Can the power of design transform the financial valuation of a brand? Far beyond its aesthetic appeal, design wields the ability to evoke profound emotional responses, often operating beneath the conscious awareness of its audience. But how exactly do these subtle, sometimes unconscious biases shape decision-making processes? The late Daniel Kahneman, whose pioneering work in human decision-making and cognitive biases revolutionized our understanding, left us with a legacy that illuminates the path. Kahneman, who passed away on March 27 of this year, unraveled the complexities of the human min ..read more

New routines don’t come easy to working designers. Yet, House Industries and Autotype have carved one out, dropping a new collection of limited edition fine art canvases, serigraphs, housewares, and apparel spotlighting the art of the letterform and paying tribute to a rich archive of typography. Their collaboration brings type enthusiasts refined materialism without compromise. House Industries, founded by Andy Cruz, has a rich 30-year hand lettering practice that has visualized legendary brands like Hermès, Porsche, Lego, The Eames Office, Heath Ceramics, The New Yorker, and Jimmy Kimmel. De ..read more

On my daily subway commute, my gaze often wanders up to the ads, mainly to avoid uncomfortable eye contact with strangers and smirk at the latest pitches from injury lawyers and Botox specialists. However, I was pleasantly snapped from my usual unfocused haze last week by an unexpected sight: a captivating gallery of Renaissance artwork adorning the subway walls. In a bold move to capture the essence of the New York City home-buying experience, StreetEasy has partnered with Mother New York to decorate the city streets with Renaissance-style paintings. These visually striking artworks vividly p ..read more

The fight against climate change in a 35.5 × 42.6 mm format. I almost threw the envelope holding the miniature book out. Fortunately, I felt a small roll of bubble wrap wedged at the bottom that contained this tiny gem. Ironically, if it had been discarded, this collaboration between the Croatia Post and School of Design Zagreb, Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb, to address dire global environmental concerns, would have itself become a part of a landfill. Moreover, if not for the small bump of bubble wrap—a dubious environmental material—I would not have even noticed it. But now it ..read more

The other night, during a particularly horrible news week, a dear friend texted me. I need some advice. I can’t stop doom scrolling and it’s really put me in a mood, feeling helpless, hopeless, and like it’s a losing battle. I know I can google what to do, but you always have sage advice (pun intended) I thought I’d go direct to you. As someone who has come to learn — the hard way — that caring about the world is not mutually exclusive to caring about yourself, I dashed off my quick, go-to advice in response. (Lightly edited, because texting): Get offline Throw yourself into something you can ..read more

This guest post is by Anna Hammill, London’s Managing Director and Global Chief Strategy Officer for Denomination. The award-winning drinks branding agency, located in London and San Francisco, is female-founded and led and committed to creating more sustainable and environmentally-responsible packaging. Despite recent glimmers of hope, the economic situation in the UK continues to be challenging. One in four UK families said they were regularly running out of cash for essentials, as double-digit inflation, high energy bills, and soaring mortgage rates hit British consumers in the most severe ..read more

The stabbing of Salman Rushdie in 2022 was a uniquely horrifying event in the literary world, the real world, and, well, any world. And thus as someone who writes about design and publishing, I wondered how the cover to Rushdie’s memoir in the wake of the attack—Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder—would take shape. Given the weight of the assignment, it’s perhaps no surprise that it took a lot of work. Or, as designer Arsh Raziuddin put it, “5 [million] options for weeks on end.” You can see a fraction of those comps on Raziuddin’s Instagram—and below, you can find the final cover tha ..read more

To make a true impact, your mission needs to be baked into the DNA of your brand from the get-go.  Joining us today to share the keys to the success of an impact-driven brand is John Foraker, Co-Founder and CEO of nutrition-focused kids’ food brand, Once Upon a Farm. In this episode, we discover the most valuable lessons John learned from scaling Annie’s Homegrown, how he came to partner with actress and Once Upon a Farm co-founder, Jennifer Garner, and how he weaves impact into the brands he builds.  Tune in for this revealing episode on scaling without compromising culture, and com ..read more

USModernist is the largest open digital archive for identifying, recording and preserving Modern homes built in the United States. As it warns on its admittedly Massimo Vignelli–inspired website, “Midcentury Modernist houses are frequently endangered and torn down, largely because buyers, sellers and realtors do not realize the importance of what they have or how to preserve, repair and protect these livable works of art.” The designer of USModernist’s new refreshed identity, Alexander Isley, says he was given a gift when he was asked to do this job. It brought him back to the fundamentals tha ..read more

The 200-year-old RSPCA, a UK animal welfare organization, recently unveiled its new identity with the launch campaign “For Every Kind.” JKR‘s London team created the new identity, which features a vibrant color palette, flexibility for use in digital spaces, and a charming illustration style. The new identity also features Wilberforce Sans, a custom typeface designed in collaboration with Studio DRAMA. Studio DRAMA’s Chris Nott (creative director) and Will Richardson (co-founder and creative director) drew inspiration from the RSPCA’s history of activism, specifically protest signage in the o ..read more