DesignObserver

Find us on Bluesky. The best conversations in design — expert-led, multidisciplinary, and for the curious mind.

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

Sit up straight when you speak her name. A new show at the Met remembers that Jackson Pollack was married to one helluva painter. Lee Krasner’s full range is on display, including tantalizing glimpses into their shared lives — as some of his rejected material finds its way into her collages. “Krasner is finally getting her due — and on her own terms,” says NPR.
https://t.co/HziU5o1Q4r

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

What’s in a stripe? About $500 million, conservatively. Adidas has sued Australian fashion brand White Fox Boutique for selling clothes featuring a four-stripe design that Adidas says is “deceptively similar to its own three-stripe trademark.” The court injunction would ask White Fox to surrender profits earned from the products. The Guardian has the numbers involved and buried the lede: the justice hearing the case is Ian Jackman, brother of Hugh. https://t.co/joWmQKW3w6

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

Where are they now? Speaking of that 2021 letter, the signatories, under the name “Business for Voting Rights,” sounded so serious at the time. “While each of our companies is unique, we are united in the belief that every American deserves a voice in our democracy.” https://t.co/EFcY3kbTTq

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

A recent report from the nonpartisan Center for Political Accountability (CPA) found that more than a dozen US corporations that signed a 2021 letter lobbying Congress to keep the Voting Rights Act are now donating to groups that undermine voting access. Nice! Looking at you, Airbnb, DoorDash, Target, and Zillow. https://t.co/6AJfwKrJRG

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning is open, and it’s spectacular. The 1894 brick storage facility is now a light-filled vision. “The project speaks volumes about where the design profession is heading these days,” notes Bloomberg’s Kriston Capps. https://t.co/2p7ISF76YC

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

Hurricane Isaias is the first Atlantic hurricane of the year and the first to hit the mainland US in two seasons. Here’s what you may have missed. https://t.co/QMvVTtCmef

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

Midcentury modern design has gone from cool to cringey, says the WSJ. (Spoiler alert: it’s the millennials’ fault.) https://t.co/78oDWsNQT7

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

Can ChatGPT help you prepare for the midterm elections? As busy voters increasingly use LLMs to research their ballots, experts are making their concerned faces. “It might select some things that would reinforce and persuade you even more towards the way that you were leaning already,” says Rafael Batista, a research fellow who studies how AI shapes the way people experience the world. “So you leave more confident, without necessarily learning more about the world.” https://t.co/vGDblFWNDY

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

There will be some casualties, and that’s okay, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tells Politico. Bad things may happen with AI in the hands of mere mortals, but that’s a small price to pay. https://t.co/E0DpUKHkIj

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

Plot twist: the Plague is back. https://t.co/dGtTUslEpm

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

Wanted: teen treehuggers. The Earth Prize is a global environmental sustainability competition that challenges teenage students to develop and submit solutions intended to accelerate positive change for environmental sustainability. Up to $104,000 in prizes, submissions by Jan 31, 2027. https://t.co/dJfVWf8yfo

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

The mad, mad world of film title design. At least, it is in Teddy Blanks’ hands. One of film’s leading title designers dishes on his work with Lena Dunham, the influences behind his Barbie lettering, and how elements from medieval manuscripts make it to the silver screen. https://t.co/dKKW8fA6SB

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

The poetry in a user interface. Ralph Earle, a retired IBM engineer, has devoted his next phase to writing poetry. “My job is to translate / dry and unrelenting code,” he begins. And yet, “My dream is to translate/ the visions of the holy ones.” Take that, Claude. https://t.co/U8okZwTtuP

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

Good packaging design can directly improve prospects for people living in low-income countries worldwide. It’s all about the waste, says a new paper from Plastic Waste Coalition of Action. https://t.co/Lk4W9GJcKH

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

AI dominated the conversation at Climate Week. “Everyone seems to agree that AI is important,” reports Casey Crownhart for Technology Review. “The big question for those in the climate world, and the conversation I’m constantly having and hearing this week, involves how you see its influence unfolding.” https://t.co/NBjrczKlu8

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

They'll sell you shapewear. They'll also make you furious. Both, it turns out, are by design. (Yup, we're talking Kardashians.)

Writer and media theorist MJ Corey, aka Kardashian Kolloquium, has built a whole career analyzing the family's media machine, tune into the full interview:
https://t.co/sNMvEoei6g

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

Flock’s going down, y’all. Amid a customer and public backlash against license plate readers specifically and surveillance tech generally, Flock has hastily opened a voluntary employee separation program, offering a “generous” severance package to employees who want to leave. According to sources speaking to Wired, many of the 1,500 employees may leave the nest. https://t.co/xXg21hjShT

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

Aperture, the non-profit publisher dedicated to photography, has a spacious new home on NYC’s Upper West Side, with a street-facing bookstore, gallery, and meeting spaces. “It’s a really different relationship with our audience than before,” says executive director Sarah Meister. https://t.co/paI3EP6TGw

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

In a galaxy far, far away… the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles opened with the most star-studded gala in the history of star-studded things. But the colossal new cultural landmark also needs defending, evidently, for its mix of “masterworks with pop culture ephemera.” Or, as WaPo puts it: Is it the end of the art museum as we know it? (No.) https://t.co/tEonwdAYaW

[DesignObserver @DesignObserver]

"Every minute of every day now, you’re interacting with letterforms that someone drew, someone designed, someone made decisions about; for now, at least, there is a human creator behind every one of them."

Sara Soskolne, Executive Creative Director at Monotype, has spent much of the last two decades inside Gotham. We asked what she wishes people understood about typeface design, answers inside: https://t.co/irAM85x7Of