Design of Business | Business of Design

Dana Arnett, Kevin Bethune
S10E12: Decolonizing Design
Decolonizing Design: A Cultural Justice Guidebook is a guidebook to the institutional transformation of design theory and practice by restoring the long-excluded cultures of Indigenous, Black, and People of Color communities.


Kaleena Sales, Omari Souza
S10E11.5: Minisode
Kaleena Sales and Omari Souza discuss past episodes featuring Kunal Kapoor and Dori Tunstall.


Dana Arnett, Kevin Bethune
S10E11: Dori Tunstall
Dr. Elizabeth “Dori” Tunstall is the Dean of the Faculty of Design at Ontario College of Art and Design.


Dana Arnett, Kevin Bethune
S10E10: Kunal Kapoor
Kunal Kapoor is chief executive officer of Morningstar.


Kaleena Sales, Omari Souza
S10E9.5: Minisode
Kaleena Sales and Omari Souza discuss past episodes featuring Norman Teague and Kim Erwin.


Dana Arnett, Kevin Bethune
S10E9: Kim Erwin
Kim Erwin is the Director of the Equitable Healthcare Lab and Associate Professor of Practice at IIT Institute of Design.


Dana Arnett, Kevin Bethune
S10E8: Norman Teague
Norman Teague is a designer and community builder who specializes in custom furniture design.


Kaleena Sales, Omari Souza
S10E7.5: Minisode
Kaleena Sales and Omari Souza discuss past episodes featuring Richard Ting and Marcia Lausen.


Dana Arnett, Kevin Bethune
S10E7: Marcia Lausen
Marcia Lausen is Director of the UIC School of Design and founder of the Chicago office of Studio/lab.


Dana Arnett, Kevin Bethune
S10E6: Richard Ting
Richard Ting is the Vice President of Design for Revenue at Twitter.


Kaleena Sales, Omari Souza
S10E5.5: Minisode
Kaleena Sales and Omari Souza discuss past episodes featuring Perrin Drumm, and Annie Atkins.


Dana Arnett, Kevin Bethune
S10E5: Annie Atkins
Annie Atkins is a graphic props designer for film and television.


Dana Arnett, Kevin Bethune
S10E4: Perrin Drumm
Perrin Drumm is a writer, editor, and head of publishing at A24.


Kaleena Sales, Omari Souza
S10E3.5: Minisode
On this week’s minisode, Kaleena and Omari unpack the idea of branding, being branded, and choosing your own brand.


Dana Arnett, Kevin Bethune
S10E3: Vernon Lockhart
Vernon Lockhart is the Executive Director of Project Osmosis, a Chicago based design education and mentoring initiative.


Kaleena Sales, Omari Souza
S10E2.5: Minisode
On this week’s minisode, Kaleena and Omari unpack the idea of design emancipation in their classrooms, and their practices.


Dana Arnett, Kevin Bethune
S10E2: Jane Saks
Jane Saks is the President and Artistic Director of Project&, and the co-Founder and co-Artistic Director of M2M: Monuments to Movements.


Kaleena Sales, Omari Souza
S10E1.5: Minisode
Kaleena Sales and Omari Souza discuss the value of bridging a diversity of broad experience to a design team.


Dana Arnett, Kevin Bethune
S10E1: Ernesto Quinteros
Redefining the boundaries between people, products, and patients: Ernesto Quinteros, the Chief Design Officer at Johnson & Johnson.


Kaleena Sales, Omari Souza
S10E0: Introducing Our Minisode Co-Hosts
Introducing The Design of Business | The Business of Design minisode co hosts, Kaleena Sales and Omari Souza.


