[NOTE: I stopped updating this page for a while because of a technical problem with the site; I’m gradually catching up now.]
I write about technology, design, business, marketing, the arts, work, and other subjects. (For more about me please go here.)
Currently I write the Branded column for Fast Company, and also focus on my newsletter, The Art of Noticing. From 2019 to 2021 I was a senior writer and columnist for Marker, a business publication launched by Medium. From 2013 to 2018 I wrote the Workologist column for The New York Times. From 2012 to 2016, I contributed regularly to Design Observer. From 2013 to early 2015, I was a columnist for Yahoo News and Yahoo Tech. From 2004 – 2012, I was a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, most notably writing the weekly Consumed column. Before that, I was a columnist for Slate.
All along, I have also done other work here and there for a variety of outlets. Selected examples below, in reverse chronological order. Recent entries are BRANDED columns for FastCompany.com unless otherwise noted. I also post newer stuff (newsletter included) all the time on LinkedIn.
2024
- Dressing as a Branded Product for Halloween. October 25, 2024
- The Temu Pig Shirt Is Totally On-Brand. October 18, 2024
- McDonald’s Is Winning the Election. September 27, 2024
- SpaceX Has a Stellar Brand Moment. Is It Manager Mode?. September 13, 2024
- The Democrats’ “Weird” Brand Campaign — for the GOP. August 2, 2024
- How Amazon Invented A Holiday. July 19, 2024
- Biggest Branding Blunders of the AI Era — So Far. July 5, 2024
- “Apple Intelligence” Is Just (Effective) Branding, June 12, 2024
- The Dublin-NYC Portal and “User-Proof” Design, May 31, 2024
- John Mulaney Makes A Delivery Robot a Star, May 17, 2024
- How Costco Made Gold Bars A Hit, April 12, 2024
- Trader Joe’s Fans Shrug Off Recalls, March 29, 2024
- Why Krispy Kreme Gives Away So Many Doughnuts, March 22, 2024
- Apple’s Weirdly Off-Brand Message Icons, March 8, 2024
- How Waymo Become a Symbol of What People Hate About AI, February 16, 2024
- The Chinese EV Brand That’s Zooming Past Tesla, January 26, 2024
- How Big Alcohol Became Part of Dry January, January 19, 2024
- Micky Mouse Becomes A Horror Star, January 5, 2024
2023
- 2023: The Year in Objects, December 27, 2023
- [I’m working on adding some more BRANDED columns from 2023 here.]
- Why Brands Can’t Sit Out the Culture Wars, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, May 26, 2023
- The Second Life of Ghost Kitchens, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, May 19, 2023
- Tubi Is Ready For Its Close-Up, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, May 12, 2023
- Why GM Shouldn’t Kill the Bolt Brand, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, May 5, 2023
- The Bud Light Fiasco Is A New Phase of Brand Protest, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, April 21, 2023
- Elon Musk’s Troll-y Promo Products, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, April 14, 2023
- Brands Love Angel Reese, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, April 7, 2023
- Can Allbirds Make Itself Relevant Again?, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, March 24, 2023
- SVB’s Community Brand Couldn’t Save It, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, March 17, 2023
- ChatGPT Is the New Intel Inside, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, March 10, 2023
- Would You Pay for Social Media?, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, February 24, 2023
- Temu Introduces Itself — Sort Of, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, February 17, 2023
- Kia Goes Viral in the Worst Way, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, February 10, 2023
- Marie Kondo Starts Her Own Backlash, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, February 3, 2023
- Advertisers Don’t Seem Worried about TikTok , BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, January 20, 2023
- Nostalgia for Barnes & Noble, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, January 13, 2023
- Equinox’s Obnoxious New Year Flex, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, January 6, 2023
- In Praise of Clutter, New York Times Sunday Opinion section, January 1, 2023; (discussed further on Marketplace Morning Report)
2022
