Another great assignment from Communication Arts Magazine : Austin-based photographer Randal Ford. Last summer, I spent the day with him as he shot the last twelve portraits for his upcoming book, Good Dog. He's well known for crafting sincere and striking images of his subjects, whether they are animals or humans. Read the Randal Ford... Continue Reading →

So happy to share my latest profile for Communication Arts Magazine about the Austin-based design & branding studio, Canales & Co. I was thrilled to spend some time with owners Jose and Christina Canales to learn about their unique perspective on design. Read the PDF below. Communication Arts, January/February 2020

Thanks to a grant from the Sign Research Foundation, I traveled to Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, and New York to visit ground-breaking digital wayfinding tools in museums, hospitals, airports, and transit systems. The result is Digital Wayfinding Trends: Lessons Learned from Museums, Healthcare, and Transit Experiences. The report illustrates eight case studies and the best practices derived from... Continue Reading →

How do some of the largest and most respected healthcare institutions manage their wayfinding systems? It takes people, processes and tools to keep up with the ever-changing content in these maze-like environments. Under a grant from the Sign Research Foundation, I interviewed seven leaders of wayfinding systems and published their best practices for keeping their... Continue Reading →

Every day, visitors to the Cooper Hewitt make off with about 30 artifacts each, plucked from the glass cases and archives of the nation’s design museum. From teapots to laptops, the best examples of craft and industry are streaming out the ornate iron doors into New York’s Upper East Side. And before these visitors leave,... Continue Reading →

How do you put "technology" and "democracy" together in a museum? First published in volume 14 of eg, the Experiential Graphics Magazine, a publication of the SEGD, this article explores the changing definition of museums and interactive spaces. Design firms Ralph Appelbaum Associates and TAMSCHICK MEDIA+SPACE GmbH won a 2015 Honor Award for their exhibit... Continue Reading →

This article first appeared in volume 14 of eg, the Experiential Graphics Magazine, a publication of the SEGD. Design firm Gagarin won a 2015 Honor Award for their innovative exhibits. Read the PDF version: eg14_Eldheimar. At a museum dedicated to the wrath of a volcano, interactive experiences help visitors explore the site and make peace with... Continue Reading →

After a frosty visit to their Toronto studio in February, I wrote a profile of Bruce Mau Design for Communication Arts. To re-imagine a firm without its charismatic leader has been a challenge, but CEO Hunter Tura and his team of Avengers-slash-creative-directors are a amassing a thought-provoking and memorable portfolio of digital, environmental, and branding... Continue Reading →

This article first appeared in volume 12 of eg, the Experiential Graphics Magazine, a publication of the SEGD. Read the PDF version eg12_Internet_Place. “You are here.” The blue dot in the center of your smartphone’s map has a beat of its own, pulsating with each dispatch from the constellation of satellites above. It skips modestly... Continue Reading →

The Cleveland Museum of Art uses digital experiences to reach out to new audiences. http://vimeo.com/60866006 Video used with permission by Local Projects Please read my upcoming article for eg magazine on the innovative use of technology in the museum here

On September 11, 2011, two memorials were consecrated: the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site and the New Jersey 9/11 Memorial in Liberty State Park. Each was a result of the unique vision and relentless determination of a New York-based architect. For the latest issue of segdDESIGN, I followed Michael Arad... Continue Reading →

World fairs are known for their spectacularly immersive, state-of-the-art experiences and last year's Shanghai World Expo recalibrated our already-high expectations for how we interact within unique environments that are built simply to surprise and delight us. ESI Design of New York designed one of the most popular pavilions, The Dream Cube and the firm was... Continue Reading →

My 2008 profile of the Buenos Aires subway system has just been translated into Spanish, thanks to América Late, a website and magazine that covers Latin American culture and design. The subway's brand and wayfinding system were designed by Diseño Shakespear -- and the system was just named a Design Success Story by the International... Continue Reading →

I've been following wayfinding apps since the iPhone debuted -- I've Yelped and Monocled all over the country. For this issue of segdDESIGN, I reviewed the latest crop and tried to put them in the context of the conversion of technologies that are making it easier for us to find our way. And look, it's... Continue Reading →

I enjoyed expanding upon the portrait of Gensler's LAPD Memorial which was highlighted in the Design for Good article in this piece. "For environmental graphic designers, it is a rare assignment that asks them to articulate abstract expressions such as reverence, solemnity, and commemoration." The memorial also won SEGD's 2010 Honor Award. Read article >>... Continue Reading →

What is pro bono design in the context of environmental graphics and how does design make a better world? This was the question I posed in this survey of a variety of design firms and their good works. Read article >> Design for Good (PDF) published in segdDESIGN, no. 28, 2010

In the winter of 2009, I had the pleasure of touring the newly-opened California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco as research for this article about the permanent exhibits. I met with Adam Brodsley, principal of Volume Inc., the multidiscplinary studio that designed the graphics and his client, Rhonda Rubinstein, the Academy’s... Continue Reading →

My second story about Ronald Shakespear (see the first) celebrated his induction as a Fellow, the highest honor of the SEGD. The far-ranging interview touched on his influences, methodologies and notions about the built environment as a whole. I hope it captures Ronald's charming, candid and playful personality, as well as his love of anecdotal... Continue Reading →

In 2007, my husband and I planned a trip to Argentina. Around that time, Argentine designer Ronald Shakespear was named a Fellow of the Society of Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD), our professional organization. Steve Stamper, president of the SEGD and my partner at fd2s introduced Ronald and me by email and we began corresponding about... Continue Reading →