The Observatory is a podcast about design and art, culture, language, architecture, love, death, musical theatre, the Pythagorean theorem, postage stamps, Gordon Parks, arcane typography, Ken dolls, hurricane charts, Presidential libraries, diabetic tattoos, Alexandra Ocasio Cortez in the Bronx, Wes Anderson on the Riviera, post-it notes, selfie sticks, Glenn Gould, Boaty McBoatface, working class heroes, bingeworthy television, questionable signage, campaign fatigue, color obsessions, enduring icons, memorable (and forgettable) logos, coloring books for adults, oversized sausage displays, pugilism, posters, Coke bottles, branding disasters, Zaha Hadid, design thinking for prisoners, unpronouncable glyphs, NASA’s secret art studio, gun sales on Facebook, pundits on Twitter, dogs on TV, and a constantly evolving list of unpredictable—and design-worthy—obsessions.
Launched in 2014 by Design Observer co-founders Michael Bierut and Jessica Helfand.
Photo by Maggie PetersA founding editor of Design Observer, Jessica Helfand is the author of numerous books on visual and cultural criticism, and has taught across the United States, Europe, and Asia. The first-ever recipient, in 2010, of the Henry Wolf Residency at the American Academy in Rome, Jessica was holds degrees in graphic design and architectural theory from Yale University, where she taught for more than two decades. A former Director’s Guest at Civitella Ranieri and fellow at the Bogliasco Foundation, she spent the winter of 2020 as the artist in residence at Caltech. Jessica lives in New England with her family.
Photo by Juliana SohnA founding editor of Design Observer, Michael Bierut studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, graduating summa cum laude in 1980. He worked for ten years at Vignelli Associates before joining Pentagram as a partner in 1990. A former president of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA)and AIGA National, he also serves on the boards of the Architectural League of New York and the Library of America. In 2016, he was the Henry Wolf Resident in Graphic Design at the American Academy in Rome.