50th Anniversary Issue
November 2004: How We Live Today
Some anniversary issues look back. Others look forward. I.D. chose to look around us right now. Fifty years after this magazine was founded, Americans continue to build cities, perspire on subway platforms, and test the mysterious relationship between their health and lifestyles. We may know more than we did a half-century ago, but we feel exactly the same: exhilarated, mystified, and sweaty. As much as any body of accumulated wisdom, those everyday sensations drive design into the future.
Features
Every Breath They Take
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity afflicts at least 5 million Americans.
By Jane Margolies
Five Design Collections Under $50
Ralph Caplan, Milton Glaser, Murray Moss, Chee Pearlman, and Kate Spade pick the best affordable design on the market.
Lowering the Boom
Researchers explore how to design the noise out of aircraft.
By Tom Vanderbilt
Digging in China
Western architects trade anecdotes about working in the Wild East.
By Nancy Levinson
Arms and the Mandate
"Less-lethal" weapons promise to keep the peace with minimal bloodshed.
By Urshula Barbour
Power to the Paper
Are wall coverings becoming the new soapbox?
By Eve M. Kahn
Who Was That Masked Inventor?
Too often, designers of classic products get lost in the shadows.
By Edward Tenner
The Green Light at the End of the Tunnel
Plans for New York City's Second Avenue subway line are back on track-this time, with an environmental push.
By Joan Oleck
2004 Interactive Media Design Review
Jurors: Cory Arcangel, Mike Essl, Tanja Gompf, Jiae Kim
Moderated by Dan Nadel
Departments
/letters
Hodgetts + Fung defend their Bowl.
/note
To the I.D. editor of 2054.
By Julie Lasky
/expo
A floating sauna takes tradition off shore. Jonathan Adler turns from ceramics to hotel design. France Télécom introduces wearable screens.
/q+a
NEA design director Jeff Speck talks about what you can do with his money.
By Bradford McKee
/rant
Why must waiting rooms be so dull?
By Barbara Flanagan
/market
American Apparel proves organic cotton can be cool and profitable.
By Colin Berry
/r+d
Finding the perfect mesh for Humanscale's new Liberty chair.
By Jessie Scanlon
/n+n
Frederic Schwartz designs Knoll's new Manhattan showroom.
By David Sokol
/crit
Product: iXi Bike
Reviewed by Sebastian Moll
Technology: Alienware MJ-12m
Reviewed by Ray Weigel
Exhibition: Design ? Art
Reviewed by Alice Twemlow
Books: How to See, By Design, and Designing for People
Reviewed by Ellen Lupton
/flashback
Industrial Design, April 1970
Design: What Lies Ahead
Written and updated by Niels Diffrient
and Alexander Garvin
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