Designer Things

Kitchen sink realism didn’t just show working-class life—it made you feel the grime under your fingernails. I used to think the British New Wave

I used to think ancient textiles were just pretty patterns people made before Netflix existed. Then I spent three weeks at a contemporary fiber art symposium

I used to think vaporwave was just a joke about dead malls and Windows 95. Turns out, it’s one of the most sophisticated visual critiques of late-stage

When Ancient Peruvian Carvers Anticipated Modern Three-Dimensional Thinking I used to think relief sculpture was just about making flat surfaces slightly less flat.

The Stuckists weren’t trying to be polite. When Billy Childish and Charles Thomson founded the movement in 1999, they did something that felt almost

I used to think trompe l’oeil was just a fancy French term for “really good fake stuff.” Turns out, it’s basically the entire foundation

I used to think masks were just about hiding your face. Then I spent three months cataloging African mask collections across four museums, and something shifted.

I used to think serifs were just decorative fluff. Then I spent three months staring at the letter ‘T’ in Garamond, trying to understand why

I used to think nonprofit branding was all hearts and hand-holding until I spent three months analyzing visual strategies across 47 organizations.

I used to think album covers were just, you know, pretty pictures. Turns out the psychology behind iconic album cover art direction is this whole intricate