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.

Also discussed:
• By Design: Why There Are No Locks on the Bathroom Doors in the Hotel Louis XIV and Other Object Lessons by Ralph Caplan
• The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
• Michael Massimi on Thanatosensitivity
• Jon Mooallem on Paul Bennett redesigning death in California Sunday
• Brendan Kiley on Katrina Spade’s Urban Death Project
• The New York Times on Trying To Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning by Spencer Finch
• Blue: Color and Concept at the Beinecke library
• Blue Times at the Kunsthalle Vienna
• Manual: Blue from the RISD Museum
• Jessica’s course on blue

Home page image: Mr. Fincher’s watercolor blues. Credit Michael Kirby Smith for The New York Times