
Welcome to Design Observer, a home for curious minds shaping the world. Find your people and new ideas.
| Platform | Pricing | Freemium | Publishes | Twice weekly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 140 | Founded | 6 years ago | Last Issue | 8 days ago |
| Active | |||||

I was barely nineteen years old when I got my first true glimpse of gay culture.
Telling no one, I had taken a train from college in Providence, RI, to NYC — of course, there was a boy to meet — and we found ourselves walking up and down C...
David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, January 2012. Credit: Kleon3 via Wikimedia Commons.
“I’m 82, I’m going to die. We die because we are born.”
It was April 2020 and British artist David Hockney was writing t...
(Editor’s Note: Welcome to Design Observer’s weekly newsletter, The Observatory. Whether you’re new or have been with us for years, we’re glad you’re here. We’re dusting off this ancient Substack, starting by making sure you receive The Obs...
(Editor’s Note: Welcome to Design Observer's weekly newsletter, The Observatory. Whether you're new or have been with us for years, we're glad you're here. We’re dusting off this ancient Substack, starting by making sure you receive The Obs...
Debbie Millman is a designer, brand expert, educator, master interviewer, and dear friend of Design Observer. Her most recent short TED Talk, “You Got What You Wanted, Now What?” was posted this spring. It’s a don’t-miss.
She began with a...
Subscribers, engagement, traffic and sponsorship for Design Observer.
| Subscribers | Engagement | 72 | Monthly Web Visits | ||
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| Accepts Sponsors | Estimated Cost per Ad | ||||
How this newsletter ranks in the official Substack charts.
| #246 |
The writers behind this newsletter.
Editor-in-Chief, Design Observer. I write. I podcast. I draw water drops. I wander.
In its various forms, what I love most is giving curious people better access to perspective-changing stories. Now Deputy Editor for Design Observer, I bring readers closer to the people and ideas that are designing a better world.
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