Episode 106: The Twenty

This week, Jessica and Michael discuss the multitude of Democratic candidates and of ways designers are attempting to organize them for voters, especially with the Democratic debates approaching.

On the debate, Michael says,

You know that what they’re all angling for is just one sound bite. If they can just say one devastating comeback or coin one catchphrase that literally will last seconds that will become a meme, get hot on social media, be rerun on cable news. That’s almost the best that most of these people can hope for. And in a way, maybe it's the best that any of them can hope for.

Also mentioned this week:

FiveThirtyEight, DNC Lopsided Debate
Deadline, Elizabeth Warren Turn Debate Short Straw to Her Favor,
Wikipedia, Rule of Seven Plus or Minus Two
The Guardian, Where do 2020 Democratic candidates stand on key issues?
New York Times, Design of Harriet Tubman $20,
New York Times Take Jackson Off the $20 Bill, Put a Woman in His Place
Women On 20s
Tubmanstamp.com
Proposal for Tubman $20 bill with Leo and Diane Dillon’s Tubman illustration
Zachary Lipez, The Washington Post, How Joy Division’s ‘Unknown Pleasures’ image went from underground album cover to a piece of cultural ubiquity
KnowYourMeme, Unknown Pleasures
Katie Notopoulos, Edie McClurg Twitter thread
Edie McClurg on IMDb
TMZ, Edie McClurg Battling Dementia

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Posted in: The Observatory

Michael Bierut studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati, and has been a partner in the New York office of Pentagram since 1990. Michael is a Senior Critic in Graphic Design at the Yale School of Art.

Jessica Helfand, a founding editor of Design Observer, is an award-winning graphic designer and writer. A former contributing editor and columnist for Print, Eye and Communications Arts magazine, she is a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale and a recent laureate of the Art Director’s Hall of Fame. Jessica received both her BA and MFA from Yale University where she has taught since 1994. In 2013, she won the AIGA medal.

More from Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand

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Episode 126: Screens and Dreams
Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration; Unorthodox; My Brilliant Friend; The Affair; Anil Dash on the dangers of social media; Anna Wiener on Silicon Valley; quarantine dreams

Episode 125: Zoom Aesthetics
Zoom aesthetics and COVID-19; Kyle Chayka on minimalism; Deborah Berke on shared spaces; Jessica Salfia’s poem “The First Lines of Emails I’ve Received While Quarantining”; Megan O’Grady on artistic recluses

Episode 124: That Thing You Do
Making art and design during the COVID-19 pandemic; Christoph Niemann and Daniella Zalcman; Adam Schlesinger; spec scripts for Larry David

Episode 123: Closing Doors, Opening Doors
Looking at COVID=19: Flattening the curve, Washington Post designers Harry Stevens on visualizing social distancing, Alissa Walker on how dots are people, Stephen Sondheim at 90

Jobs | November 05