Observed
Ferryman—a Blackketter typeface for the contemporary reader—is the newest type family from type designer Felix Braden.
Try it yourself here.
A feel-good story about paying it forward,
one designer wedding dress at a time.
A miniskirt with a print of the Saudi Arabian flag
stirs complex emotions—and controversy.
Net-zero superyachts may sound like an oxymoron, but think again: one company is proving that
intelligent exterior design can significantly—and passively—reduce a superyacht's energy needs, and at the same time capture wind and solar energy almost invisibly.
Design justice is a framework for analyzing how design can both benefit and burden different groups of people, and how concepts of justice and equity should be considered in the context of design. MIT is
bringing this work into the classroom—as many classrooms as they can.
Lillian Gilbreth was a pioneering scientist and businesswoman who was forced to reinvent herself after her husband and business partner died in 1924. Then she revolutionized
the design of the kitchen.
Nodding to humanism and a “dash of science”, a new book just out from Rizzoli encapsulates design’s spirit—
an unwavering quest to redefine our world.
Welcome to fall! Design Observer compatriot Jarrett Fuller reviews his
favorite new design books.
Elegant, playful, speculative, and at times dystopian, Pavels Hedström wants nonhuman life to be so close as to be inescapable. He also wants to design—and build—
a better world.
Rebranding the
Irish Independent—with a harp, and the color green.
Carnegie Mellon seeks a
new head for its School of Design.
Show me on the doll where the world hurt you: The weirdly cathartic world of
TikTok’s doll roleplay community.A new book pays tribute to more than seven decades of video game design.
From MIT:
Could a new “living medical device,” made from human cells, eliminate the need for insulin jabs?
Want to teach people about the complexity of gerrymandering?
Turn it into an art exhibit.
Coffee design—yes, you read that correctly—claims to be emerging “as as a valid, urgent form of art for the modern world, as vibrant and essential as any gallery painting or sculpture work”.
Far from whimsical origami,
Fold is a research project based at Aalto University, working on industrial-scale green solutions for the paper and packaging industry. You can seem their work at Helsinki Design Week, and read more about them
here.
Veteran graphic designer Linus Bowman
highlights ten iconic Microsoft fonts to explain the company's outsized influence on type. (He also uncovers a font with a "shady" origin.) "Love them or hate them, it's impossible to deny their significance." Also:
Thanks for the memories, Calibri.
Resi is a female-led architectural tech start-up, founded by
Alex Depledge and
Jules Coleman, that’s on a mission to
change, democratize, and have a sustainable impact on the UK residential home development market.
In an effort led by Reading Rainbow star Levar Burton, more than 175 actors, authors, and activists
have signed an open letter opposing book bans in the U.S. “It’s only a matter of time before regressive, suppressive ideologues will shift their focus toward other forms of art and entertainment, to further their attacks and efforts to scapegoat marginalized communities, particularly Bipoc and LGBTQ+ folks.”
