Design Observer

Gabriel Brodbar is the Executive Director of the NYU Reynolds Program in Social Entrepreneurship at New York University.

David Womack is the executive creative director of experience design in the mobile and social group at R/GA. He is also on the faculty of the MFA in interaction design program at School of Visual Arts in New York.

Steff Geissbühler is among America’s most celebrated designers of integrated brand and corporate identity programs.

Liz Gerber is the Junior Breed Chair of Design at Northwestern U. and Faculty Founder of Design For America.

Rob Forbes’ career includes work in both the Arts and Business fields. Forbes is best known as the Founder of Design Within Reach and for the vision of a business that has grown into the leading retail destination for modern design in the US.

Jake Nickell is the co-founder of skinnyCorp and Threadless.com, along with a “bunch of other little projects”.

Sara Ivry is the host of Vox Tablet, the weekly podcast of Tablet Magazine, and a writer who has contributed to the New York Times, Bookforum, the Boston Globe, and other publications.

J. D. McClatchy is the author of six books of poetry and many texts for musical settings, including eight opera libretti.

Steven Heller is the co-chair (with Lita Talarico) of the School of Visual Arts MFA Design / Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program and the SVA Masters Workshop in Rome. Steven is a prolific author.

John Foster has been a longtime collector of self-taught art and vernacular photography, as well as an artist, designer, and art curator.

Chip Kidd is a Designer/Writer in New York City. His book cover designs for Alfred A. Knopf, where he has worked non-stop since 1986, have helped create a revolution in the art of American book packaging.

Natalie Foster is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Peers.

Adam Harrison Levy is a writer and film-maker. He teaches at the School of the Visual Arts. In 2012 he was a Poynter Fellow at Yale University.

Thomas Fisher is dean of the College of Design at the University of Minnesota.

Mark Lamster is the architecture critic of the Dallas Morning News and a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture.

Marvin Heiferman, a curator and writer, develops exhibitions, websites and publications that explore visual culture.

Joanna Radin is Assistant Professor in the Section for the History of Medicine at Yale University, where she also holds affiliations with the departments of History and of Anthropology.

John Maeda is the president of Rhode Island School of Design.

Wendy MacLeod ia an award-winning playwright.

Ricky Jay is considered one of the world's great sleight of hand artists.

Alice Twemlow is the co-founder and chair of a two-year graduate program in Design Criticism at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She is also a PhD candidate in the History of Design department at the Royal College of Art, London. Twemlow has written about design for publications including Eye, Design Issues, Design & Culture, I.D., Print, New York Magazine, and Architect’s Newspaper. Sh...

Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, is a social scientist and physician who conducts research on social factors that affect health, health care, and longevity.