- The Year In Objects: 2022, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, December 20, 2022
- Build the Brand Mashups of Your Dreams, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, December 16, 2022
- The Brand Called Musk Dominated 2022, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, December 9, 2022
- A Squabble Over A Silly Parody Is Headed to the Supreme Court — and Brands Aren’t Laughing, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, December 2, 2022
- Why Apple’s “Secret” Strategy Is So Effective, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, November 18, 2022
- Elon Musk’s “Name & Shame” Threat Is Empty, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, November 11, 2022
- Why Is Apple Dabbling in Advertising?, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, November 4, 2022
- The Protest Plushie, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, October 28, 2022
- Big Brands Are Trying To Make Hit Songs on TikTok, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, October 21, 2022
- What Will AI Do To Branding? BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, October 14, 2022
- Why Wikipedia Wants A Sound Logo, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, October 6, 2022
- Could an Old Beer Ad Help Combat Partisan Animosity?, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, September 23, 2022
- New Angles on Noise Pollution, City Tech column for Land Lines/Lincoln Institute, Septepber 19, 2022
- The Triumph of TikTok’s Pushy Little Logo, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, September 16, 2022
- Product Placement IRL, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, September 9, 2022
- Should a Brand Ever Sue Its Fans?, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, September 1, 2022
- How Amazon Is “Cutewashing” Its Controversial Ring Doorbells, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, August 26, 2022
- Cinnabon’s Better Call Saul Score. BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, August 12, 2022
- Forgiving Uber. BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, August 8, 2022
- Amazon and Walmart Have A New Battleground: Advertising. BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, August 1, 2022
- Why Steelers Fans are Rallying for Heinz, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, July 22, 2022
- Getting Emoji-Curious with the Brilliant Jennifer Daniel, interview for Ceros.com, July 2022
- Elon Musk: Brand Destroyer, BRANDED column for FastcCoompany.com, July 15, 2022
- An Eco-Friendly Hummer? It’s Working, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, July 8, 2022
- The Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tour Shows How ‘Sportswashing’ Can Backfire, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, July 1, 2022
- How Spirit Somehow Became a Valued Airline Brand, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, June 24, 2022
- Spotify Bet You’d Forget about the Rogan Controversy, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, June 17, 2022
- Advertising for the Benefits of … Targeted Advertising?, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, June 10, 2022
- Roblox Built an Extraordinary Creator Community. Can It Make Money? Feature for Fortune, June 3, 2022
- How Netflix Converted Silly Reality-Show Props into Serious Branding, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com, June 3, 2022
- What Really Killed Honest Tea, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com. May 27, 2022
- The “De-Arching” of McDonald’s in Russia, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com. May 20, 2022
- The (Surprising) Triumph of Advertising, BRANDED column for FastCompany.com. May 12, 2022
- The Power of Symbols and How Russia Ruined the Letter Z, FastCompany.com. March 28, 2022
- Taking Bullshit Seriously, Fortune.com. March 12, 2022
- Actually, those Putin Table Memes Matter; Here’s Why. FastCompany.com. March 7, 2022
- The Online Squabble as Accidental Branding Event, FastCompany.com. February 16, 2022
- How the Disloyalty of Mercenary Streamers Is Becoming A Headache for Disney+ and Others. FastCompany.com. February 11, 2022
2021
- 2021: The Year In Objects, FastCompany.com. December 21, 2021
- The Great Raise: Why Business Can, and Should, Make It Happen, Fortune December 2021/January 22 issue.
