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06.15.16

Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand | Audio

A Seat at the Table

Michael, who worked on the Hillary logo, looks beyond the presidential campaign to the need for design sensibility in governing. Since the shaky launch of healthcare.gov, the federal government has put digital strategists and UI specialists in place, but

Is there a big picture about how government communicates with citizens and the way that citizens make their needs and desires known to government that could be enhanced by design?…

Perhaps, Michael says,

What the U.S. government needs is a Cabinet-level design post, with design defined really broadly. A Secretary of Design. And it’s not just about making sure that the lawn signs all have the right typeface…

Also mentioned this week:

Lisa Kay Solomon, Why Hillary Clinton Needs a Designer in Chief
Rise of the DEO
George Nelson
Khoi Vinh, Advice for Founders Looking to Hiring Their First Designer
Steven Brill, America’s Bitter Pill
The Times Magazine’s New York Issue
Emma Cline, The Girls
Holy Hell
Andrew Marantz, How Silicon Valley Nails Silicon Valley
Showrunners Alec Berg and Mike Judge on Fresh Air
The Conjoined Triangles of Success
The Ever-Changing Magic of Silicon Valley’s Title Sequence
Tony Hendra, Going Too Far

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More from Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand

Episode 127: Fear and Longing
Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters; Hrishi Hirway and Mike Errico; The Quiz Broadcast; Shakespeare and Co. Project

Episode 126: Screens and Dreams
Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration; Unorthodox; My Brilliant Friend; The Affair; Anil Dash on the dangers of social media; Anna Wiener on Silicon Valley; quarantine dreams

Episode 125: Zoom Aesthetics
Zoom aesthetics and COVID-19; Kyle Chayka on minimalism; Deborah Berke on shared spaces; Jessica Salfia’s poem “The First Lines of Emails I’ve Received While Quarantining”; Megan O’Grady on artistic recluses

Episode 124: That Thing You Do
Making art and design during the COVID-19 pandemic; Christoph Niemann and Daniella Zalcman; Adam Schlesinger; spec scripts for Larry David

Episode 123: Closing Doors, Opening Doors
Looking at COVID=19: Flattening the curve, Washington Post designers Harry Stevens on visualizing social distancing, Alissa Walker on how dots are people, Stephen Sondheim at 90

Jobs | December 21