Dana Arnett, Kevin Bethune
S10E0: Introducing Our New Co-Hosts
A conversation between two of our new co-hosts, Dana Arnett and Kevin Bethune.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S9E12: Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
Highlights of Season 9, and new hosts Dana Arnett and Kevin Bethune.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S9E11: Avery Willis Hoffman
Avery Willis Hoffman is a writer, director, producer, and curator. Hoffman recently joined Brown University as the inaugural artistic director of the Brown Arts Initiative.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S9E10: Quemuel Arroyo
Quemuel Arroyo is the first ever chief accessibility officer at the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S9E9: Deborah Willis
Deborah Willis is an artist, curator, and a professor at New York University. Her most recent book is The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S9E8: Jan Diehm
Jan Diehm is a journalist at Polygraph and The Pudding.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S9E7: Lotenna Enwonwu
Lotenna Enwonwu is the global executive creative director at Coursera.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S9E6: Elizabeth Hargrave
Elizabeth Hargrave is an American game designer whose games include Wingspan, Mariposas, and Tussie Mussie.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S9E5: Lucia Lucas
Lucia Lucas is a baritone who made her U.S. debut in 2019 at Tulsa Opera as Don Giovanni.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S9E4: Na Kim
Na Kim is an associate creative director at the book publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S9E3: Astra Taylor
Astra Taylor is an artist, activist, and founder of the Rolling Jubilee and the Debt Collective. Her latest book is Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S9E2: Melanie Keen
Melanie Keen is the director of Wellcome Collection.


Jessica Helfand
S9E01: Ellen Mirojnick
Emmy-award winner Ellen Mirojnick has designed film costumes since the 1980s and most recently is the lead costume designer for the Netflix series Bridgerton.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S8E12: Nikil Saval
Nikil Saval is a Pennsylvania state senator and the author of Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S8E11: Allissa Richardson
Allissa V. Richardson is a journalist and an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Southern California.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S8E10: Rosanne Somerson
Rosanne Somerson is president of the Rhode Island School of Design.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S8E9: Kat Vellos
Kat Vellos is a UX designer, facilitator, and connection coach.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S8E8: Nina Cooke John
Nina Cooke John is founder and principal of Studio Cooke John, and also teaches at Parsons School of Design.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S8E7: Maurice Woods
Maurice Woods is a principal designer at Microsoft and the founder and executive director of Inneract Project.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S8E6: Lisa Nakamura
Lisa Nakamura is the founding director of the Digital Studies Institute at the University of Michigan.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S8E5: Kelly Walters
Kelly Walters is the founder of the multidisciplinary studio Bright Polka Dot and an assistant professor of communications design at Parsons School of Design.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S8E4: Ari Melenciano
Ari Melenciano is an artist, creative technologist, educator, and the founder of Afrotectopia, a social institution fostering interdisciplinary innovation.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S8E3: Maxwell Anderson
Maxwell Anderson is the president of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation and Community Partnership.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S8E2: Deanna Van Buren
Deanna Van Buren is the co-founder of Designing Justice Designing Spaces, a nonprofit working to end mass incarceration by building an alternative infrastructure.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S8E1: Maurice Cherry
Maurice Cherry is the host of Revision Path and the principal and creative director at Lunch.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S7E12: Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe is a singer, songwriter, actor, and producer.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S7E11: Paola Antonelli
Paola Antonelli is senior curator of the department of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S7E10: Elizabeth Alexander
Elizabeth Alexander is president of the Mellon Foundation.



Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S7E09: Mark Bloomfield + Shaun Borstrock
Mark Bloomfield is a jewelry designer and the founder of Electrobloom. Shaun Borstrock is associate dean for business and innovation at the University of Hertfordshire.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S7E8: James Rhee
James Rhee is executive chair and CEO of the fashion brand Ashley Stewart as well as the founder and president of the investment firm FirePine Group.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S7E7: Daniella Zalcman
Daniella Zalcman is a documentary photographer and the founder of Women Photograph.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S7E6: Courtney Cogburn
Courtney Cogburn is a professor at the Columbia School of Social Work and the co-creator of 1000 Cut Journey.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S7E5: George Gendron + Patrick Mitchell
George Gendron is writer in residence at MIT’s integrated design and management program. Patrick Mitchell runs Modus Operandi Design.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S7E4: Vivianne Castillo
Vivianne Castillo is senior design researcher at Salesforce.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S7E3: Sara Hendren
Sarah Hendren is an artist, design researcher, and professor at the Olin College of Engineering.


Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt
S7E2: Gene Lee
Gene Lee is senior vice president of customer experience and design at Mailchimp.


