Are you running out of things to talk about around the holiday table? Whether your design interests intersect with color, fashion, history, pop culture, the environment, or social justice, our writers have covered it all this year.
Here are our top 2023 article picks to pique your curiosity, reconsider previously-held notions, and rethink design’s role in our larger society.
1. Maximalist Interiors are Redefining Stability for Younger Generations in Turbulent Times
Counter to recent scarcity-driven political shifts, the aesthetic of abundance is trending. While Pantone introduced the vivacious Viva Magenta as the 2023 Color of the Year, “dopamine decor,” “cluttercore,” and “cozy maximalism” went viral.
by Brook Viegut
(Photo credit: Michelle Pham)
2. Are We Losing Color? All Logos Are Starting To Look The Same.
The second my Twitter app pivoted away from its bright blue bird logo to an industrial black and white “X,” I noticed that the rest of my home screen was riddled with a similar black-and-white design style.
Yes, it took the melodramatic change of one app for me to clock the pervasiveness of this trend, but now I can’t unsee it: we’re in a colorless era. I’ve always been interested in the theoretical design pendulum of trends shifting from one extreme to another, but I never thought that black and white design would displace color.
by Chloe Gordon
3. The Uncanny Valley of Louis Vuitton’s Yayoi Kusama Collection
While most of the names of her predecessors have been forgotten, the figure of Yayoi Kusama rises above all others when it comes to painting repeating patterns. As a rare example of a prominent woman in New York’s 1960s avant garde art scene, few would link her modern paintings of enormous, mesmerizing “infinity nets” back to folk pattern traditions ranging from Australia to Nigeria. However, like many artists before her who have suffered from debilitating mental conditions, Kusama’s practice is treated as uniquely hers.
by Isabella Segalovich
(Image by Brecht Bug on Flickr.)
4. Five Essential Design Books to Decolonize Your Studio, Library, and Classroom
These five new books are a lens through which we can interact with a brand-new world of design commentary. Let’s broaden the 21st landscape of design in our thinking, academic pedagogy, and professional practice. Buy. Read. Assign. Require these books. Every Fall. Repeat.
by Cheryl D. Holmes-Miller
(Composite of chapter graphics from “Centered: People and Ideas Diversifying Design” by Kaleena Sales.)
5. Pantone Announces the Most Popular Color Families of the Next Decade
When the Pantone Color Institute makes an announcement, you had better listen up. As the arbiter of all things color, Pantone has the authority to make grandiose assertions about color trends and forecasting that others simply can’t. They recently added 224 colors to their Pantone Formula Guide, for example, with hues chosen that reflect what they predict will be “the most popular color families of the next decade.”
by Charlotte Beach
6. How Worried Should Creative Professionals Be About Artificial Intelligence?
Someone in the “AI Art Universe” Facebook group called it “art harvesting.” It’s an interesting analogy: sprouts planted by many other people are ‘scraped’ into a giant blender that sorts and readies them to be grown into exotic new gardens. But it’s more than a poetic analogy— it’s a worldwide phenomenon, way bigger than a garden. … And it’s springing up, morphing, regenerating before our eyes.
by Ellen Shapiro
7. Here’s Some Feedback On Your Feedback
I posted designer Milton Glaser’s famous poster of Bob Dylan on LinkedIn. But there was a twist.
It was a version of the poster showing all the ways today’s colleagues and clients provide feedback.
You can see how “helpful” people are.
This got me thinking about the role of feedback.
by Rob Schwartz
8. Villains en Vogue: How Karl Lagerfeld’s Dark Origins Reveal the Influence of Fascism on Fashion
On the first Monday in May, I mixed myself a gin and tonic, curled up in front of my laptop, and joined millions of viewers watching celebrities strut down an oddly beige carpet. It was this year’s installment of the Met Gala, widely considered the year’s biggest night in fashion.
This year’s theme, “In Honor of Karl,” raised eyebrows before the show even began.
by Isabella Segalovich
(Image: Karl Lagerfeld, 2014 via Wikimedia Commons.)
