For nearly 10 years, I was honored to be a weekly contributor to the art and design website Design Observer. Design Observer is one of the most respected on-line sites devoted to a range of topics including graphic design, social innovation, urbanism, popular culture, and criticism. It was founded by four prominent design writers in October 2003: Rick Poynor was the founder and first editor of London-based Eye magazine, in addition to being author of many books; Michael Bierut is a partner in the New York office of Pentagram and is a design critic at Yale School of Art; Jessica Helfand is also a critic at Yale and is author of numerous books; the late William Drenttel (1953-2013) was a designer, critic and partner with his wife Jessica Helfand at Winterhouse Studios in Connecticut.

If you would like to explore past essays by John Foster, you may do so by clicking here or on any of the images below which will take you to the featured item.