Episode 75: Dressed and Obsessed

In Phantom Thread Daniel Day-Lewis plays a fashion designer who frets over every detail. And behind the camera, you can imagine writer-director-cinematographer Paul Thomas Anderson is fretting over every detail. It’s a perfect film for the perfectionist designer, Michael says:

If anyone within the sound of our voices stayed one hour later at work just to redo something to get it exactly right, even knowing that no one else would ever notice, I think they’ll appreciate this movie.

Also mentioned:

A.O. Scott and Ann Hornaday review Phantom Thread
Cindy Cohn, Electronic Frontier Foundation, John Perry Barlow, Internet Pioneer, (1947-2018)
The Well
Kottke.org, A list of 25 Principles of Adult Behavior by John Perry Barlow
The Observatory on McMansion Hell; EFF Responds to Zillow's Legal Claims
John Perry Barlow, This American Life, When Worlds Collide
Uni Watch
Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, How the Obama portraits cheerfully buck the trend of instantly forgettable presidential paintings
The Onion, Schnauzers Rioting Outside Madison Square Garden Following Westminster Dog Show Defeat

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Posted in: The Observatory

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.

More from Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand

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Episode 125: Zoom Aesthetics
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Episode 124: That Thing You Do
Making art and design during the COVID-19 pandemic; Christoph Niemann and Daniella Zalcman; Adam Schlesinger; spec scripts for Larry David

Episode 123: Closing Doors, Opening Doors
Looking at COVID=19: Flattening the curve, Washington Post designers Harry Stevens on visualizing social distancing, Alissa Walker on how dots are people, Stephen Sondheim at 90

Jobs | November 05