Design Observer

Design Observer
Available inEnglish
OwnerObserver Omnimedia
Created byRick Poynor, Michael Bierut, Jessica Helfand and William Drenttel
EditorWilliam Drenttel
URLdesignobserver.com
CommercialYes
LaunchedOctober 2003; 21 years ago (2003-10)

Design Observer is a website devoted to a range of design topics including graphic design, social innovation, urbanism, popular culture, and criticism.[1] The content of the site includes essays, articles, reviews, blog posts, and peer reviewed scholarship. It is the host of the architecture and urban design publication Places (formerly a print academic journal) and the podcast Design Matters with Debbie Millman.[2]

Four prominent design writers founded the site in October 2003:[3] Rick Poynor was the founder and first editor of London-based Eye magazine, in addition to being author of many books; Michael Bierut[4] is a partner in the New York office of Pentagram and is a design critic at Yale School of Art; Jessica Helfand is also a critic at Yale and is author of numerous books; the late William Drenttel (1953 - 2013) was a designer, critic and partner with Jessica Helfand of Winterhouse Studios in Connecticut.[5]

Frequent contributors over the years have included; Steven Heller, John Foster, Adrian Shaughnessy, Dmitri Siegel, Alice Twemlow, Tom Vanderbilt, Lorraine Wild, Rob Walker, Alexandra Lange, Mark Lamster, John Thackara, Véronique Vienne, Julie Lasky and more.[6]

In 2016, Design Observer and AIGA joined forces to work in collaboration as a larger online platform for design.[6]

  1. ^ Muston, Samuel (5 July 2012). "The 10 Best architecture blogs". The Independent. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  2. ^ "Design Matters Wins the 2011 People's Design Award". Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. 21 October 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  3. ^ Shaughnessy, Adrian (1 September 2005). "PRIVATE VIEW: Time we blogged-on.(web logs on web design)". Design Week. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  4. ^ Evans, Lisa (20 October 2011). "TYPO London conference livestream". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  5. ^ "Blogs: Graphic Design". Creative Review. 6 March 2006. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  6. ^ a b "AIGA and Design Observer to join forces, setting a milestone in online design publishing". AIGA. 2016-10-07. Retrieved 2017-07-05.