Jessica Helfand, Ellen McGirt
S7E1: Caroline Wanga
Caroline Wanga is chief culture, diversity, and inclusion officer and vice president of human resources at Target.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
From the Archive: Georgia Lupi
Giorgia Lupi is a partner in the design firm Pentagram and an artist whose data-driven work is at MOMA in New York.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
From the Archive: Forest Young
Forest Young is head of design and a global principal at the branding consultancy Wolff Olins who recently completed the Uber redesign.


Michael Bierut, Jessica Helfand
From the Archive: Lee Moreau
Lee Moreau is Vice President of Design at EPAM Continuum, a global design and innovation consultancy based in Boston. He is also a visiting lecturer at MIT where he teaches design strategy and innovation.


Michael Bierut
S6E12: Todd Bracher
Todd Bracher is founder and creative director of Todd Bracher Studio.


Michael Bierut
S6E11: Valerie Casey
Valerie Casey is head of design at Walmart.


Michael Bierut
S6E10: Bon Ku
Dr. Bon Ku is assistant dean for health and design at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.


Michael Bierut
S6E9: Isolde Brielmaier
Isolde Brielmaier is the executive director of arts culture and community at Westfield World Trade Center.


Michael Bierut
S6E8: Mauro Porcini
Mauro Porcini is chief design officer at PepsiCo


Michael Bierut
S6E7: Valla Vakili
Valla Vakili is head of Citi Ventures Studio, an incubator for financial services.


Michael Bierut
S6E6: Archie Lee Coates IV
Archie Lee Coates IV is a founder of multidisciplinary creative studio Playlab, Inc., and executive director of Friends of +POOL.


Michael Bierut
S6E5: Kerby Jean-Raymond
Kerby Jean Raymond is the founder and CEO of the fashion label Pyer Moss.


Michael Bierut
S6E4: Reneé Seward & Chester Jenkins
Reneé Seward teaches communication design at the University of Cincinnati and is the founder of See Word Reading. Chester Jenkins is a partner in Constellation, which creates new typefaces, and Village, a coop that publishes them.


Michael Bierut
S6E3: Cindy Chastain
Cindy Chastain is senior vice president of customer experience and design at Mastercard.


Michael Bierut
S6E2: Billie Tsien
Billie Tsien is the co-founder of Tod Williams Billie Tsien architects, which works on buildings for museums, universities, and the Obama Presidential Center.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S6E1: Errol Morris
Errol Morris is a filmmaker whose documentaries include Gates of Heaven, The Thin Blue Line, and American Dharma.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S5E12: Dmitri Siegel
Dmitri Siegel is vice president of global brand at Sonos.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S5E11: Renata Souza
Renata Souza Luque is the creator of Thomy, an insulin kit for children with Type 1 diabetes.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S5E10: Eddie Opara
Eddie Opara is a multidisciplinary designer and a partner at the design firm Pentagram.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S5E9: Manuel Lima
Manuel Lima is a UX design manager at Google and the founder of the website Visual Complexity.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S5E8: Todd Waterbury
Todd Waterbury is the chief creative officer of Target.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S5E7: Susannah Drake
Susannah Drake is the founder of DLANDstudio, a landscape architecture and urban design firm.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S5E6: Lorna Solis
Lorna Solis is the founder and CEO of Blue Rose Compass, a nonprofit that helps gifted refugees develop their potential.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S5E5: Forest Young
Forest Young is head of design and a global principal at the branding consultancy Wolff Olins.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S5E4: Mariana Amatullo
Mariana Amatullo teaches strategic design and management at Parsons School of Design at The New School.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S5E3: Ellen Lupton
Ellen Lupton is the curator of contemporary design at Cooper Hewitt, the Smithsonian Design Museum.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S5E2: Jon Iwata
Jon Iwata is executive in residence at the Yale School of Management and a senior advisor to IBM.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S5E1: Lisa Smith
Lisa Smith is vice president of brand design at Chobani.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
From the Archive: Ashleigh Axios
When Ashleigh Axios joined the White House’s Office of Digital Strategy in 2012 she wasn’t sure how she would fit in.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
From the Archive: Leslie Koch
A conversation with Leslie Koch, who revitalized Governor’s Island, an abandoned military post in New York Harbor into a public park.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
From the Archive: Deborah Berke
Deborah Berke is the founding partner of Deborah Berke Partners, designer of 21c Museum Hotels, and the Dean of the Yale School of Architecture.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
From the Archive: Audrey Gelman and Emily Oberman
Audrey Gelman is co-founder and CEO of The Wing, a social club and co-working space for women. Pentagram partner Emily Oberman worked on the brand identity.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
From the Archive: Neri Oxman
Neri Oxman leads the Mediated Matter research group at the MIT Media Lab. She treats art, science, and engineering as part of design.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
From the Archive: Danny Meyer and Paula Scher
Danny Meyer is the founder of Shake Shack. Paula Scher designed its graphic identity.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S4E12: Jessica Dimmock
Jessica Dimmock is a photographer and filmmaker. Her latest project is the Netflix documentary series Flint Town.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S4E11: Andrew Essex
Andrew Essex is the author of “The End of Advertising: Why It Had to Die, and the Creative Resurrection to Come.”


