03.30.17
Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand | Audio

Episode 53: On Writing Well


The 2017 Design in Tech report emphasized that writing is an essential skill for designers. How do designers hone their writing skills? Michael and Jessica talk about some of their favorite guides, including William Zinsser's On Writing Well; Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird; and the New Yorker magazine.

Also mentioned:

  • Michael on 99 Percent Invisible
  • Jarrett Fuller, Scratching the Surface
  • Malcolm Gladwell, Revisionist History
  • Karina Longworth, You Must Remember This
  • The Moth podcast
  • Anna Sale, Death, Sex & Money
  • Jessica on Doubleday's Dan Brown cover contest
  • Fast Company, Why Are Designers Still Expected To Work For Free?
  • John Langdon's ambigrams
  • DJ Stout, Dairy Today
  • Fast Company, A Reading Guide For Designers Who Want To Write
  • The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened
  • Wes Anderson, Bar Luce
  • David Rockwell on The Design of Business | The Business of Design podcast

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    Posted in: The Observatory




    Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand 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.

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