As editorial director at AIGA, I keep tabs on all the design news (so you don’t have to) and bring you only the best bits. Behold: my hit list of the most interesting things I’ve and seen, read, and watched this week. Follow along all day every day on Instagram @AIGAdesign and Twitter @AIGAdesign.

 
This week I…

…am not surprised that Supergroup London’s signage Superwoman Morag Myerscough—designer, artist, and possessor of amazingly Tolkien-esque first name—has done it again with her bright and bold work for the new BigBang Data exhibition on now at Somerset House.

…offer copious rounds of applause to all the other designers who are doing data right, namely the Kantar Information is Beautiful award winners. I’m partial to Alberto Lucas López’s map of world languages (in which China is still effing huge) and Wall Street Journal’s series of interactive graphics detailing the decline of infectious diseases in the U.S. after vaccines were introduced. Design clarity in action.

…side step the “but is it art?” conversation sparked by the announcement that this year’s Turner Prize has been awarded to innovative and altruistic architecture studio Assemble. While visual artists bemoan the decision and declare it “the death” of the Turner Prize altogether, I’d just like to take a mo’ and congratulate the UK designers on sweeping a competition they never even set out to win. If you’re less familiar with their work, I highly suggest a having a click through their portfolio.

…actually think it’s kind of strange that a massive LEGO geek hasn’t already created what basically amounts to the Pantone Color Guide for every single little piece produced by everyone’s favorite plastic brick maker. And no, you don’t even have to ask—of course this was birthed on Reddit.

…am intrigued by new bodega/concept shop/editorial aggregator/app The New Stand, a “day-improvement company” designed to reinvigorate your daily routine and add an element of surprise to your hum-drum commute.

…thought I might have reached peak independent magazine consumption after the spoils of a recent trip to do you read me?! required an entire suitcase to cart home, but Stack’s Magazines for Good mini-conference has reinvigorated my appetite for print. The event features speakers from four magazines that are using print to make a positive change: Danny Miller (Weapons of Reason), Lisa Lorenz (Nous), Bertie Brandes and Char Roberts (Mushpit Magazine), and Ibrahim Nehme (The Outpost). All proceeds will support L’Auberge des Migrants, a charity aiding migrants in the notorious Calais “Jungle.”

…can’t decide whether I’d rather live in the house designed by Gerrit Rietveld, Walter Gropius, Albert Frey, or Jorn Utzon, but the latest story about the homes architects designed for themselves in Enso, the exceptionally UX-friendly digital magazine put out by Readymag, is def inspiring some new #lifegoals.

…add #drunkbymidday to said growing list of #lifegoals—at least on Christmas, if I can get multi-disciplinary design studio Midday to send me a bottle of their sharp and clever holiday gift (guys, mailing address at bottom of page). One particularly ingenious touch? The tab on the label that prevents wayward bottles from rolling off countertops. Hey, it’s bound to happen.

…wonder why you haven’t already voted for the “obsessively organized desk” holiday gift guide I made for Core77. C’mon guys, ‘tis the season to help me win an Apple watch.