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S4E10: Abbott Miller
Abbott Miller is a partner in the design firm Pentagram.


Michael Bierut, Jessica Helfand
S4E9: Karin Fong
Karin Fong is a founding member of Imaginary Forces, a creative company specializing in visual storytelling and brand strategy.


Michael Bierut, Jessica Helfand
S4E8: Somi Kim
Somi Kim is senior director of healthcare solutions at Johnson & Johnson Design.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S4E7: Lisa Strausfeld
Lisa Strausfeld is an information architect and data visualisation pioneer. Her studio is InformationArt.


Michael Bierut, Jessica Helfand
S4E6: Margaret Gould Stewart
Margaret Gould Stewart is vice president of product design at Facebook.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S4E5: Heather McIntosh Cassano
Heather McIntosh Cassano is director of user experience at Google, leading a team focused on workplace apps.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S4E4: Ben Watson
Ben Watson is the chief creative officer of Herman Miller, the furniture and workspace design company.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S4E3: Arthur Cohen
Arthur Cohen is CEO and co-founder of LaPlaca Cohen, a strategy, design, and marketing firm for the cultural world.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S4E2: Kevin Bethune
Kevin Bethune is vice president of Strategic Design at BCG Digital Ventures.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S4E1: Stella Bugbee
Stella Bugbee is the editor in chief and president of New York Magazine’s The Cut.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S3E12: Vishaan Chakrabarti
Vishaan Chakrabarti is the founder of Practice for Architecture and Urbanism and the author of A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for Urban America.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S3E11: Melissa Harris
Melissa Harris is editor at large of the Aperture Foundation and the author of A Wild Life: A Visual Biography of Photographer Michael Nichols.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S3E10: Randy Hunt
Randy Hunt is the head of design at Artsy and the former VP of Design at Etsy.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S3E9: Natasha Jen
Natasha Jen is a partner in the design firm Pentagram.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S3E8: Ravi Naidoo
Ravi Naidoo is the founder of Interactive Africa as well as Design Indaba, an annual conference in Cape Town.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S3E7: Liz Danzico
Liz Danzico is creative director for NPR, where she guides both visual design and user experience.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S3E6: Scott Frankel + David Korins
Scott Frankel composes musicals including Grey Gardens and War Paint. David Korins designed the sets for War Paint, Hamilton, and many other productions.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S3E5: John Maeda
John Maeda is global head of computational design and inclusion at Automattic and the author of the annual Design in Tech report.


