Art

On March 1, 2025, in a series of late-night mass firings, the federal government eliminated 18F, the digital-services agency launched in 2014 to bring modern, user-centered design to government technology. More than 90 staff were labeled “non-essential” and dismissed without warning as part of sweeping “efficiency” purges under the Department of Government Efficiency. These layoffs […]

In this conversation, Hayley and Stephanie Painter, co-founders of Painterland Sisters, share their journey as fourth-generation organic dairy farmers. They discuss their childhood experiences on the farm, the values instilled in them, and how these experiences shaped their approach to business and agriculture. They emphasize the importance of community, integrity, and creating nutrient-dense products, like

As you might gather from the publisher’s description below, Open Wide is an … unsettling (!) book. I’ve always been fascinated by how cover designers can lean into the darker sides of a narrative without spilling into full-on genre territory—and Eli Mock absolutely nails the vibe on Jessica Gross’ Open Wide. Below, he tells us

On my summer vacation I used to go day trippin’ to hidden corners of Northern Connecticut and Southern Massachusetts to buy books. Now, at 75, I spend more time sitting in my easy chair, reading what I’ve collected over the years. This week when I was digging around I found my stash of Bradbury Thompson’s

Years ago, I began to feel strong. I was training for a half-marathon, a whim that slowly began to take over large aspects of my life—influencing how I ate, how I drank, how I arranged my days, even causing me to begin to seriously pursue weight-lifting and high-intensity training. I woke up at 4 AM,

When Cracker Barrel unveiled its new logo last week, the internet erupted. Loyal customers and conservative pundits decried the shift from the familiar image of a man named “Uncle Hershel” in a rocking chair beside a wooden barrel to a stripped-down wordmark. The new design, critics claimed, was not just uninspired but “woke,” and the

This essay is by Ashleigh Axios, design executive and founder of Public Servants. In Spring 2024, on a patio overlooking downtown Providence, I joined a Rhode Island School of Design gathering. Joe Gebbia—Airbnb co-founder and RISD alumnus—was reflecting on his time on the school’s board of trustees. He told a story about one of his

Jason Polan (1982–2020) died just as his art star was rising. He had already amassed a niche following with the popularity of his blog Every Person in New York, in which he showed his curiously obsessive passion for drawing and sketching. His eclectic drawings and art projects—including The Every Piece of Art in the Museum

I’ve been following Cj Hendry’s work since 2013, when she was drawing in black and white pen with painstaking precision. Back then, her focus was on surface and detail. Over the years, I’ve watched Hendry push her practice outward, moving from colored pencils into immersive experiences that swallow you whole, each new project less about

In this special Type Tuesday guest column, TypeNetwork‘s Lucas Czarnecki interviews veteran type designer Steve Matteson. Steve Matteson’s work is everywhere—from Microsoft’s Segoe to Google’s Droid and Noto, to custom fonts for Toyota, Unilever, Rocket Mortgage, and more. Matteson‘s career follows a winding trail that began with studying letterpress and typography at Rochester Institute of