![](/media/images/40162-decade1.png)
William Drenttel and Jessica Helfand
Graphic Design 101 by William Drenttel and Jessica Helfand.
![](/media/images/mondrian/11.20.11.observatory_m.jpg)
John Foster
A weekly cabinet of visual curiosities set aside for your perusal and enlightenment. This week: chairs.
![](/media/images/mondrian/vignelli_presentation_m.jpg)
Michael Bierut
A personal memory of the late designer Massimo Vignelli.
![](/media/images/mondrian/39581-dana-arnett-pat-palmer_m.jpg)
Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
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.
![](/media/images/40162-decade2.png)
Rick Poynor
Punk has two graphic histories: Punk: An Aesthetic and The Art of Punk. What conclusions do they draw?
![](/media/images/mondrian/38702-wrong-pic_m.jpg)
Jessica Helfand
If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s a painting worth? Judging from these images, it’s hard to say.
![](/media/images/39685-Brene_Brown-sq.png)
Debbie Millman
Debbie talks to author and researcher Brené Brown about belonging, courage, and vulnerability. “The very first thing I look for in you is vulnerability. And the very last thing I want to show you is my vulnerability.”
![](/media/images/mondrian/Herald_2_m.jpg)
Steven Heller
Vignelli Celebration: Steven Heller remembers the Herald.
![](/media/images/40062-The-Observatory-Episode-103.png)
Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
Notre Dame cathedral fire, Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg design systems, Mina Markham and Pantsuit, unidentifiable objects, Wesley Morris on romantic comedies.
![](/media/images/40162-decade3.png)
Adrian Shaughnessy
The part designers have played in the London riots.
![](/media/images/mondrian/skinny_525_m.jpg)
Jessica Helfand
Consider the fact that one-fifth of those suffering from anorexia will, if untreated, die from complications related to their eating disorder, and ask yourself: is less really ever more? On the visual nature of body image.
![](/media/images/mondrian/39523-hillary1_m.jpg)
Michael Bierut
The logo we designed for Hillary Clinton wasn’t clever or artful. I didn’t care about that. I wanted something that you didn’t need a software tutorial to create, something as simple as a peace sign or a smiley face. I wanted a logo that a five-year-old could make with construction paper and kindergarten scissors.
![](/media/images/40162-decade4.png)
Maria Popova
Response to Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker magazine essay, "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted."
![](/media/images/39098-SimonSinek-sq.png)
Debbie Millman
On this episode, Debbie Millman talks to Simon about the fruits of good leadership.
![](/media/images/40162-decade5.png)
Rachel Berger
Unlike the notorious 1972 Massimo Vignelli redesign of the New York City subway map, the new BART map didn't make much of a splash in graphic design circles.
![](/media/images/mondrian/40021-Caption_Justice_In_Design_by_NADAAA_m.jpg)
George Aye
I know a definition of good is missing because I’ve been asked to pinpoint it, with some fairly high stakes on the line.
![](/media/images/40162-decade6.png)
Alexandra Lange
Nicolai Ouroussoff might turn out to be the last architecture critic, which makes it even more imperative to say: He is not making a good case for keeping the breed.
![](/media/images/40162-decade8.png)
Rick Poynor
Dutch graphic design, once so original and innovative, now looks increasingly similar to everyone else's graphic design.
![](/media/images/40162-decade7.png)
Mark Lamster
I spent three days in a new entertainment complex, CityCenter, in Las Vegas. What follows is a diary of my experience in that time.
![](/media/images/mondrian/39667-Screen_Shot_2017-09-28_at_9.19.44_AM_m.jpg)
Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
The Copenhagen Letter, Mike Monteiro’s Design the Right Thing, Branded by Memory, Google Quick, Draw!, Otl Aicher’s Isny, the Trash Isles.
![](/media/images/mondrian/Saul-Bass-Pat-Kirkham-525_m.jpg)
Pat Kirkham
The evidence, scholarship and debates: Saul Bass and the famous shower scene in “Psycho.”
![](/media/images/mondrian/39799-S4E6-Margaret_Gould_Stewart_m.jpg)
Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
Margaret Gould Stewart is vice president of product design at Facebook.
![](/media/images/mondrian/Architect_Barbie_350_m.jpg)
Nancy Levinson
Architect Barbie: the world's most famous doll has a new career.
![](/media/images/39691-esther-perel-headshot_wide-ff2b7282d813d661669f3350d5da8ae4ca36c3e0.jpg)
Debbie Millman
Debbie talks to Esther about marriage, polyamory, and adultery. "Many affairs, if they were not discovered and they were left alone, they would die a natural death."
![](/media/images/mondrian/pollice_verso_m.jpg)
Michael Bierut
Michael Bierut on logo redesign outrages, what they mean, and why we should demand more.
![](/media/images/mondrian/39821-S4E10-Abbott-Miller_m.jpg)
Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
Abbott Miller is a partner in the design firm Pentagram.