Michael Bierut, Jessica Helfand
S3E4: Timothy Geithner
Timothy Geithner was Secretary of the Treasury from 2009 to 2013. He chairs the Program on Financial Stability at the Yale School of Management.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S3E3: Lucienne Roberts
Lucienne Roberts runs the studio LucienneRoberts+ and the publisher GraphicDesign+.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S3E2: Claire Weisz
Claire Weisz is is the principal-in-charge of WXY, an architecture and design practice focused on innovative approaches to public space, structures, and cities.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S3E1: Giorgia Lupi
Giorgia Lupi is the co-founder and design director of Accurat, a data-driven studio, and an artist whose work is at MoMA.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S2E12: Dana Arnett + Patrick Palmer
Dana Arnett is a vice chairman and a founding partner of VSA Partners, a branding and marketing company based in Chicago. Patrick Palmer leads the strategy practice at VSA.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S2E11: Khoi Vinh
Khoi Vinh is a principal designer at Adobe.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S2E10: Robert Brunner
Robert Brunner is a founder of Ammunition, a design firm based in San Francisco. He has designed products from the Apple PowerBook to Beats by Dre headphones.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S2E9: Ashleigh Axios
Ashleigh Axios is the design exponent at Automattic and a former creative director for the White House’s Office of Digital Strategy.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S2E8: Teddy Blanks
Teddy Blanks is a co-founder of CHIPS, a Brooklyn-based design studio, who specializes in film titles.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S2E7: Grace Jun
Grace Jun is the executive director of Open Style Lab, a nonprofit that aims to make fashion accessible to people with disabilities.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S2E6: Michael Rock
Michael Rock is founding partner and creative director of 2x4, a global design consultancy. He has worked with brands including Nike, Prada, Target, and Kanye West.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S2E5: David Rockwell
David Rockwell is the founder and president of the architecture and design firm the Rockwell Group and a theatrical set designer.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S2E4: Lee Moreau
Lee Moreau is a principal at Continuum, a global innovation design firm.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S2E3: Bobby C Martin Jr
Bobby C. Martin, Jr., is a founding partner of the agency OCD | The Original Champions of Design.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S2E2: Neri Oxman
Neri Oxman leads the Mediated Matter research group at the MIT Media Lab.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S2E1: Audrey Gelman and Emily Oberman
Audrey Gelman is co-founder and CEO of The Wing, a social club and co-working space for women. Pentagram partner Emily Oberman worked on the brand identity.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S1E12: Teddy Goff
Teddy Goff was the digital director for Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection effort and an adviser to Hillary Clinton in 2016.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S1E11: Steve Duenes
Steve Duenes is an Assistant Editor at The New York Times who oversees a team of visual journalists.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S1E10: Danny Meyer and Paula Scher
Danny Meyer is the founder of Shake Shack. Paula Scher designed its graphic identity.


Michale Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S1E9: Jay Parkinson
Dr. Jay Parkinson is the founder of Sherpaa, an online medical practice.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S1E8: Leslie Koch
Leslie Koch was the president and CEO of the Trust for Governors Island.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S1E7: Susan Sellers + Cynthia Round
Susan Sellers was creative director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Cynthia Round was its senior vice president of marketing and external relations.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S1E6: Douglas Powell
Douglas Powell is a Distinguished Designer at IBM. He directs a global effort to bring human-centered design to IBM.


Michael Bierut, Jessica Helfand
S1E5: Bruce Cohen
Bruce Cohen is an Oscar-winning film producer and president of the board of directors of the American Foundation for Equal Rights


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S1E4: Barry Nalebuff
Barry Nalebuff teaches at the Yale School of Management. His specialty is game theory and its application to business strategy.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S1E3: Deborah Berke
Deborah Berke is the founding partner of Deborah Berke Partners, the architect of the 21c Museum Hotels, and the Dean of the Yale School of Architecture.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S1E2: Molly Barton and Julian Yap
Molly Barton and Julian Yap are cofounders of Serial Box Publishing, which develops original episodic fiction.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S1E1: John Bielenberg
John Bielenberg is a designer, entrepreneur and imaginative advocate for a better world.


Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
S1E0: Trailer
A quick preview of Season 1, with Michael Bierut, Jessica Helfand, and a few of their guests.



Observed


Turns out, Thomas Edison once tried to claim credit for an invention created by the most prolific Black inventor of the 19th century because, of course he did. Granville T. Woods was the first to patent the induction telegraph, which allowed moving trains to send messages to stations. Edison lost a nuisance suit he filed against Woods over the patent, but the world got the last laugh: Woods is still widely known as the “Black Edison.”  

The 2023 winners of the Prototypes for Humanity Awards honor innovations in the design and development of synthetic yeast, weed-generated plastic alternatives, and an app called Kapak that flags suspicious procedures and raises awareness about corruption risks. 