- Mid-Covid Modern: The Design Legacy of the Pandemic (for Better or Worse). The New York Times Magazine, November 28, 2021
- Why Mark Zuckerberg Should Stop Trying To Be Relatable, Fortune, November 1, 2021
- The Return of Waiting. Fortune. October 22, 2021
- Danielle Baskin Is No Joke. Profile of a smart and innovative designer/creator. Ceros, June 2021
- How To Take A Break, DealBook/New York Times, May 29, 2021
- Everyday Icon: The Whiteboard, Marker, March 31, 2021
- Object of the Week: Grape-Nuts As Industrial Object, Marker, February 18, 2021
- The Winner of the Robinhood Backlash Is — Robinhood?, Marker, February 17, 2021
- How Oatly Won the Superbowl By Being Annoying, Marker, February 10, 2021
- Actually Doc Martens Are Your Father’s Rebel Boot, Marker, February 1, 2021
- Object of the Week: Trump’s Diet Coke Button, Marker, January 28, 2021
- Object of the Week: What Capitol Riot Merch Says About America, Marker, January 21, 2021
- Everyday Design Icons: The PDF, Marker, January 14, 2021
- The Real Reason Companies Are Dumping Trump, Marker, January 11, 2021
2020
- 2020: The Year In Objects, Marker, December 16, 2020
- Can DoorDash Ever Be A Real Business?, Marker, December 11, 2020
- Dunkin’ Donuts Twisty History with Wall Street, feature for Marker, December 7, 2020
- What the Hell Is Salesforce, Anyway?, Marker, December 2, 2020
- How the Pandemic Sparks Unexpected Innovation, Marker, November 9, 2020
- The Podcast Whisperer, feature for Marker, October 21, 2020
- How Did Walmart Become the Underdog?, Marker, October 8, 2020
- How Slack Became Boring, Marker, September 16, 2020,
- There’s Never Been A Better Time To Ignore the Dow, Marker, August 31, 2020
- The Pandemic Is the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Wayfair, Marker, August 25, 2020
- Introducing Bill Gates 3.0: The Ruthless Samaritan, Marker, August 13, 2020
- The Retailers that Don’t Need e-Commerce, Marker, August 5, 2020
- How Carnival Cruises Survives, Marker, July 21, 2020
- Pier 1 May Be the Saddest Story of the Bankruptcy Boom, feature for Marker, July 7, 2020
- Why the Roomba — Yes, the Roomba — Is a Tech Design Icon, Marker, June 25, 2020
- What Companies Can Actual Do to Address Racial Injustice, Marker, June 22, 2020
- On Capricorn One, HILOBROW, June 17, 2020
- CVS Walk Away from “Revitalizing” a Black Community in New Orleans, Marker, June 10, 2020
- On the Moral Clarity of … Ben & Jerry’s, Marker, June 3, 2020
- How Robinhood Convinced Millennials to Trade Their Way Through A Pandemic, Marker, June 1, 2020
- Why People Buy Unnecessary Things in Middle of a Crisis, Marker, May 7, 2020
- This Is How The Gap Dies, Marker, April 29, 2020
- Why Most Post-Pandemic Predictions Will Be Totally Wrong, Off Brand column for Marker, April 20, 2020
- This Crisis Is Calling Bullshit on Some “Mission Driven” Companies, Off Brand column for Marker, April 13, 2020
- A “Moon Shot” for Workers, Marker, April 7, 2020
- Nike’s Playbook For Surviving the Retail Apocalypse, Off Brand column for Marker, April 6, 2020
- Zoom Shows How To Manage A Pandemic As Branding Event, Off Brand column for Marker, March 26, 2020
- Peloton’s Pandemic Paradox, Marker, March 13, 2020
- How Under Armour Bet Everything on the Wrong Customer, Off Brand column for Marker, March 6, 2020
- The Flawed Legacy of Jack Welch, Marker, March 2, 2020
- Why Supreme Is Happy To See Customers Burning Their Merch, Off Brand column for Marker, February 26, 2020
- In Praise of Supremely Annoying Customers, Off Brand column for Marker, February 6, 2020
- How My Doorbell Betrayed Me, Off Brand column for Marker, January 28, 2020
- If Everyone Hates Spirit Airlines So Much, How Is It Making So Much Money?, feature for Marker, January 22, 2020
- When Design Is So Helpful It Drives Your Customers Crazy, Off Brand column for Marker, January 9, 2020
2019
- 2019: The Year in Objects, for Marker, Off Brand column for Marker, December 20, 2019
- How ‘Superpower’ Became the Most Annoying Corporate Jargon of 2019, Off Brand column for Marker, December 11, 2019
- How To Enjoy the Streaming Wars as a Fantasy Sports Tournament, Off Brand column for Marker, November 12, 2019
- Designing for Quitters, Off Brand column for Marker, November 7, 2019
- Changing of the Guard at Nike — from Right Brain to Left, Off Brand column for Marker, October 24, 2019
- Why Companies Need to Pick A Side, Off Brand column for Marker, October 9, 2019
- When Brands You’ve Never Heard of Swallow Companies You’ve Heard About Your Whole Life, Off Brand column for Marker, September 25, 2019
- There Is No Tech Backlash, column for The New York Times Sunday Review, September 15, 2019.
