There’s been a lot of talk lately about design’s power to do good and foster change on a mass scale. Sure, I drink that Kool-Aid, serving it up to my clients and students, too. Sometimes, though, the best “good” design is for a small audience of the people closest to us. Pentagram partner Eddie Opara mentioned recently that he thought design wasn’t “about solving problems. It’s about making people happy.” There’s no doubt in my mind that David Laferriere’s design project has made his kids happy, and what isn’t “good” about that? 

Pop-Up Magazine is hands down the coolest publication in circulation right now. It has featured work from a staggeringly wide range of writers, photographers, illustrators, documentary filmmakers, performers, radio producers and creative groups including Alice Walker, Pixar, Roman Mars, Michael Pollan, Alex Gibney, David Maisel, Rebecca Solnit, Mary Roach, Yiyun Li, Richard Misrach, Sam Green, Wendy MacNaughton, Nicholas Felton and even Beck. But you can’t buy a copy or a subscription, nor can I show you any sample spreads. Pop-Up is not a printed publication or an app on your iPad. It’s a magazine performed live on stage. 

I’m instantly jealous of any designer who manages to launch a publication. Where does he or she find the time? The jealousy is only compounded when that designer manages to get more than one issue out the door. What distinguishes San Francisco-based Manual’s Loose Leaf project (now on its second issue) is that it’s actually a revolving art exhibition you hang on your wall.