts production by 20%. Wired’s Jeremy Wright charmingly explains the breakthrough using LEGOs.

BuT WhErE iS tHe cRaCkER wHeRe is ThE bArRel!?!? Cracker Barrel has redesigned its iconic logo, and y’all HAVE THOUGHTS. “As a brand designer that worked at @CrackerBarrel for almost 9 years, watching them commit brand suicide is… something,” posted Erik Russell on X.

The Made By Google ’25 eventbrought the whimsy, evidently. CNET approved. “Hosted by The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon in a format more like the talk show he’s famous for, the tech event included presenters and celebrity guests who didn’t look like they were delivering a script they’d been rehearsing for weeks.” Catch it all on YouTube. (Cute opener.)

Also: “Google Pixel 10 phoneswill narc on AI-edited images.” File this under headlines I wish I’d written.

The narc feature will probably come in handy. Fake stories and videos designed to spread disinformation and influence political events are becoming increasingly sophisticated. One pro-Russia propagandist, called Storm-1679 by Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center, has been spoofing high-profile organizations like ABC News, BBC, E! News, and Netflix.

A contest to boost interest in a formerly Communist, Soviet-style planned city in East Germany has stunned local officials with its success. The competition to visit Eisenhüttenstadt drew more than 1,700 applications from around the world. The two winners, one of whom is a documentary filmmaker, will be hosted for a two-week visit, and offered furnished flats, drinks with locals, and a red-carpet welcome. Eisenhüttenstadt was the first city to be founded after the Nazi period, and is based on a Socialist design model that aims to blend work and family life. Tom Hanks is a fan! And DO is a fan of stealth Socialist architecture.

As Hurricane Erin makes waveson the east coast of the US, residents in storm zones are increasingly turning to hurricane-resistant homes.

Beijing has been hit by “once in a century” floods three times since 2012. How are they preparing for a wetter future? “The current understanding of the climate crisis and its future challenges is insufficient, which naturally leads to insufficient deployment and planning,” said Jinfeng Zhou, Secretary-General of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation.

Meet the all-female creative teambehind documenta 16. The influential art show is held every five years in Germany. The next one opens June 12, 2027.

The business research analytics firm ThoughtLab has publishedAI-Powered Cities of the Future, a new report analyzing the AI plans of 250 cities worldwide. “Cities around the world face a host of challenges, from climate change, public health, and high crime to affordable housing, aging infrastructure, and inadequate transportation,” they write. “By leveraging AI technologies, cities can overcome these challenges more effectively and improve the overall quality of life for residents.” Cities leading the way include Austin, Barcelona, Beijing, Denver, Harare, New York, Seoul, and Vienna. (E-mail opt-in required.)

An online survey from a branch of the real estate companyRE/MAX has determined the 100 ugliest public buildings in the United States. More than 3,000 respondents gleefully threw buildings in Flint, Fresno, Akron, Boston, and Philadelphia under the bus. Ohio had two! “Ohio has many titles, including Ohio State as college football national champions, being home to some of the nation’s wealthiest suburbs, and … having some of the ugliest public buildings?” sighed the Cincinnati Enquirer.

MSLater… amirite?MSNBC, the once forward-thinking mashup between Microsoft and NBC, is rebranding in advance of the channel’s impending spinoff by Comcast. Introducing: MS NOW, which stands for (checks notes): my source for news, opinion, and… something starting with “w.” Didn’t know about any of this? Well, thanks to gleeful outrage over their new logo, now you do!

Yesterday and today

As WNBA players demand equity with bold messages on their warmup shirts, they carry forward a long tradition of women using design and symbolism in protest, while too often being overlooked for their contributions. 

One of our most-read archival essays uplifts the women behind the Black Panther Party logo. Dorothy Zellner, Ruth Howard, and Lisa Lyons shaped one of the most iconic symbols of Black Power, yet are rarely remembered by name. The piece is a powerful reminder that the roles of women in movements are both essential and underrecognized.

— Sheena Medina, Managing Editor