Michael Bierut and Jessica Helfand on design, current events, and current enthusiasms.

The Observatory

Instagram, rainbows, digital brutalism, Design: The Invention of Desire, the Freewrite,

Episode 34: The Good, the Flat, and the Ugly

Nutrition Facts, Mark Bittman’s food rating system, colon cancer screening, Time Well Spent, Peter Arno, Flat File

Episode 35: Mind-Body Problems

Why we need a U.S. Secretary of Design, Yale SOM, Emma Cline’s The Girls, Holy Hell, Silicon Valley


Episode 36: A Seat at the Table

Brexit, borders, naming, Fiorello La Guardia and his airport, robot dogs, though leadership, Snapfax

Episode 37: Border Control

Trump-Pence, Clinton-Kaine, Black Lives Matter, The Four Seasons, mapping the brain, the video essay

Episode 38: Rough Sketches

Olympics, cursive handwriting, NASA’s secret art studio, gun sales on Facebook, #firstsevenjobs

Episode 39: Passing the Torch

Samsung v. Apple, the International Style v. capitalism, Sausage Party, mozzarella sticks

Episode 40: Food for Thought

The Napalm Girl photo on Facebook, 9/11 out of context, Apple stores and the iPhone 7 launch, the Doctor Strangelove trailer, Wiener-Dog, Pantsuit

Episode 41: Memory Loss

Bathroom signs, MBA students, Mozilla and open logo design, The Commissar Vanishes, Masters of Sex

Episode 42: Doors and Perception

Campaign fatigue, advertising and viral video, voting technology, intellectualism in the design community, the art of David Pease, the 1986 Mets

Episode 43: The End Is Near

Marcin Wichary visits the Technology Museum of Emporda, Vine, Grand Central Station vistas, deluxe composition notebooks, Errol Morris on Elsa Dorfman, bad ballot design, Grilli Type’s GT America, Transparent, Elaine Lustig Cohen.

Episode 44: In Dreams

Election night, Brand Trump and the presidency, Design That Matters, Facebook’s flawed news feed

Episode 45: I'm With(out) Her

TV party: Search Party, The Crown, Fleabag, Crisis in Six Scenes, Highston, I Love Dick, Daniella Zalcman, the fallout shelter sign

Episode 46: TV Party

Pantone’s color of the year, Time’s Person of the Year, Arrival, The Hater’s Guide to the Williams-Sonoma Catalog, Seinfeldia

Episode 47: True Colors

Lella Vignelli, John Berger, Second Avenue Subway, Jackie, La La Land

Episode 48: Lella and La La

Tattoos, Type 1 diabetes, ID cards, taking MBA students to the art gallery, Kerry James Marshall, Mark Rothko, Mike Mills, the 2017 Citizen Designer Pledge

Episode 49: My First Tattoo

The Women’s March, Parker Palmer, The Young Pope, Oreos, Girl Scout Cookies

Episode 50: What Democracy Looks Like

Behance Design Trends of 2017, George Nelson’s How to See, Michael K. Williams, W.E.B. Du Bois’ infographics

Episode 51: Vintages

Peter York on autocrat chic, Sunday in the Park with George, BBC interview with Robert Kelly, Jessica Dimmock’s The Convention

Episode 52: Dictator Style

#trypod, Dan Brown cover contest, Design in Tech, writing for designers, The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, Wes Anderson’s Bar Luce

Episode 53: On Writing Well

@the-observatory-1: Michael Bierut and Jessica Helfand on design, current events, and current enthusiasms.

@designmatters with Debbie Millman: thought-provoking conversations with industry-leading graphic designers, change agents, artists, writers, and educators. 

The Observatory

Design Observer