Your (A)ttent(I)on, please

My attention feels splintered into a million pieces most days. And yet, when Mexican investigative journalist Chantal Flores’ pitch came across my desk, I was suddenly imbued with a single-mindedness I haven’t known since I created my (now-defunct) Facebook account in 2008. 

The resulting story, today’s Big Think, centers an arresting question: Can we tolerate the use of genAI to improve human rights, even as it threatens livelihoods and lives at scale? How would that even work? 

“Ghiblified” art, of all things, may offer some clues. 

As the trend, in which users create genAI visuals in the style of Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli, swept social media in early March (much to the chagrin of studio co-founder Hayao Miyazaki), a grassroots search collective in Jalisco, Mexico, was making a gruesome discovery: strewn belongings and crematory ovens at a suspected site of forced cartel recruitment, training, and — wrenchingly — “extermination,” Flores reports.  

Before long, the photos and videos the group had posted to Facebook to document their findings started getting the Ghibli treatment — and, with it, far more eyes than the searchers, many of whom are family members of loved ones who’ve gone missing amid Mexico’s decades-long “Drug War,” have come to expect.  

“The jarring contrast of the whimsical Ghibli aesthetic and the devastating reality it depicted drew in a public that might not normally be paying attention,” Flores writes. And when some 132,000 “disappeared” persons have been officially recorded — and far more are suspected missing — attention matters. 

Our entire editorial team, for one, is rapt. “This story just gutted me,” editor-in-chief Ellen McGirt Slacked me. “I feel like even Miyazaki would approve.”

It’s pieces like Flores’ — ones that complicate our narratives and pull our focus through critical thought, not cheap tricks — that I’m so proud to amplify through our new editorial channel: AI Observer. It’s a place to meet the moment we’re in, using the tools we’ve always relied on: reporting, conversation, critique, context, discernment, community, and play.

And it’s an invitation to pay attention. Before we pay with something even more valuable. 

“The promise can be as great as the peril,” McGirt writes in her channel introduction essay. “This is where we must step in.” 

Do we have your attention?


Delaney Rebernik
Executive Editor
Delaney@designobservercombigscoots-stagingcom-cn.b.tempurl.cc
LinkedIn
Bluesky

This edition of The Observatory was edited by Delaney Rebernik. 

The big think

Worn clothes strewn across the floor. A notebook with the nicknames of suspected (unwitting) recruits. Three crematory ovens. These were among the artifacts discovered by a search team who entered Izaguirre Ranch in Jalisco, Mexico, in early March looking for their missing loved ones. 

Following an anonymous tip, a collective of families known as the Guerreros Buscadores (“Seeker Warriors”) sifted through the dirt and uncovered evidence of tactics attributed to Jalisco New Generation Cartel, including forced recruitment, training, and alleged murder. 

This wasn’t the country’s first revelation of a suspected cartel “extermination site.” Though the Mexican government officially denies the existence of such sites, Ibero-American University has found and documented seven extermination sites and six crematoriums between 2020 and 2024, along with more than 3,000 clandestine graves since 2006. Media reports allege that victims are lured to these locations through fake job ads, then detained and, in some cases, tortured and killed if they fail to comply with orders. Unlike previous discoveries, however, the Izaguirre Ranch revelation gained widespread attention, largely due to the personal effects found there — wrenching visuals that were soon radiated far and wide by an unlikely source: AI-generated videos in the style of Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli.

Keep reading.

A pinney for your thoughts?

Okay, it’s more of a tee. And it could be yours if you 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.

Introducing ‘AI Observer’ A new channel to meet the moment we’re in, using the tools we’ve always relied on: reporting, conversation, critique, context, discernment, community, and play. By Ellen McGirt.

300,000 Black women exit: July’s gender economy in four essential data points Cooling inflation is a red herring. For the women concentrated in caregiving, hospitality, education, and healthcare, prices fell because wages and hours did, too. By Katica Roy.

Cop cities and covert communes: how architecture shapes urban conflict Human friction is inevitable, but urban practitioners have a say in whether it builds or destroys cities. By Rebecca Billi.

What’s money for? After two decades of making the wealthy wealthier, Tom Haslett walked away from Wall Street on his 40th birthday to discover what money could really accomplish. In his inaugural column, the former social impact investor reckons with his own quest to make the kinds of investments that matter. By Tom Haslett.

Curious clicks

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

Giraffe houses of the Ozarks. By John Foster.

The most viewed modernist mural in the world? Mary Blair at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. By Sean Adams.

Her story meets his story: Janet Bennett, Charles Kratka, and the long road to credit at LAX. By Louise Sandhaus.

The novel that took me down Jojo’s Rabbit hole. By Steven Heller.

On (design) bullshit. By Michael Bierut.

ISO rad collabs

Seeking nominations! Submit here.

The Design Observer 20 highlights the remarkable people, projects, and big 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 how design works. 