- If the iPhone Is Such Great Design, Why Does It Need A Case?, Marker, Off Brand column, September 11, 2019
- Design for the Worst, Marker, debut Off Brand column, September 9, 2019
- The Art of Noticing: How Entrepreneurs Can Crack the Innovation Code, Newsweek, August 18, 2019
- 10 Ways To Change How You Interact with Your City, Next City. June 3, 2019
- Productivity and the Joy of Doing Things the Hard Way, Wired.com, May 28, 2019
- The Art of Noticing: Five Ways to Experience a City Differently, The Guardian, May 9, 2019.
- When Brad Pitt Tried To Save the Lower Ninth Ward, Bloomberg Businessweek feature, February 15, 2019.
2017-2018
[NOTE: From July, 2017 through most of 2018 I was focused on a book project, so other work slowed a bit.]
- What Does A Luxury Font Look Like?, Bloomberg Businessweek article, November 20, 2018
- “Liquor Pang,” 64 Parishes, Fall 2018. Essay for Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities’ quarterly magazine’s special section on 300 years of New Orleans music.
- Selling Sticks and a Slap in the Face: Artists Intervene in eBay, Hyperallergic, July 11, 2017. Essay for the excellent #exstrange exhibition catalog.
- Symbolic Value: The Logo in the 21st Century, Fortune feature story,June 16, 2017
- The Musical Architecture Of New Orleans’ Music Box Village, The Organist (podcast), April 27, 2017
- How Walmart Is Tricking People Into Saving Money, The Atlantic features story,May 2017
- The Go-To Tech-Industrial Designer You’re Just Now Hearing About, Bloomberg Businessweek, April 12, 2017
- Celebrating Design Without Contending With It, NewYorker.com, February 14, 2017
- The End of Manly Labor, Boston Globe, January 29, 2017
- The D.I.Y Revolutionaries of the Pussyhat Project, NewYorker.com, January 25, 2017
2016:
- 2016, the Year in Nine Objects, NewYorker.com, December 30, 2016
- Twitter users expose “programmatic” web advertising, so Breitbart manufactures a “war” with Kellogg, NewYorker.com, December 9, 2016
- Lemonade Uses Behavioral Economics To Try to Reinvent Our Attitude Toward Insurance, Bloomberg Businessweek, December 8, 2016
- Forget Ad Breaks; Marketers Make Their Own Podcasts, advertising column for The New York Times, November 20, 2016
- An Update Is Available: On the Redesign of Pretty Much Everything, feature for The New York Times Magazine, November 13, 2016
- Open Call: Should Designers Trust the Crowd?, endpaper for The New York Times Magazine, November 13, 2016
- Only Correct: How Snopes.com Handles the Truth, Webby Awards, October 2016
- What Does the Gadsden Flag (Or Any Symbol) Really “Mean”?, NewYorker.Com, October 2, 2016
- Apple Cuts The Cord, NewYorker.Com, September 7, 2016
- How A Small Printing Company In New Jersey Became The Go-To Source for Kickstarter Game Designers, Bloomberg Businessweek, September 1, 2016
- Pokémon Go In The Lower Ninth Ward, Medium (Letters from Here), August 20, 2016
- A Crypto-Anarchist Will Help You Build a DIY AR-15. Feature for Bloomberg Businessweek, June 22, 2016
- New Orleans Vs. Airbnb. Feature for The New York Times Sunday Business section. March 6, 2016
- Visiting Mmuseumm. Podcast interview with Alex Kalman for The Organist. January 22, 2016
- The ankle monitor: A wearable-tech history. Feature for Good, January 5, 2016.
2015:
- Digital Culture, Meet Analog Fever. Essay on the luxification of atoms for The New York Times Sunday Review. November 29
- Only Collide. Essay on The Propeller Group and the poetics of automatic weapons. Grand Arts. August
- Human-Scale Interventions. Interview with anonymous street designer behind Rotten Apple. Design Observer. August 19
- My Digital Cemetery. Essay on digital address books and mortality for The New York Times Sunday Review. July 17
- SoundCloud’s Stealthy Role In the Grand Streaming Wars. Feature article for Bloomberg Businessweek. July 10
- Walk [Your City]. Column on a “tactical urbanism” project that crossed over. Land Lines. July
- Adventures with Objects. Multimedia essay for “Object Project” at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. June
- The Seductively Dystopian Design Fictions of Black Mirror. Article for re:form. May 11
- Self-Immolation in the Global Village. Essay for Primer. May
- The Story of the THX “Deep Note” Audio Logo. Article for Yahoo Tech. April 2
- No More Road Trips. Podcast interview with Rick Prelinger about his film constructed entirely from old home movies. The Organist. February 17
2014:
- YAHOO TECH: The Year of the Sad Internet. December 31 | Meet the people who create fake Apple product designs. November 5 | What I Learned from the Internet’s Mourning of Robin Williams, August 13 | My Adventure In Twitterbot-Making. August 6 | 9 Anti-Technology Videos That Went Viral, July 3 | Does Anyone Still Have Gravitas?, March 19 | E-Cigarette Hackers. February 18 | The New Vogue For Privacy, February 5 | A History of Computers on Law & Order, January 21.
