Design + Politics

During the Beirut Protests, Artists and Designers Found New Ways to Keep People on the Streets

This piece is part of a series that looks at the past year of protests—in Hong Kong, Beirut, Delhi, and across…

Design + Politics

During the Beirut Protests, Artists and Designers Found New Ways to Keep People on the Streets

Silkscreening and live-drawing sessions helped protesters pass long hours as they occupied crucial areas of the city

Words by
Tala Safie

Published on
July 14th, 2020

Graphic design

A Peek into the Portfolios of Susan Kare, Aaron Douglas, Push-Pin Studios + More

Before 2008 AIGA Medalist Gail Anderson was Art Director for Rolling Stone or a designer for the Boston Globe or…

Design + Politics

How Protesters in Hong Kong Use Illustration to Make Their Voices Heard

This piece is part of a series that looks at the past year of protests—in Hong Kong, Beirut, Delhi, and…

Graphic design

Fruit Sticker Decals Are Like “Seals of Approval”

Welcome to Spotted, Eye on Design’s column that turns an eye on the styles and graphic trends you’re seeing everywhere.…

Design + Politics

An Interview with “Broobs,” the Artist Behind Instagram’s Favorite Political Posters

I started following @broobs.psd on Instagram on May 1, International Workers Day, after I saw several friends sharing a poster…

Design + Education

5 Tips For Perfecting Your Portfolio Presentation

This story is part of a collaboration between Eye on Design and the students at the University of Texas at…

Editors’ Picks

Op-ed

Design’s Role in Activism Can Go Deeper Than Posters and T-Shirts

We first read this piece, written by Dori Tunstall, the dean of design at OCAD University in Toronto, in a…

Design + Politics

What Does It Mean to Decolonize Design?

“Decolonization” is a word we’re increasingly hearing at design events, often being used interchangeably with “diversity.” It’s important to emphasize…

Design + Diversity

Typography as a Radical Act in an Industry Ever-dominated by White Men

Letterforms are loaded cultural objects—they often reflect the people who made them and the story they want to tell. In…

Design + Diversity

Designing an Experimental Technology Curriculum By—and For—Black Creatives

Somewhere along the long timeline of human existence, society began associating innovation with speed: faster cars, rapid test results, instant…

Design History 101

In the Late ’70s in the Bronx, PHASE 2’s Party Flyers Created a Visual Language for Hip-Hop

In the South Bronx in the 1970s, hip-hop culture was just beginning to form at large musical gatherings called jams.…

Design + Politics

Revealing the Hidden Biases in the Editorial Design of the New York Times

This article is excerpted from the first issue of Eye on Design magazine. Pick up a copy of Eye on Design #01, the “Invisible” issue, for…

Digital

How Can Designers Responsibly Use Science Fiction as Inspiration?

You’ve probably seen it a dozen times: Tom Cruise waves his hands in front of a blank, glassy screen, and…

Type Tuesday

Do We Really Need Another Grotesque? The Answer’s in the Details

Name: Forever Grotesk Designer: Anton Studer Foundry: Nouvelle Noire Release Date: May 2020 Back Story: Does the world really need any more Grotesque…

Digital

In Web Design, Accessibility Shouldn’t Be an Afterthought

“It isn’t hard to lose sight of the bigger picture for the things we help build: How could it be…

Digital

What Does It Mean to Code an Intimate Connection?

“Designed to be deleted” dating app Hinge is on a quest to get to know me on a level that other apps…

Design + Diversity

The Design Collective Taking on Structural Racism in the Industry

For Vanessa Newman, building communities is like second nature. Their most recent one, Design to Divest, is on a mission…

Digital

Can We Trust Digital Assistants to Keep Our Data Private?

Walking through the world, we leave a trail of bits and bytes in our wake. People generate an astonishing amount…

Digital

Finding the Blank Spots in Big Data

Mimi Onuoha is an artist who works mostly with algorithms, data sets, and digital systems, but her best known work…

Digital

Netflix’s UX Design is Keeping Us Up at Night

Netflix is keeping us awake. I’m not talking about its latest gameshow Awake: The Million Dollar Game, where contestants must…

Design + Sexuality

The UX of Porn Tube Sites Are Designed for the Ultimate Money Shot

This article is excerpted from the fifth issue of Eye on Design magazine. Pick up a copy of Eye on…

Digital

A Software Engineer’s Advice for Saving Social Media? Keep It Small

There’s a common refrain on Twitter that can be heard echoing across the feed any time there’s a big news…

Digital

AI Has a Real Environmental Impact—Here’s How Designers Are Handling It

One of the foundational materials of computer science is an endless piece of tape. “An unlimited memory capacity obtained in…

Digital

Calm Technology Is Staging a Comeback—Can Good Design Make it Stick?

