02.22.19
Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand | Audio

Episode 98: Traffic


Jessica and Michael use email to prepare for The Observatory, so on this episode, Jessica and Michael decide to discuss about the design — or the lack of design — behind email, and the things people love and hate about it.

Jessica says,
There are people that you text and you have a texting relationship. There are people that you Whatsapp and you have a Whatsapp relationship. There are people that you Slack and you have a Slack relationship. Email seems to be the kind of amorphous ambiguous giant sloppy blanket that seems to insinuate itself between all of those mediums.

Also mentioned this week: Subscribe to The Observatory on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, or follow Design Observer on Spotify or Soundcloud.

Posted in: The Observatory




Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand 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.

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