Sleek-kitschy idiosyncrasy is all the rage.
Design
Posted inEditor's Pick
Instagram Is Pushing Restaurants to Be Kitschy, Colorful, and Irresistible to Photographers
How the popular app has transformed the way diners, designers, and marketers approach restaurants. (Hint: that bold wallpaper pattern isn’t there by accident.)
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
How Do You Name a Not-Quite-Fat Ken Doll?
When a company decides to “celebrate diversity,” who’s the party for?
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Ken Doll Reboot: Beefy, Cornrowed, and Pan-Racial
A behind-the-scenes look at the redesign process of the new, diverse lineup of Ken Dolls.
Posted inBlog Post, Uncategorized
The ‘Smashing Things Together’ Approach to Editorial Illustration
Art Director Kjell Reigstad’s insights on editorial illustration.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
How ‘International Airbnb Style’ Became the Dominant Aesthetic of Our Time
From Beijing to Helsinki, quirkiness never looked more identical.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Welcome to Airspace
How the same design language — “the neutered Scandinavianism of HGTV” — took over coffee shops and Airbnbs from Brooklyn to Osaka.
Posted inNonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
The Inner Tiny House Journey: Jay Shafer on Finding Meaning in Things
Mark Sundeen, writing for Outside, traveled to the National Tiny House Jamboree in 2016 and talked to some of the tiny house movement’s pioneers, including its “godfather” Jay Shafer. Over a cigarette break in the woods — away from all the tiny space swooners, wannabe-minimalists, and sales reps — Shafer tells him a bit about his design philosophy and the purpose of material objects.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Tiny-House Revolution Goes Huge
To understand the tiny house movement, Mark Sundeen attends its big annual gathering—the National Tiny House Jamboree in Colorado Springs—to learn from its luminaries.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Forgotten History of Japanese-American Designers’ World War II Internment
Revisiting the link between detention and design history, 75 years after FDR’s executive order.