9. Barbie Has a Great Day Every Day
Yes, I’m aware that the movie is a commercial. Yes, I did wish there were more than two genders in the mix. No it is not radical or high art. Yes, it is kind of a mess. And still, I can’t help tearing up for the fifth time right now thinking about the tens of thousands of women and femmes who did not previously have language to describe why living in the patriarchy is so painful, who will walk out of the theater after seeing it feeling validated, liberated, at least a little bit deprogrammed.
by Zoe Mendelson
(Director, Greta Gerwig by UKinUSA, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons)
10. Tilting at Windmills: An Emerging White Christian Nationalist Symbol
The windmill is a powerful signifier of Americana and mythological abundance. It is a harbinger of cultural instruction that extends far beyond its life on a Hobby Lobby shelf. When considering the evolution of the windmill in the United States, we understand it as a token of conquest that denotes the settlement of the American West. It’s a history marked by poverty, extermination, despair, and, more recently, a pastoral identity reclaimed broadly by white Christian nationalist movements.
by Olivia Trabysh
11. Hey Jane Takes Abortion Care from Taboo Talk to a Powerful Billboard Campaign in Illinois
Not all ad campaigns are created equal— in terms of overall quality, creativity, and appeal, of course, but also when it comes to importance and magnitude. Depending on what a brand is selling or providing, the impact of their campaigns on people’s lives can be seismic. This is the case for the healthcare and abortion provider Hey Jane, who understands full well that the success of their marketing can literally be lifesaving.
by Charlotte Beach
12. What If Designers Went on Strike?
What would happen if all creatives united to ask for better working environments, or fair and level pitching grounds? One potential result could be that creative agencies would get invited to participate or compete only in projects where their credentials, expertise, and costs are in line with what the client is looking for— in other words, projects they can actually win. Creatives could also demand accountability from agencies to offer fair pay, benefits, and an inspiring, inclusive working environment— you know, to walk the walk.
by Ricardo Saca
13. What SNL’s Bad Bunny Episode Can Teach Us About Cultural Relevance
To my surprise, SNL’s Bad Bunny episode on October 21 was one of my favorite episodes ever. I really felt how the creative team at SNL embraced our culture and heritage. It wasn’t about being Puerto Rican, Mexican, Cuban, or Venezuelan; it was about being Latin.
by Ricardo Saca
(Image: screenshot, copyright Saturday Night Live)
14. Make Meadows Wants To Dismantle the Tyranny of Lawns
The lawn itself is a relatively new phenomenon and is a status symbol associated with wealth and success, or at the very least, being a “good neighbor” who enjoys taking care of his property. When landscape design started to rear its perfectly-coifed head at the Palace of Versailles, folks like Thomas Jefferson, who witnessed it firsthand, coveted these tamed, green pieces of turf.
That’s so 18th century.
by Bill McCool
15. Living History: Connecting the Threads Between Juneteenth and the Story of Black Graphic Designers
The circumstances that gave rise to Juneteenth somewhat remind me of the Black designers’ place in the canonical story of design. … We have always existed, and this truth maybe unknown to many, but our Black graphic design history began in enslavement. We have always participated in the story and technology of communication design in North America.
by Cheryl D. Holmes-Miller
(Image: composing room of the Planet newspaper, Richmond, Virginia, Library of Congress.)
16. Is Meme-Ification of the News a Good or Bad Thing?
You see it drenched all over the social media accounts you’re endlessly scrolling through: pieces of news distilled down to a meme.
Humans evolve, and the way we learn develops, but we’re sitting at a pivotal point where the main source of news we’re consuming is simplified derivatives of a primary source. The information we’re consuming is filtered down to a 1080×1080 box of ill-designed statements that may or may not contain accurate data.
by Chloe Gordon
Editor’s Pick: A Visual Exploration of Reproductive Rights (Series)
by Divya Mehra
17. Part Two: Fetal Imagery and the Lure of the Unseen
Prior to the 1960s, few would go so far to broadcast images of their sonograph. There was no public fetus. In 1965, Life Magazine changed that.
The issue sold 8 million copies in just a few days. Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson took the photo.
18. Part Three: How “Pro-Life” Became a Marketing Campaign
John and Barbara Willke featured Lennart Nilsson’s accidentally controversial fetal photos in their lectures; quickly learning that imagery was the most effective method of convincing the public to change their position on abortion.
19. Part Four: Picturing Life and Death
From a distance, Gerri Santoro’s photograph is an anonymous warning sign. Knowing Santoro’s story, she becomes more than a symbol of the pro-choice movement: she becomes real.