Design has changed the way we interact with the world. From hand-held smart products to large-scale systems and networks, designers have envisioned a brave new world of connectivity and autonomy. Renowned designer and thinker Bruce Mau talks about the future of design, using examples from Cooper Hewitt’s collection to highlight the progress and promise of...

Cooper Hewitt curator Ellen Lupton and guests talk about how to look at posters as visual language. What does it mean to take graphic design out of context and put it in a museum? How Posters Work uses posters to explore principles of visual thinking and storytelling. Dutch designers Rianne Petter and René Put talk...

Learn how to use The Pen when you next visit the museum. Carry the Pen around the exhibitions and touch museum labels with the rear to save objects; use the tip to draw on our interactive tables; and use the rear on the tables when prompted to save your 3D creations or wallpaper designs in...

This is the third event in our DISEÑO series, which focuses on design and Latino Identity. Join us for a discussion of communication design, featuring four leaders in the field reflecting on their visual communication practices! Panelists include Armin Vit (UnderConsideration LLC), Gabriela Mirensky (Faculty, SVA, New York and UDEM, Monterrey, Mexico), Rafael Esquer (Alfalfa...

Where did “universal design” come from, and where is it headed? Will our future be populated with products that work for everyone, or we will increasingly use devices customized for an audience of one? How do we acknowledge individual differences while building a more accessible world? Gianfranco Zaccai (Continuum), Jon Marshall (MAP Project office), Scott...

Cooper Hewitt curator Matilda McQuaid moderates a panel discussion about the role tools play in large-scale projects. Panelists including Paul Ceruzzi of the National Air & Space Museum, William Goodrich of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Chuck Hoberman, artist, engineer, and inventor of folding and transforming structures, provide insight into how we use powerful tools...

It is the end of another year and there’s been many changes at Cooper Hewitt. We’ve installed new galleries and one part of the new infrastructure are new interactive experiences through which to explore our collection as it gets digitized. As collections become available through these new interfaces, the objects that people explore or want...

After a full inside-out renovation, our doors are finally open! Here’s some snippets from opening day to whet your appetite.

The Solar Wall is featured in Tools: Extending Our Reach, on view from 12.12.2014 to 5.25.2015. Video display of the Sun’s surface from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly aboard NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO); Satellite launch date: February 11, 2010. Courtesy of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.