Art Review
A Good, Bad, and Ugly History of Parenting Gadgets
Designing Motherhood illuminates how design shapes diverse experiences of parenthood, from navigating fertility and conception to pregnancy, birth, and postpartum life.
Design
Art Review
The Propaganda Dilemma
Inspired by W. E. B. Du Bois’s infographics about the lives of Black people after Emancipation, an exhibition at New York’s Print Center complicates our reading of data.
News
People Really Hate the Philadelphia Art Museum Rebrand
The PMA is now PhAM, with a new logo that critics say evokes a football club, athleisure, or “some kind of Cold War monstrosity.”
News
NYC Artist and Educator Wins Zohran Mamdani Sticker Contest
Nishan Patel’s design depicts a bodega storefront with a furry feline in the window, a tender homage to the beloved neighborhood businesses.
Art Review
The Black American Artist Who Found Himself in Finland
The first retrospective of Howard Smith’s works in his home country beguilingly blurs the distinctions between art, design, and décor.
Book Review
How Liberty Fabrics Weaves Design and Art History
Kassia St. Clair, who specializes in color, explores its historical connection to artists and art movements in a book timed with the company’s 150th anniversary.
News
New Zealand Wants to Be the “Best Place to Have Herpes”
A new award-winning ad campaign uses filmstock aesthetics, retro travel imagery, and irreverent humor to change perceptions of the common virus.
Features
The Pink Triangle That Mobilized a Movement
The iconic protest visual used by SILENCE=DEATH and ACT UP became a key symbol of AIDS activism and LGBTQ+ advocacy.
Features
When The Subway Sun Ruled NYC’s Underground
With its signature two-toned design and illustrations, the mock newspaper encouraged polite passenger etiquette and promoted local attractions.
Art
The Forgotten Artisan Behind Frank Lloyd Wright
Artist Ryan Preciado unearths the story of Manuel Sandoval, a Nicaraguan artisan whose important contributions to 20th-century modernist design have long been buried.
Interview
Stefan Sagmeister’s Open Secrets to Designing an Optimistic Life
The innovative designer is the subject of a major retrospective at the School of Visual Arts and he talks about his aesthetic, the creative need for sabbaticals, and why pessimism reigns today.
News
Charli XCX Says She Chose Brat Cover Art to “Save Money”
The pop star revealed the real reason for the iconic design.