Design Observer is a website devoted to a range of

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

topics including

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscip ...

social innovation Social innovations are new social practices that aim to meet social needs in a better way than the existing solutions,Howaldt, J./ Schwarz, M"Social Innovation: Concepts, research fields and international trends" IMO international monitoring, 201 ...

urbanism Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, which is the profession focusing on the physical design and ...

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

, and

criticism Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. , ''"the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the good or bad q ...

. The content of the site includes essays, articles, reviews, blog posts, and

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer revie ...

ed scholarship. It is the host of the

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

and

urban design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban d ...

publication '' Places'' (formerly a print

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and ...

) and the

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

'' Design Matters'' with

Debbie Millman Debbie Millman is an American writer, educator, artist, curator, and designer who is best known as the host of the podcast '' Design Matters''. She has authored six books and is the President Emeritus of the American Institute of Graphic Arts ...

. Four prominent design writers founded the site in October 2003: Rick Poynor was the founder and first editor of London-based '' Eye'' magazine, in addition to being author of many books; Michael Bierut is a partner in the New York office of

Pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle arou ...

and is a design critic at Yale School of Art;

Jessica Helfand Jessica Helfand (born 1960 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a designer, author, and educator. She is a former contributing editor and columnist for Print, Eye and Communications Arts magazine, and founding editor of the website Design Observer. S ...

is also a critic at Yale and is author of numerous books; the late

William Drenttel William Drenttel (October 14, 1953 – December 21, 2013) was a designer, author, publisher, social entrepreneur and foundation executive. In 2012, he was the president o vice president of communications and design for Teach For All, co-direc ...

(1953 - 2013) was a designer, critic and partner with

of Winterhouse Studios in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

. Frequent contributors over the years have included; Steven Heller, John Foster, Adrian Shaughnessy, Dmitri Siegel,

Alice Twemlow Alice Twemlow is a writer, critic and educator from the United Kingdom whose work focuses on graphic design. She has been a guest critic at the Yale University School of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and Rhode Island School of ...

Tom Vanderbilt Tom Vanderbilt (born 1968) is an American journalist, blogger, and author of the best-selling book, ''Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)''. His traffic book was published on November 13 2009, made in various parts of ...

Lorraine Wild Lorraine Wild (born 1953, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian-born American graphic designer, writer, art historian, and teacher. She is an AIGA Medalist and principal of Green Dragon Office, a design firm that focuses on collaborative work with ar ...

, Rob Walker, Alexandra Lange, Mark Lamster,

John Thackara John Thackara (born 6 August 1951, Newcastle upon Tyne) is a British-born writer, advisor and public speaker. He is known as curator of the celebrated Doors of Perception conference for 20 years, which started in Amsterdam. He is a senior fellow ...

, Véronique Vienne,

Julie Lasky Julie Lasky is an American journalist, editor and critic best known for her writings on design and popular culture. From 2012 to 2015, she was the deputy editor of '' The New York Times'' weekly "Home and Garden" section, for which she wrote a mont ...

and more. In 2016, Design Observer and

AIGA The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity ...

joined forces to work in collaboration as a larger online platform for design.

References

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External links

Design ObserverPlaces JournalDesign Matters
Graphic design Design magazines Online magazines published in the United States Architecture websites Academic works about urban studies and planning Magazines established in 2003