Humorist, cartoonist and unparalleled observer of ennui, Roz Chast also does embroidery.

Now that human-centered design has had its moment—let's all say a big hello to LOON-CENTRIC DESIGN.

"Every aspect of her—her voice, her carry. her tone, her charisma—all these things spoke to me visually and sonically," observes designer, sculptor, and afrofuturist Angelbert Metoyer. His statue, I am Barbara Jordan, was unveiled last weekend in Houston. And in Pittsburgh, Daniel Liebeskind reflects on his monument honoring the victims of the 2018 synagogue attack. “It’s not a cemetery,” notes the architect." It has to be an affirmation of life.”

Design, as a professional field, feels broken to some practitioners. A new book, What Design Can’t Do: Essays on Design and Delusion by Lisbon-based designer and writer Silvio Lorusso, offers sanctuary. “What was once a promising field rooted in problem-solving has become a problem in itself,” he writes. “The skill set of designers appears shaky and insubstantial – their expertise is received with indifference, their know-how is trivialised by online services…If you see yourself as a designer without qualities; if you feel cheated, disappointed or betrayed by design, this book is for you.”

Designers are podcasting now! (We know, we know.)

Is it a car? Is it an art installation? Behold solar designer Marjan van Aubel's genre-bending sculptural interpretation of the Lexus Future Zero-emission Catalyst (LF-ZC) concept car.

Art Basel Miami Beach: ain’t nothing but a party

Mice, evidently, are now self-aware. (Which may explain why none are running for U.S. president.)

Leading us ever closer to a landfill-free circular economy, designers are turning to waste as an increasingly flexible material. Using fruit peel, orange seeds, and coffee ground waste collected from businesses in Italy, Krill, a Milan-based design firm, creates products that can be redistributed to the same businesses for use in their offices, instead of furniture made from common plastics. They've created (and patented) a plastic-like biomaterial they call Rekrill: it's fully organic, biodegradable, and can be used over and over again. (Spoiler: it's also expensive.)

Volkswagen, Volvo, Chrysler, BMW, Porsche, Bugatti, Audi, Ford, Kia, General Motors, and Mercedes-Benz all have male design heads, yet women buy more than 60 percent of all new cars sold in the Unted States. Will the rise in the design and production change all that? Debatable.

How Samuel Ross thinks about the design of a park bench as an opportunity to “house” the body.

Did you know that the humble graham cracker was once a symbol of dietary restraint? That chewing gum was once a substitute for rubber? That away from the bar cart, brandy has been used as a cardiac catalyst and a sedative? Design (and intentionality) in food and flavor profiles: a compendium!

The entirety of Logan Airport's candy apple red Terminal E was designed around the concept of efficiency, for travelers and airport workers alike. A curvy structure boasting floor to ceiling windows, ultra-high ceilings, and literally no right angles in sight, Spanish architect Luis Vidal has introduced an iconic structure painted a prismatic red and clad in more than 52,000 square feet of something called photovoltaic glass. (Which, as it turns out, generates its own electricity.) Internal innovations include a sensory room, a space for anxious fliers or neurodivergent travelers who might need a visual and auditory respite from a bustling terminal. “Airports are the cathedrals of the 21st century,” observes the architect. “They serve as the main gateway of countries, requiring a bold presence to leave a positive and lasting impression on the traveler. They must be design-focused because ultimately, everything in a well-designed airport revolves around the freedom of the passenger.”

Through December 16, The Italian Cultural Institute in Lima, Peru is exhibiting a series of posters designed by graphic designers and artists between 1923 and 2022, which collectively tell the story of the 23 editions of the Triennale Milano International Exhibition to date. (You can explore the posters online here.)

Nigerian designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello is an empath, an optimist, and an (aptly) self-described archivist. In addition to his own robust and increasingly global practice, his personal research project (entitled Africa – A Designer)  will be exhibited in Europe next summer. The project looks to document and archive unauthorized Indigenous designed objects that have found their way into our daily lives. 

Long-time Design Observer contributor (and self-professed "student of mall history") Alexandra Lange reviews The Well, a mixed-use space in Toronto. “The result,” Lange observes, “is a bit like adaptive reuse gone Vegas: bigger, smoother, and more mechanically “different” from building to building than a neighborhood that has grown organically.”

