Designers

The copper prototype dates to 1794, the year that the U.S. Mint first struck its famed "Flowing Hair" silver dollars.

One of the First Dollar Coins Struck at the U.S. Mint Sells for $840,000

The 1794 copper coin served as a prototype for the famed "Flowing Hair" silver dollar

“The Co-Lab” is a first-of-its-kind collaborative design experience where museumgoers can build virtual future communities in real time, alongside artificial intelligence (A.I.) acting as a design partner.

What If Humans and Artificial Intelligence Teamed Up to Build Better Communities?

Smithsonian’s 'Futures' exhibition team and Autodesk announce groundbreaking interactive experience to showcase a bold new problem-solving philosophy

A "deliberately inconvenient" twin champagne glass created by Athens-based architect Katerina Kamprani

Take a Virtual Tour of Failed Designs, From the DeLorean to Google Glass

An online exhibition showcases 40 creative flops, including a curvy ping-pong table and a doll dubbed Little Miss No-Name

Album cover, Sound, 1966; Designed by Laini Abernathy (American) for Delmark Records (Chicago, Illinois); Lithograph on folder paper; 31.8 × 31.8 cm (12 1/2 × 12 1/2 in.)

Why Cooper Hewitt Is Seeking Works by the Innovative Black Graphic Designer Laini Abernathy

Cooper Hewitt is collecting album covers designed by this important designer, who contributed to the Black cultural scene in the late 1960s

At the Smithsonian, educators have used the pedagogy of game-based learning to create innovative programs and activities that open the door to vast content and collections for learners of all ages.

Changing the Game With Game-Based Learning

Educators stress that the mechanics for learning and embracing the playful are embedded in the structure of familiar games

A whimsical bag designed to look like a European horse chestnut, made by contemporary British designer Emily Joe Gibbs

How the Handbag Became the Ultimate Fashion Accessory

An exhibition at the V&A in London traces the long history of the purse, from Elizabeth I's court to "Sex and the City"

One of Tyrus Wong's popular holiday cards.

How Tyrus Wong's Christmas Cards Captivated the American Public

The unlikely Hollywood visionary of 'Bambi' fame designed what would become some of the most popular holiday stationery of all time

A view of the Dujiangyan Zhongshu bookstore

See a Stunningly Surreal Bookstore in China

Dujiangyan Zhongshu features gravity-defying staircases and infinite bookshelves

In 1943 the all-wing and jet-propelled Horten Ho 229 promised spectacular performance and the German air force (Luftwaffe) chief, Hermann Göring, allocated half-a-million Reichsmarks to brothers Reimar and Walter Horten to build and fly several prototypes.

Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction With Horten's All-Wing Aircraft Design

New research dispels some of the myths behind the world's first jet-powered flying wing

Wally Koval has transformed his wildly popular Instagram account Accidentally Wes Anderson into a book of the same name.

Ten Places That Could Be Straight Out of a Wes Anderson Film

A new book showcases photographs of quirky and colorful places that aesthetically—and accidentally—match the filmmaker’s style

This month's picks include Mantel Pieces, The Dead Are Arising and A Series of Fortunate Events.

How the Alphabet Got Its Order, Malcolm X and Other New Books to Read

These five October releases may have been lost in the news cycle

Design I/O’s “Connected Worlds,” an interactive exhibit at The New York Hall of Science, New York, New York

Top Designers Strut Their Stuff at Cooper Hewitt Gala

Kickstarter, Gowanus Canal Sponge Park, TELFAR and others take home awards

The courtyard at Mexico City's Museo Nacional de Antropología could be a good model for a socially distant lobby space in future museums.

How Will Covid-19 Change the Way Museums Are Built?

The global pandemic will have long-lasting effects on the form and function of future museums

The little red car with the yellow roof that is propelled by foot power has been a hit with young children since its creation in 1979.

A Brief History of the Cozy Coupe

Invented by a former auto designer, the foot-powered kids toy still outsells engine-powered cars

Man’s Robe (China), 1796–1820

What Can You Create With These Five Design Treasures From the Cooper Hewitt Collections?

Open Access means you can share, remix and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s images

The patio at the Laurent House.

This Frank Lloyd Wright Home Was a Trailblazing Example of Accessible Design

The Laurent House in Rockford, Illinois, was built 40 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act became law

Saba Ali, right, and Contemporary Muslim Fashions from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Contemporary Muslim Fashions Are Having Their Day in the Sun

Ranging from high-performance sportswear to haute couture, emerging and established designers are meeting the needs of stylish Muslim women

Milton Glaser's Dylan poster was inspired by Marcel Duchamp's 1957 self-portrait. "The history of visual things in the world," says Glaser, "is my playpen."

How Milton Glaser Came to Design the Iconic Poster of Bob Dylan

The 1966 illustration of the folk-rock icon captured the psychadelic dazzle of the flower-power era

Some maintain that two spaces between sentences make paragraphs easier to read; others vehemently disagree.

Why Microsoft Word Now Considers Two Spaces After a Period an Error

Traditionalist "two-spacers" can still disable the function

This miniature room design by Julie Dumas Rose is a finalist in Eny Lee Parker's Clay Play challenge.

These Artists Used Clay to Build Their Dream Homes in Miniature

Ceramics artist Eny Lee Parker hosted a contest that asked quarantined creators to imagine their ideal rooms

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