Last week I made progress. I was down 20 minutes. Instead of spending an average of three hours a day…

Type Tuesday

How to Tackle a “Fantastic but Scary” Type Brief For Nike

Name: “Shizzle” (Unofficially, that is. The typeface doesn’t technically have a name, but this is what TwoPoints.Net cofounder Martin Lorenz…

Illustration

The Animation Studios Fostering Localized, Original Storytelling in India and Pakistan

When the animated short film Wade opens to the stillness of a Kolkata ravaged by the forces of climate change,…

Digital

TV News Doesn’t Look Like It Used To, and It’s Still Evolving

The visual design of television news has remained as busy as ever during coverage of the pandemic and protests over…

Graphic design

That’s Amore! Milton Glaser’s Very Special Family Spaghetti Recipe

Last year, we interviewed Milton Glaser for the “Gossip” issue of Eye on Design magazine, during which he revealed family…

Design History 101

Looking Back at George Him, an Early Advocate for Graphic Design

Like many mid-century design pioneers, George Him forged his career through the application of European modernist and avant-garde artistic ideas…

Design + Music

“There wasn’t a ‘concept’ concept”—Behind the Design of Run DMC’s Seminal Raising Hell

This is the third in our series Under The Covers, in which we shine a spotlight on a significant album…

Design + Education

Parsons’ E Roon Kang on Graphic Design as a “Structure for Knowledge”

E Roon Kang lives and works in New York, where he operates the interdisciplinary design and research studio Math Practice,…

Design + Education

Elizabeth Carey Smith on Running the Ultimate “Summer Camp for Type Nerds”

Elizabeth Carey Smith is a creative director whose focus is on furthering the overlap of New York’s type designers, art…

Design + Education

Graduating in Vulnerable Times Calls for Radical Schools—and Students

Rebecca Wright isn’t one to shy away from big questions. As co-founder of the publishing, curation, and design advocacy organization…

Design + Education

What Does “Queering Design Education” Actually Look Like in Practice?

Nicole Killian is an artist and graphic designer whose work “investigates how the structures of the internet, mobile messaging, and…

Design + Education

Design Legend Gail Anderson Answers Your Questions About Where Designers Should Live, Racism in the Workplace + Creating Social Impact

As the 2018 recipient of the Cooper Hewitt’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Gail Anderson (a 2008 AIGA Medalist) has once again…

Design + Education

Elizabeth White on Teaching for the “Whole Student”

Elizabeth White is an interdisciplinary artist and educator. Her work explores “social, psychological, and political themes including maintenance and self-preservation;…

Design + Education

Nontsikelelo Mutiti on Interrogating the Euro-centric Design Canon

Nontsikelelo Mutiti is a Zimbabwe-born interdisciplinary artist and educator who works across fine art, design, and social practice. Mutiti co-founded…

Type Tuesday

A “Quintessentially British” Font Inspired by Old Road Signs

Name: F37 Beckett Foundry: F37 Designer: Rick Banks Release Date: April 2020 Back Story: It’s not the most usual of beginnings for…

Design History 101

Knowing Your Design History is Crucial to Aesthetic Innovation

In the most iconic scene of The Devil Wears Prada, Andy (Anne Hathaway) nonchalantly dismisses two nearly identical blue belts…

Digital

The Rise of the Meta Me

For years I have been observing and writing about the rise of our digital identities—the increasing fidelity of them, along…

Typography

Type Designers Are All About the Details, So Why Are They Selling Fonts That Aren’t Finished?

“Everything is in progress” was the curiously open-ended statement that heralded the launch of Future Fonts back in 2018. The…

Digital

What Happens When The Internet of Things Becomes an Accomplice in Domestic Abuse?

Anyone who was a Mr. Robot fan will remember the scene in which Susan Jacobs, general counsel for the fictional…

Design History 101

In the ’90s, Rajeev Prakash Reimagined Indic Scripts for the Digital Age

Rajeev Prakash remembers being five years old, attentively watching his elder brother paint words. Great flourishes were accompanied by minute…

Weekend With

Ravi Naidoo Takes Us on a Design Tour of Cape Town, from Michael Beirut’s Favorite Jogging Spot to an Artist’s Homage to SA Wine

Our Weekend With series looks at the world through the eyes of a designer on their days off. Last time,…

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