Jessica Helfand: The Reflex Blue Show #145
The fifth of our six interviews recorded at the 2015 HOW Design Live in Chicago is with Jessica Helfand of Design Observer.
We talk about Design Observer, The Observatory (her podcast with Michael Beirut), Winterhouse, magazine design, and her upcoming book. Enjoy.
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This was a great chat — I always enjoy Jessica and in this case a very candid discussion of the blogosphere and Design Observer. I’ve been a reader and listener for years, so I felt like I was at the table with you both. Perhaps at some future conference we can do it in real life!
It seems the debate about low-brow (listicles, tweets) vs. high-brow (academic papers, experimental publishing) is ever popular and will continue in our profession as well as the internet in general. I think there’s room for both — we need proper meals but also the occasional brownie bite. At least DO knows its brand and sticks to it! But I would like to see a return to the comments; I haven’t been able to get them working for me for some time — perhaps the easiest thing to do would be to use Disqus or even Facebook (gasp). I don’t think I’m the only one who would leave a thought or two.
I can’t believe it’s been a decade since the design blogs started up, and in other ways, it’s strange that they have only been around for that long. Always appreciated that DO has a voice and consistency that they stay with. Prescott, if I ever see you at a conference again, you have an open invite to be on the show,