America’s 250th anniversary
And the role design can play in the next 250
It was hotter than July on the Fourth in New Orleans this year, and still, it was a better vibe for America’s 250th celebration than was evidently found elsewhere.
I was in New Orleans to debut our latest podcast, Draw the Line, at a special day-long activation at Essence Fest, hosted by the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice. As you might expect, it was a mix of truthtelling, celebration, and earnest reflection on the lives and needs of Black women.
This year, there was a particular focus on democracy and representation — and a full recounting of the fight to save the Voting Rights Act, and the necessary work of deciding what comes next. It felt like the right place to be.
I did three full days of reporting in Louisiana — and a particularly emotional tour the 85 mile stretch of land known as Cancer Alley. You’ll find that sound in future episodes. For now, episode one is here.
But since critique is central to a healthy democratic project, we asked two of our design contributors to bring their critical lens to bear on this fraught 250th anniversary.
“Throughout American history, design has repeatedly marked the boundary between inclusion and exclusion,” says Jessie McGuire, managing partner of the award-winning design and creative studio Thought Matter. “Redlining maps visually encoded racial segregation into cities. ‘Whites Only’ signs turned discrimination into a navigational system. And passports and citizenship certificates have long operated as designed expressions of state power, using the visual language of seals, signatures, and official typography to confer legitimacy and identity, communicating who belongs to the national project and on what terms.”
Ashleigh Axios, founder and CEO of Public Servants, LLC, decided to speak to the body politic as an individual receiving a developmental performance review. After 250 years, she finds the U.S. has become mired in longstanding contradictions, derailing its progress.
Illustration by Gina Bae
“Your history is not a steady expansion of the American ‘we.’ It is an ongoing negotiation over who counts, who belongs, and who gets to participate,” she says. “Some of your greatest contributions — from world-changing music and scientific discovery to entrepreneurship and civic leadership — have come from the very people you were simultaneously keeping at the margins of American life.”
Design offers solutions, they both say.
“Communication design alone can’t fix political violence. But it does shape which stories become visible, which communities become legible, and whose humanity is allowed to appear in public,” says McGuire. “America 250 arrives at a moment of deep institutional distrust. In that context, design has a different responsibility: less branding, more reflection. The task isn’t simply to redesign patriotic imagery, but to redesign participation itself.”
And Axios offers a bulleted list of action items she’d like to see before the next performance review.
Who belongs? Remove barriers to voting and full participation in civic and public life.
How should power be used? Exercise public authority with greater restraint, accountability, and care—in service of liberty and justice for all.
What does a democracy owe? Honor the public commitments you’ve made, even when doing so becomes politically inconvenient.
Anything to add? What’s on your mind these days? Let us know.
Ellen McGirt
Editor-in-Chief
Ellen@designobserver.com
P.S. Did someone who loves you send you this newsletter? Welcome! Subscribe here.
This edition of The Observatory was edited by Rachel Paese.
Draw the Line
Episode one of Draw the Line out now.
The Supreme Court case Louisiana v. Callais gutted the Voting Rights Act and rewrote the rules of American democracy. Design Observer’s brand new audio documentary, Draw the Line, is telling the inside story of Louisiana’s fight over power, maps, and who gets left off them.
Every district line is a design decision — and every decision is about who gets power.
Episode 1 launched over the weekend at the 2026 Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans. Listen now and share it with someone who needs to hear it.
Observed
What are you observing? Tell us.
Designing the world’s favorite game. Fans are weighing in on best World Cup mascots and the best World Cup logos, but it appears that the world’s oldest football club has made a serious misstep in its latest rebrand. Sheffield FC, founded in 1857, has gone modern. “Horrible,” sniffed one fan.
A beloved pop star married a champion football player. The big winner? Jonathan Anderson, creative director of the Parisian fashion house Christian Dior. The biggest bridal commission of the decade would have been “eager to prove himself just a year into his role leading the French luxury house,” says Reuters.
Extreme heat has hit Europe for the third time this summer.
Inspiration from some of the world’s earliest graphic designers.
A recap of the Sustainable Brands Conference 2026. There’s definitely more to talk about than when it first began 20 years ago, says Jessica Deseo in PRINT. “California continues to lead the way in environmental policy, and one of the most discussed topics throughout the event was the state’s landmark packaging legislation, SB 54,” she says. The legislation takes on single-use packaging and recycling in a big way. It is poised to “influence not only manufacturers and retailers operating in California but also the broader packaging and consumer goods industries nationwide.”
Job board
Hiring a designer? Post your role on the Design Observer Job Board to reach a highly engaged audience of designers, creative leaders, and studios across the Design Employment Network.
Packaging & Surface Designer at The Woobles, Remote.
Retail Designer at Artistic Tile, Secaucus, NJ.
Industrial Designer at Bould Design, San Mateo, CA.
End marks
Don’t miss the exclusive clips from experts who are weighing in on the Draw the Line audio documentary. Find them on our socials.