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

Ben Blumenfeld, investor and co-founder of Designer Fund, is hosting a free webinar for startups (and others, I imagine) looking to hire designers. Startup Playbook: How to Hire a Top Designer is a virtual session offering tips like how to find a designer to meet your needs, where to find overlooked talent, and what designers really want. Thursday, August 28, from 11am to noon PDT. Register here.

The three-day FIND Global Summit 2025 is set to open in Singapore on September 11. It promises to “explore how creativity can respond to urgent global challenges and shape more intelligent, inclusive, and impactful built environments.” Design Fair Asia, held during Singapore Design Week, has over 60 speakers from 23 countries, showcasing architectural innovation, interior design, cultural identity, and interdisciplinary practices. Pre-register by September 10 for complimentary access.

Observed

What are you observing? Tell us.

Lincoln appoints Senon Franco as exterior design chief. It’s been a time of reshuffling at the automaker, closing design studios and moving design talent back to the Dearborn, Michigan HQ. Lincoln, part of the Ford Motor Group, has tapped Franco — of Hyundai Santa Cruz and Genesis fame — to introduce a fresh design language. Franco is a graduate of ArtCenter College of Design (transportation design).

Made in the shade, by design. The University of Southern California, through the School of Architecture and the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, is launching a novel student competition focused on combating urban heat ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Graduate and undergrad students across LA are invited to participate. The competition kicks off this fall and will be held annually until 2027. “This is an opportunity for students to see their ideas come to life — not just in renderings, but in the real world,” says Brett Steele, dean of the USC School of Architecture. “Through this collaboration, we’re giving young designers a platform to tackle our urban heat challenges with creativity, responsibility, and community impact in mind.”

Speaking of heat, urban food forests are an innovative and delicious way to mitigate heat and hunger in cities. Looking at you, Dorchester. Wicked smaht. Also: Rooftop gardens and green roofs. “Cool pavement” strategies that deflect more heat and enhance water evaporation.

“On a hot summer day, there’s nothing like walking into a freezing cold office building to remind you of how much humans are modifying their environments.” In this episode of The Futures Archive podcast, host Lee Moreau and design leader Rachel Lehrer discuss how air conditioning is changing, not saving, the planet.

As the heat wave in parts of the U.S. continues, a reminder: some places are always hotter than others. Here’s more on the link between racial discrimination, design, and neighborhoods that are too hot to handle. And here’s more on urban hot spots.

Apple wants a seat at the table, specifically your table, as they prepare to expand their AI offerings to include home security cameras, smart speakers, and a tabletop robot (iPad) mounted on a movable limb so Siri can gaze lovingly into your eyes.

Arup, the global design and engineering firm, has announced a major organizational restructure, merging its East Asia and Australasia operations into a cohesive Asia-Pacific unit. The change is poised to foster talent mobility, career growth, and unified leadership across 30 offices and 6,400 employees. “Our goal is to provide a larger platform for career development, allowing our employees to grow and thrive within our organization,” says Jenny Pong, people and culture director for the APAC region.

Houston Group expands its creative leadership team. The independent branding and design consultancy has promoted Alex Toohey and Alex Creamer to senior creative roles, and reintroduced Jacquie Halloran as Design Director. Says Toohey, the new chief creative officer-partner: “This is about building the best possible conditions for creative excellence – pairing the strategic rigor we’re renowned for, with the design leadership and creative firepower to match.”

Country representatives are gathering in Geneva this week for a sixth attempt to negotiate a landmark treaty to address the spiraling plastic pollution crisis. The impasse appears to be whether to approve a requirement to ban plastic production; oil-producing nations oppose, saying that redesign, reuse, and recycling should be enough. Plastic is made from fossil fuels, but you knew that. 

The plastic crisis explained. A 2024 study found that the world creates some 57 million tons of plastic pollution each year, enough to fill New York City’s Central Park with waste as high as the Empire State Building. Much of it is generated by the Global South. This does not include plastic found in landfills or otherwise disposed of. Click through for a global map of plastic pollution.

By the way, we’ve been on this plastic thing for a while now, y’all:

“Whenever I buy something or receive a parcel, I go into apoplectic tirades about the plastic encasing of every single part of even the simplest of objects,” wrote graphic designer Marian Bantjes in 2010. Stop it, she says. “Designers, this is your job! This is what you do. This really and truly is your responsibility.” #DOarchive

“This existential rebellion notwithstanding, plastic took over the world in virtually every mass produced product and likewise became one of the world’s most unbiodegradable disposables,” wrote Steven Heller in 2018. “In the war against plastic, I’ve found that not everyone is on the same side — or equally knowledgeable.” #DOarchive

Dmitri Siegel explains why brands and designers gravitated to the now ubiquitous canvas tote. Writing in 2008, he said, “It’s difficult to pinpoint when the recent canvas tote craze really started, but there was a pivotal moment two years ago when Anya Hindmarch released the ‘I am Not a Plastic Bag’ tote in collaboration with the global social change movement We Are What We Do.” That turned the tote into a social statement. #DOarchive

All the cool kids are gerrymandering now, or more accurately, they’ve picked up the pace since Operation REDMAP successfully redrew key districts to manufacture Republican majorities in 2010. As attempts to further redesign Texas voting districts draw ire from other state leaders, it’s worth remembering what this means for real people: disenfranchised voters, racial discrimination, and bizarre political outcomes.

