Episode 134: Fast + Furious
With Gail Bichler: Remote creative direction for the New York Times Magazine, editorial design fine art, and motherhood; Ruth Bader Ginsburg, The Fast and the Furious, Yale Mental Health Symposium
Episode 133: Urban Reckoning
Jessica talks with writer, editor, and urbanist Allison Arieff. Having written early on in the pandemic about a possible silver lining for cities, Allison reflects on where we are six months into a crisis that has laid bare racial and economic inequalities.
Episode 132: Back To School?
Jessica talks with Lee Moreau about how to teach during the pandemic, robust design, jigsaw puzzles, and The New York Times Spelling Bee
Episode 131: Word by Word
Jessica talks with Hrishikesh Hirway, musician and host of Song Exploder, The West Wing Weekly, and other podcasts, about what they’ve been doing to entertain themselves while social distancing.
Episode 130: Tackling History
Jessica talks with Bobby C. Martin Jr., founding partner of Champions Design, about his longstanding desire to rebrand the NFL team in Washington:
Episode 129: Spatial Justice
A conversation with De Nichols about cities, monuments, and designing for community.
Episode 128: Decoding Luxury
Guest host Avery Trufelman talks about Articles of Interest, clothing, luxury; Larry Rosenberg’s Breath by Breath; Little Fires Everywhere on Hulu
Episode 127: Fear + Longing
Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters; Hrishi Hirway and Mike Errico; The Quiz Broadcast; Shakespeare and Co. Project
Episode 126: Screens + Dreams
Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration; Unorthodox; My Brilliant Friend; The Affair; Anil Dash on the dangers of social media; Anna Wiener on Silicon Valley; quarantine dreams
Episode 125: Zoom Aesthetics
Zoom aesthetics and COVID-19; Kyle Chayka on minimalism; Deborah Berke on shared spaces; Jessica Salfia’s poem “The First Lines of Emails I’ve Received While Quarantining”; Megan O’Grady on artistic recluses
Episode 124: That Thing You Do
Making art and design during the COVID-19 pandemic; Christoph Niemann and Daniella Zalcman; Adam Schlesinger; spec scripts for Larry David
Episode 123: Closing Doors, Opening Doors
Looking at COVID19: Flattening the curve, Washington Post designers Harry Stevens on visualizing social distancing, Alissa Walker on how dots are people, Stephen Sondheim at 90
Episode 122: At Arm’s Length
COVID-19, social distancing, Luō Dàwèi’s One Thousand Families project, hiring product designers, Eric Rosenberg’s prop designs for The Plot Against America, Joanne McNeil’s Lurking
Episode 121: Love + Squalor
With guest host Alissa Walker of L.A. Podcast: Barbara Kruger at Frieze Week; Destination Crenshaw; homelessness; urban design competitions, Rose Lyster on air travel; Molly Young on garbage language
Episode 120: Federal Style
The Trump Administration’s draft executive order Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again, the rise of the blur, a CBS brand book at the California Antiquarian Book Fair, Anna Wiener’s Uncanny Valley
Episode 119: Soldiers + Generals
Kyle Chayka’s “The Longing for Less”; minimalism; Hugh Weber joins Design Observer; Don Norman on collaboration; Maggie Gram on design thinking; the death of Mr. Peanut; Fanchon & Marco
Episode 118: Excelsior!
Andrew Cuomo’s old-school political graphics; ridiculous subway ads, real and fake; Vaughan Oliver, John Baldessari, Sonny Mehta
Episode 117: Truth + Yogurt
Christmas cards, the Charles and Ray Eames collection, Didones, the Chobani effect, Hong Kong protest art, a dog who plays Jenga, Uncut Gems.
Episode 116: A Decade in Politics, A Year in Culture
101 political images of 2010s; plus Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror; Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me; Beck’s Hyperspace; Underworld’s Oblivion with Bells; The 1619 Project podcast; Esther Perel’s Where Should We Begin?; Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story; Steve Bannon’s American Dharma; Fleabag Season 2; Chernobyl; Anni Venti in Italia at the Piazza Ducale in Genoa; Oslo’s Viking Ship Museum; Vecchio Amaro del Capo; BrewDog’s Nanny State; and Athletic nonalcoholic beer.
Episode 115: Thick + Blunt
Donald Trump’s handwriting; Michael Bloomberg, design patron; Jessica Helfand’s Face: A Visual Odyssey; Victor Papanek’s Design for the Real World; Heather Dewey-Halborg’s DNA portraits; Bulgarian socialist graphics