The new chairman of the NEA, Rocco Landesman, is serious about the arts. Now he’s launched a contest for a new “Art Works” logo.

Versatile actor Brian d’Arcy James (now starring in “Time Stands Still” with Laura Linney) shares his secrets on how he goes about designing his characters.

The times we’re living in are causing us to look around for better ways of doing things. But we need some basic tools to help us do all of that. Design principles can serve as the Swiss Army knife of the “let’s-make-a-smarter-world” movement.

By asking “What do they REALLY need?” British designer Hilary Cottam is creating new solutions for senior citizens, including helping them design communities and support networks so they can age in place.

I opened a parcel from England the other day to see that the shiny, metallic January ‘10 issue of Wired UK features Glimmer as one of the cover stories. I’ve always been a huge fan of …

There’s a lot of research these days about how the aging brain works (or doesn’t work), and what it all means. Most interesting to me is that as people age, we can actually take in more information, not less….

A recent business article in the New York Times talks about how business schools are starting to understand the importance of open-minded critical thinking—the kind of thinking designers do every day.

The European edition of GLIMMER, published by Random House UK, comes out this month. The guts of the book are the same, but I thought you’d be interested to see how differently they packaged the …

The ability of designers to just begin, and begin anywhere, is critical—and it’s something we can all learn from. What helps designers move forward in the face of uncertainty is a step-by-step methodology….

Of all the TED talkers that have had an impact in the blogsphere, there is one that I find myself watching over and over again: Swedish researcher Hans Rosling and the most dynamic global stats you’ve ever seen.

In Glimmer, I shared the story of how the groundbreaking XO laptop for children in developing countries was designed by a group that included Yves Behar and Nicholas Negroponte, head of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative. Since then, those efforts have been progressing nicely. $75 laptop, anyone?

Enjoyed New York Magazine’s recent “Menu Mind Games,” revealing the graphic-design–driven marketing tricks behind menus. Their deconstruction of the pricey Balthazar menu is priceless.

For the last two years, I’ve been doing to designers what they usually do unto others. Which is to say, I’ve been observing and studying them, asking a lot of questions and trying to discern …

The New York Times today published this wonderful obituary of "green" architect Malcolm Wells (written by Bruce Weber). Wells’ guiding rule was "Leave the land no worse than you found it." Glimmerati William McDonough pays …

We humans expend energy when we work and play. This energy can be captured and stored to complement the solar and wind energy sources which are the staples of our sustaining city.

if design really is the new advertising, this can be seen as good news for innovative companies. It means they can design their way into the public consciousness, even though they may lack big ad budgets. Take the Mini, for example…

“Design is the new advertising,” I assert in Glimmer. Steve Jobs did not invent the MP3 player; he designed a better, richer experience around the technology. By doing that, Jobs also managed to design a halo for himself and his company.

I believe in science and art, and the promise and potential of design to bring them together to change the world.
In our intellectual institutions, and our society in general, science and art live mostly separate …

Crowdsourcing. It’s sparking lots of online debates, as creatives give away their time and talent for free designing SuperBowl ads and product logos. But a company called InnoCentive has taken crowdsourcing to a higher (and more lucrative) level.

Recently, while giving a presentation at a design conference, I declared that Barack Obama is our first “Designer President.” Granted, he doesn’t wear those skinny eyeglasses designers seem to favor, and I’ve yet to see …