Design Observer

MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning is open, and it’s spectacular. “The project speaks volumes about where the design profession is heading these days,” notes Bloomberg’s Kriston Capps. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Midcentury modern design has gone from cool to cringey, says the WSJ. (Spoiler alert: it’s the millennials’ fault.) www.wsj.com/style/design...

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:

"Every minute of every day now, you’re interacting with letterforms that someone drew, someone designed, someone made decisions about..." We asked Sara Soskolne, Executive Creative Director at Monotype what she wishes people understood about typeface design: bit.ly/4jkkdzR

Ira Blossom, senior UX research manager at Google and founder of Sunday Club, spent years listening to people talk about their relationship with technology — and heard the same thing over and over. So he built a games-only, print-only newspaper. Needless to say, we're loving it. More below:

The U.S. State Department has (again) paused the processing of immigrant visas to retrain immigration officers on new guidance dictating who will be admitted. Anyone who had a pending appointment has been notified (again). www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

The Trump administration ordered warning signs hung outside Smithsonian museums flagging "inaccurate information." For one designer, it hit close to home.

Last year, a client told Siberia's co-founder something about a completed project that that his entire leadership team didn't expect. He wrote about it. 10 do's and don'ts on getting radical collaboration right: designobserver.com/radical-coll...

A phrase from Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant has become a bit of a meme of late; the problem is, he likely never said: “The intelligence of a person is measured by the amount of uncertainty they can bear.” He did introduce other cool ideas, like duty-based ethics and more:

Did Coke really need that redesign? Three experts weigh in. (Spoiler: it can work; but it’s hard; uh, yes.) www.creativebloq.com/design/brand...

Wildfires in France have driven some 250,000 people from their homes so far this summer. The fire is inching toward the Bordeaux region. “The situation remains very unfavorable,” says the French Interior Minister. apnews.com/article/euro...

We went from avoiding people who disagree to no longer needing people at all. That's the quiet impact of AI. Helder Santo, CEO for AKQA’s Americas region, on doubt, collaboration, and what happens when the second brain never gets pulled in. designobserver.com/ai-will-offe...

Customer experience quality in the U.S. fell to a new low in 2025. Fourth consecutive year of decline. The companies bucking that trend started at the top. Kate Watts on what it actually looks like to treat the customer experience as something worth designing. designobserver.com/the-design-l...

A beloved pop star married a champion football player. The big winner? Jonathan Anderson, creative director of the Parisian fashion house Christian Dior. More here: ww.fashionnetwork.com/news/Dior-be...

We asked the Design Observer community one question: what book made you a better designer? Check out our full summer reading list... designobserver.com/what-book-ma...

As America turns 250, Jessie McGuire asks: what does it mean to design belonging? From butterfly ballots to "I Voted" stickers, the tools of civic life were never neutral. Read our latest op-ed: designobserver.com/america-250-...

One Supreme Court case. Ten episodes. The inside story of Louisiana's fight over maps, power, and representation — and why it matters everywhere else too. Draw the Line, asks a simple question: who is fighting for your vote? First episode drops soon, stay tuned. open.spotify.com/show/033ztWe...

Your boss showed up with an AI-generated prototype. Your first instinct might be panic. @davesnyder.bsky.social makes the case that when everyone can make something look real, designers are the only ones who can say "no, that sucks." designobserver.com/your-boss-ma...

Google has announced new tools to let website owners opt out of AI summaries and search. At the same time, they tout the AI product that’s impossible for people to miss: “AI Overviews now has over 2.5 billion monthly active users...and people are asking Search entirely new kinds of questions..."

How technology has changed stage design over the years. “I started by drawing TV studios by hand. I brought my sketch, explained how the stage should work, and then the team built the solution in real life,” recalls Ihor Chupryna on Creativebloq: www.creativebloq.com/professional...

Your company is doing AI wrong, example 57,989. Two recent London Business School case studies suggest that finding the right product isn’t the issue, it’s a leadership design problem. www.london.edu/think/why-ai...

Mexican heritage looms large in jersey designs for the World Cup. Hugo Rosas’ new futbol jerseys draw from some of Mexico’s most iconic cultural touchstones, including papel picado, the delicate cut-paper ornaments commonly used during local celebrations. apnews.com/article/mexi...

The 2026 Sustainability Awards’ Community & Social Impact category honors architecture that prioritizes human wellbeing and equity. This award recognizes designs that foster social connection, public health, & universal accessibility. Submit your noms by June 24: www.sustainablebuildingawards.com.au

The boy who flew too close to the sun. You know the story. Jessica Helfand is painting the one you don't. The Icarus Diaries has been unfolding since February. Start from the beginning: designobserver.com/category/the...

Wait, who? A controversial statue of Caesar Rodney, signer of the Declaration of Independence who was never mentioned in Hamilton (but was in 1776) and was a busy enslaver, has been reinstalled in D.C. for America’s 250th birthday shindig. History is complicated. (Also, nobody is going to the party)

How the cookout became Black. A smart piece on the deep history of the Black cookout, from Juneteenth origins through the Great Migration. Spoiler: it’s not just about the food. (But it is also about inadequate housing.) From culinary historian Adrian Miller. www.reckon.news/black-joy/20...

Between us? Designing for fewer people might actually change more. Deborah Khodanovich makes the case that gossip isn't a guilty pleasure — it's a community design practice. Full interview: designobserver.com/in-a-world-t...

What if the most important design principle you've never heard of has been practiced in the Andes for centuries? Ayni is the Quechua word for reciprocity — a living principle of mutual care that asks a simple but profound question: what will we choose to give back? designobserver.com/designing-wi...

Still sitting on that creative project? May 29th is Release Day — a global collective deadline where creatives around the world ship their work simultaneously. Sam Furness and Creative Mornings made it happen. Who knows, the world might need what you're making...

OpenAI has a goblin problem they can’t explain. “Never talk about goblins, gremlins, raccoons, trolls, ogres, pigeons, or other animals or creatures unless it is absolutely and unambiguously relevant.” Look, we’ve all been there. bit.ly/4usoNhR

Designers make better entrepreneurs than many may think, says Vivienne Castillo. “The traits that get pathologized in corporate environments…are the exact same traits that allow entrepreneurs to build things that matter,” she writes.