An overwhelming amount of media is disproportionately owned by a uniform, wealthy class of global industrialists. Which makes Nukhu—a model and forum for community minded cinema, based in New York—an etraordinary thing to behold. Founded in 2016 by Sanjay Singh, Nukhu's mission empowers independent BIPOC artists and in so doing, nurtures an enlightened artistic community. In an industry where financial backing and recognition remain formidable challenges for independent filmmakers, Nukhu emerges as a beacon of hope and empowerment, standing at the forefront of a movement dedicated to facilitating opportunities and reshaping the narrative for independent artists. (Read more about their Nukhu-powered celebration—called Nukhufest—here.)

Climate TRACE (Tracking Real-time Atmospheric Carbon Emissions) is a global coalition of nonprofits, tech companies, and universities working to make meaningful climate action faster and easier by independently tracking greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, harnessing satellite imagery and other forms of remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and data science expertise to identify human-caused GHG emissions when and where they happen. The website is fast, responsive and frankly, brilliant.

Also in Miami this week, the Japanese female wrestling league Sukeban will be taking over Miami’s Lot 11 Skatepark for one night only to crown its first-ever World Champion. (Stream it here.) In Japanese, Sukeban translates as “delinquent girl,” a nod to the female equivalent of the male banchō in Japanese culture. According to Olympia Le-Tan, a fashion designer and the league’s creative director, the importance of projecting each wrestler’s personality and character through their costume was crucial. (Don't miss the belts.)

Remember Tilly Talbot—billed as the world's first AI designer? She was first announced by our friends at Dezeen last spring, made an appearance at Milan Design Week and beginning today, is “in residence” at The Standard in Miami, for Miami Art Week. Tilly—a bot—was invented by Snoop Studio founder Amanda Talbot after “pondering the relationship between AI and human loneliness, programming her under the studio’s principles of human-centered design that prioritizes nature.” Adds the human Talbot: ”Tilly will challenge you on materials." 

Seventh-generation Diné (Navajo) designer, textile artist, and weaver (and according to her Instagram, part time skater and model) Naiomi Glasses is the inaugural artist in residence … at Ralph Lauren.

The 22nd annual ArtReview 100 is here — click through for an eclectic and inspiring array of artists, many of whom use their platforms to speak truth to power. Photographer Nan Goldin tops the list; her most recent work has been dedicated to exposing the art world’s complicity in the opioid epidemic by accepting money from the Sackler family.  

Love Odih Kumuyi offers an excellent blueprint for designing meetings for inclusion and innovation. It’s all about the psychological safety. “Based on current dynamics or past experiences, individuals have a generalized sense of whether their voices will be received with respect or silenced and dismissed. Leaders asking for individuals to vulnerably share ideas must carefully curate an environment where the rules of engagement are in alignment with principles of psychological safety.” 

The controversial president of the COP28 climate summit, Sultan Al Jaber, does not seem to be on board with fossil fuel targets. “[P]lease, help me, show me a roadmap for a phase-out of fossil fuels that will allow for sustainable socio-economic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves,” he said at last month's She Changes Climate summit. 

London-based designer Brendan Callaghan obscures typography through a series of imagined destinations in his project, Untold Roads—an exquisite site for adventurers—or, frankly, for anyone who appreciates a beautifully articulated demonstration of what happens when form reinforces content. See the case study here.

In Boston, Northeastern University is looking for a full-time Professor in Design, Civic/Social Values and Democracy. Details here.

Minnesota flag finalists' entries into a statewide competition all reflect common themes and elements: all of them have a star, a nod to the state's motto "L'Etoile du Nord," and some shade of blue (for the land of 10,000 lakes). FairVote Minnesota—an organization which advocates for implementing ranked choice voting—conducted the election, and more than 12,000 people cast their vote. Here's the winner.

The first graphic appeared on a Kansas plate in 1942, with sunflowers on the lower left and right sides. Since then it's been a wild ride. (If you're late to the Plategate party, here's a primer.)



Jobs | December 09