- DESIGN OBSERVER: Spawn of Gerrymander, a series: Follows up this earlier piece; series intro here; see the whole project here. | Object in the News: The Face Privatizer. May 2 | Boris, Subverted — what do defaced Neighborhood Watch signs tell us?, March 12.
- RE:FORM: How To Pay Attention: 20 Ways To Win The War Against Seeing. December 19. Taking Aim At Shooting-Range Targets: An essay + object collaboration with Tim Belonax. November 5.
- HILOBROW: On Savannah signage lettering, part of the Kern Your Enthusiasm series. August 13.
- T: THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE: The Design Moment, 5.0. September 28.
- FAST COMPANY: The Heart of Hale County, a feature on social design in a rural Alabama town. January 13.
Finally, here is a more selective list of earlier feature stories and essays:
2013:
- The Liberator. Essay on the 3D-printed gun. MoMA Design & Violence. November 2013
- Go Go GoPro. Feature for Yahoo News. October 4
- The “I” In IPO: How One Man Turned Himself Into a Publicly Traded Company. Feature for The Atlantic Magazine. April 2013
- The Cult of Evernote. Feature for Bloomberg Businessweek. February 28
- The Pencil Factory: An Oral History. Feature for Print Magazine. January 15
2012:
- The Secret Digital-Music Brain. Article (on The Echo Nest) for Fortune. October 18
- Can Etsy Go Pro Without Losing Its Soul? Feature for Wired. September 26
- Design Is How It Feels: Tumblr Is Brilliant, But Can It Make Money? Feature for The New York Times Magazine. July 12
- What It Takes To Be a YouTuber. Feature for The New York Times Magazine. June 28
- MakerBot and the 3D-Printed Future. Feature for Fast Company. February
- In Praise of Electoral Entertainments. Essay for The New York Times Magazine. January 4
2011:
- Bang & Olufsen Vs. The Future. Feature story for Wired. September 27
- The Trivialities And Transcendence of Kickstarter. Feature for The New York Times Magazine. August 5
- The App That Makes You Musical. Feature for The New York Times Magazine. November 23
- “The Biggest Song in the U.S.A.!” Essay on the shifting meaning of Number One-ness, for The New York Times Magazine. July 15
- How Radiolab is Transforming the Airwaves. Feature for The New York Times Magazine. April 7
- Ghosts In The Machine: Our Digital Afterlives. Cover story for The New York Times Magazine. January 9
2010 and earlier:
- Inside The Wild, Wacky, Profitable World of BoingBoing. Feature for Fast Company. November 2010
- Site and Sound. Essay for exhibition Rewind Remix Replay: Design, Music & Everyday Experience, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. January 2010
- The Song Decoders. Feature (on Pandora) for The New York Times Magazine. October 14, 2009
- What’s A Dead Brand Worth? Feature for The New York Times Magazine. May 18, 2008
- Handmade 2.0. Feature for The New York Times Magazine. December 16, 2007
- TV Land. Essay on real estate-themed reality TV. Key (New York Times Magazine spinoff). March 18, 2007
- The Brand Underground. Cover story for The New York Times Magazine. July 30, 2006
- Cul-de-Sac Cred. Profile of Marc Ecko for The New York Times Magazine. July 10, 2005
- The Hidden (In Plain Sight) Persuaders. Cover story for The New York Times Magazine. December 5, 2004
- The Double Agent. Profile of Shepard Fairey for Inc. March 2004
- The Marketing of No Marketing. Feature (on PBR) for The New York Times Magazine. June 22, 2003
- The Guts of a New Machine. Feature (on the iPod) for The New York Times Magazine. November 30, 2003