Gerrymandering is used to favor one political party in a given district and has long been used as a design tool to marginalize communities of color, specifically. Here’s a helpful visual explainer of how it works. Districts have also become far larger than is democratically tenable, with an average of 760,000 residents. (Would smaller districts yield fairer votes? Yes, says this non-profit.) Princeton’s Gerrymandering Project has a Redistricting Report Card for each U.S. state. Hey! It turns out there’s non-biased software available to help fairly redraw districts and score ones that already exist. Haven’t heard of it? Huh. That’s weird.

Gerrymandering, the game! Matthew Petering, associate professor in the College of Engineering & Applied Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, created a board game and puzzle book called DISTRIX that helps people understand the very real issues that gerrymandering presents. The puzzle book frames the problem, and the board game offers solutions, Petering says. “I’ve spent most of my career teaching students how to make industrial systems more productive and efficient,” he explains. “But what about our political system? Many people now believe that our political system is inefficient. In other words, it’s not very representative, and gerrymandering is one of the reasons.”

On August 12, 1958, 57 jazz artists were assembled on and around the stoop at 17 East 126^th Street in Harlem for a once-in-a-lifetime photo, including Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Mary Lou Williams. The image, “A Great Day In Harlem,” was taken by Art Kane for Esquire; its making was later turned into a documentary. Only saxophone legend Sonny Rollins is still alive. “It just seemed like we weren’t appreciated … mainly because jazz was a Black art,” Rollins said in a 2024 interview. “I think that picture humanized a lot of the myth of what people thought jazz was.”

“I knew I was dissatisfied.”  Why 28-year-old rising star jazz artist Sonny Rollins eschewed his rising fame and spent the better part of two years playing his sax alone, to the sky, on the Williamsburg Bridge. We’re all just one unofficial Bridge residency away from creative ascension. Right?

The huarache caper. Mexican authorities have accused global sportswear company Adidas of copying a signature design from Zapotec artisans in the southern state of Oaxaca for a new line of sandals. President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo said Adidas was already in talks with officials to provide compensation to the communities whose work was appropriated. Huaraches, the style at the center of the dispute, are part of the cultural heritage of the Zapotec people and a vital source of jobs and income. Adidas has issued a formal apology.

Rise and grind, techies. The era of fresh juice, free dry cleaning, and hefty holiday bonuses is over, says Silicon Valley reporter Kate Conger. “Now the behemoth firms have aged into large bureaucracies. While many of them still provide free food and pay well, they have little compunction cutting jobs, ordering mandatory office attendance and clamping down on employee debate.”

Dribbble takes a blow. The marketplace for designers has alienated its base by banning power users, including one of its most well-known designers. Gleb Kuznetsov, founder of the San Francisco-based design studio Milkinside, is responding to his de-platforming by building his own competitor. “I brought 100,000+ monthly users. 15 years of work. 12,000+ shots. All instantly deleted, because a client asked for my email. One warning. No appeal,” he posted on X.

Working for a living

Qurlife is hiring a Full-Time Packaging & Product Designer.(Remote or Onsite in Brooklyn, NY)

Qurlife is a fast-growing health, wellness, and beauty products company. We develop and manufacture consumer packaged goods for major retailers across the USA and internationally.

VML LLC is looking for an Associate Design Director. (Remote or Onsite in New York, NY)

This Associate Director will design and craft identity projects, such as logos, brands, visual languages, and full brand identity systems with exploration and imagination.

See more design jobs.

Yesterday and today

Back in 2018 — four years before OpenAI unleashed ChatGPT on the masses — Ken Gordon reviewed the book Machine | Platform | Crowd for Design Observer and engaged with its exploration of software that can sketch, analyze, and optimize free from the biases of human designers.

Gordon’s take on this “generative design” feels uncannily current: proof that our biggest questions about AI, creativity, and livelihood aren’t altogether new, just newly urgent. And, on this debut day for AI Observer, his piece offers hope that some of the path forward might very well be illuminated by our past.

— Sheena Medina, Managing Editor

This is the web version of The Observatory, our (now weekly) dispatch from the editors and contributors at Design Observer. Want it in your inbox? Sign up here. While you’re at it, come say hi on YouTube, Reddit, or Bluesky — and don’t miss the latest gigs on our Job Board.