Culture Is Not Always Popular - Fifteen Years of Design Observer

Author(s): Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand

DESIGN THEORY <

A collection of writing about design from the influential, eclectic, and adventurous Design Observer.Founded in 2003, Design Observer inscribes its mission on its homepage: Writings about Design and Culture. Since its inception, the site has consistently embraced a broader, more interdisciplinary, and circumspect view of design's value in the world--one not limited by materialism, trends, or the slipperiness of style. Dedicated to the pursuit of originality, imagination, and close cultural analysis, Design Observer quickly became a lively forum for readers in the international design community. Fifteen years, 6,700 articles, 900 authors, and nearly 30,000 comments later, this book is a combination primer, celebration, survey, and salute to a certain moment in online culture. This collection includes reassessments that sharpen the lens or dislocate it; investigations into the power of design idioms; off-topic gems; discussions of design ethics; and experimental writing, new voices, hybrid observations, and other idiosyncratic texts. Since its founding, Design Observer has hosted conferences, launched a publishing imprint, hosted three podcasts, and attracted more than a million followers on social media. All of these enterprises are rooted in the original mission to engage a broader community by sharing ideas on ways that design shapes--and is shaped by--our lives.


Product Information

General Fields

  • : 9780262039109
  • : MIT Press
  • : MIT Press
  • : September 2018
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand
  • : Hardback
  • : 240