According to the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven from the Mount of Olives on the 40th day after Easter. Some Christians commemorate this as Ascension Day. In Italy, Ascension Day is celebrated by the exchange of crickets between friends. If, in the course of the day, the cricket chirps, its...

During World War II, poster competitions were held to solicit designs, under particular themes, to assist in the war effort. This poster, designed by Frederick Siebel, was submitted to alert Americans to the urgency of national security. For this contest each poster was subject to the scrutiny of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who acted as...

Over the next months while the Design with the Other 90%: CITIES exhibition is on display at the United Nations Headquarters in New York several individuals whose own research explores the exhibition’s subject matter have been invited to write blog entries sharing their insights, related research and projects. – Cynthia E. Smith, Curator of Socially...

Every year, the Department of Education distributes thousands of school directories to students and their families across New York City. The Department of Education and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum worked together to select student entries for the 2011-2012 cover directory design. The Cover Design Competition is a competition for New York City high school...

This is the first interview in Chapter 3 in my new book, Designing Media Jorge Just, December 2008 While studying history and political science, Jorge fell in love with the public radio program This American Life, so he taught himself to edit audio, moved to Chicago, and applied for an internship with the program. Ira...

Cooper-Hewitt is delighted to once again partner with Google for the Doodle 4 Google design competition. K-12 students from across the country are challenged to think like designers, using Google’s iconic logo to convey their hopes and dreams inspired by the theme, “If I Could Do Anything I Would….” On May 27, the winning student’s...

Nutrition in Bolivia Positive Deviance Study In this growing area of design innovations are evident in numerous forms. Not limited to current technologies these designers sample from current, emerging and out-moded technologies to provide low cost effective solutions to benefit the poor and marginalized. Working across disciplines and sectors they partner in innovative ways. They...