Basic Human Needs

On this episode, Jessica and Michael discuss how IKEA is designing shelters for refugees, and Facebook wants to provide refugees with Wi-Fi from flying drones. Michael observes:

Private companies are stepping into the breach to launch initiatives that I think fifty years ago, sixty years ago would've been thought to have been the purview of governments or international organizations.

Also mentioned:

Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, amended

Craig Mod, Future Reading

John Seabrook, The Song Machine

Patti Smith, M Train

New York Times Adrian Frutiger obituary

Molly Heintz remembers Phil Patton

Phil Patton, The Coffee Lids Story

Thanks to Blurb for sponsoring this episode.

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Posted in: The Observatory

Comments [5]

Could not get the video to work. I do really enjoy the diversity of the postings lately though. Is it due to the survey?

Daniel Kent
06.02.09
07:01

I have been brainstorming about what can be done for refugees and I keep being drawn back to how sustainable storage container homes are becoming. Perhaps we could transport some of the empty ones down to where their camps are so that these people have a proper roof over their heads..

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02.29.16
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Michael Bierut studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati, and has been a partner in the New York office of Pentagram since 1990. Michael is a Senior Critic in Graphic Design at the Yale School of Art.

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.

Jobs | November 14