Geeking Out with Design Writer Helen Walters

By Reena Jana
March 25, 2011

Tracking the whereabouts of British-born, New York-based design writer Helen Walters is like compiling a list of the world’s coolest cities and events. She’s often off to hot-ticket gatherings such as the annual TED conference, jetting to Miami to look at art or appearing in a quirky music video being shot on Martha’s Vineyard—all in between zipping back and forth between her offices in Chicago and Manhattan, where she’s an editor and researcher at Doblin, a business strategy consultancy. Helen Walters (image courtesy of Helen Walters)

Trying to define Helen Walters’ role as a top thinker and speaker in the design world can be tough, as her career and her interests are multifaceted. The former innovation and design editor at Bloomberg Businessweek, Helen Walters is also a contributing editor at the British magazine Creative Review; author of cool books on topics like t-shirt design and short animated films; and a blogger for the hip design Web site Core77. The design writer touches on art, music, and other cultural fields on her personal blog. It’s no wonder that she has more than 8,000 Twitter followers, who live vicariously through her Tweets on her travels and devour her thoughtful 140 character dispatches on how design and creativity affect our lives.

Design Writer Helen Walters, who relies on a multitude of must have gadgets to stay plugged in at all times, geeked out with us.

The Inside Source: What is the most important high tech gadget that you travel with?

Helen Walters: Boring answer, I know, but it is my iPhone. Which, I should add, I rarely actually use as a telephone. The iPhone is invaluable when it comes to things like posting on Twitter, checking email, checking in, or even checking where I’m meant to go. (The beautiful map and that “blue ball of righteousness,” as I call the icon that flashes to let you know where exactly you are, have saved my bacon more times than I care to count. I am, to put it politely, “geographically challenged.”)

The Inside Source: How do you consume media when you are traveling?

Helen Walters: I seem to travel with far too much technology. I dash through airports with a trail of incompatible chargers and cords wafting behind me. And then all too often, I don’t use any of it. But I am completely addicted to reading on the iPad. This means that I am no longer weighed down by heavy, bulky books (along with everything else). The iPad has transformed the way I read.

I also watch movies on my iPad. I visited Japan for the first time last year, and since then have been slowly making my way through the epic films of the Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu (interspersed with trashier fare like the TV show "Californication," which I just started.) I’ll try to remember to download a film or series before I leave home. For my last trip I rented the documentary "Waiting for Superman," though I only managed to download about a quarter of it before I had to leave for the airport, so I guess I’ll be watching that another time.

The Inside Source: What do you write on?

Helen Walters: I’m a Mac girl, born and bred. (Well, my first computer was a ZX Spectrum, but that was a long time ago.) My main computer is a MacBook Pro, which I like because the keyboard is quiet. I’m often taking notes at conferences or during presentations, and I know from the few occasions that I’m not armed with a computer that there’s nothing more distracting than hearing the nearby clackety clack of quickly typing fingers. I have also mastered the art of typing with the lid down, essentially squashing my fingers but meaning that the screen light isn’t glaring. That’s my attempt to be thoughtful and respectful for other audience members, though if people notice, they generally seem to conclude that I’m bonkers.

The Inside Source: Do you have any old-school tech that you can't part with?

Helen Walters: My pride and joy is my Super 8 camera, which was actually my dad’s, and the very same device that captured all the now-mortifying footage of my childhood. I know it’s cliché, but the color and quality of Super 8 film is just so fantastically '70s. Even though it’s an expensive hobby, I love to go out and shoot the city with it. I recently took it to Coney Island and got some wonderful footage of merriment on the boardwalk and the goings on at Brighton Beach.

The Inside Source: What must have gadget are you coveting right now?

Helen Walters: Another cliché, I know, but probably the iPad 2. But actually I’d prefer to cut down on the number of gadgets I lug around with me all the time. I think that’s one of the reasons the iPhone is so enduringly popular… it has a decent enough camera on it; you can shoot video; it’s easy to upload the results to Twitter, Flickr or wherever you fancy; and it’s the one object you’re pretty much guaranteed to have on you at all times.

The Inside Source: Is there a surprising high tech gadget that you strongly encourage everyone to have?

Helen Walters: I’m completely neurotic about running out of power, so while I don’t particularly love these objects, I try to always have multiple power cords with me. I generally leave at least one of them behind at every place I visit. I was at a conference last year when I realized to my horror that I hadn’t restocked and was traveling without any form of charger. I sent out a pleading note via Twitter to the other members of the audience to help—and two people came to my rescue within minutes. I love that.

The Inside Source: You’re online a lot. Do you use eBay online auctions for any shopping or research?

Helen Walters: I moved house last year and promptly became completely obsessed with stalking pieces of Danish mid-century modern furniture on eBay. I would lose hours to clicking through everything that was on offer, admiring objects from every possible angle and then setting up elaborate systems in order to snag the ones I liked for the best possible price. Someone invariably beat me, but the whole process was completely addictive.

It’s super interesting to see what’s available on eBay. But beyond the superficial “ooh la la” type of stuff, designers can be smart and use eBay as a resource to see what’s going on out there in the world. Not only can they see what people are snapping up, but they can also use the search functionality to immerse themselves in a particular genre, era or style of design. What’s cool is that eBay isn’t just about the well known, the classic and the iconic (though it has that too). It also has a fantastic amount of the weird, the wonderful, the left field and the just plain odd. For any designer or design fan, that stuff is total catnip.

The Inside Source: What design trends are you paying attention to now for research?

Helen Walters: Well, I think we're seeing a continued trend for customization and personalization. There's a resurgence in handmade and craft-based objects, which can be very hit and miss but also amazing if you find the perfect thing you're looking for. People are tired of feeling like sheep being herded into the same stereotypes, and so there's we're seeing a lot of whimsy and creativity out there, which is wonderful.

The Inside Source: You often write about the art world on your design blog. What's your favorite art gallery in the world?

Helen Walters: I recently was in Miami, which is home to my favorite gallery in the whole world: the Margulies Collection in the Design District, which is an amazing place to spend some time and get away from the chaos of South Beach.

The Inside Source: What's the most surprising trip you've taken recently?

Helen Walters: Remember, I am from England, and so I find all U.S. travel very exciting. I recently went to visit someone in Indiana and our road trip took us through Gary. No one else thought this was in the slightest bit interesting, but I had my nose pressed up against the car window in rapture. I'm from Sheffield, which is England's now-former-steel-city, and apparently a love for brutal, industrial architecture is in my bones. I was completely transfixed by the scale of the plants and structures in Gary.

Take the lead from design writer Helen Walters and check out these must-haves for frequent travelers who also appreciate beautiful and functional design.

iPhone 4

The iPhone is a multi-tasker’s main tool, claims Walters. It eliminates the need for carrying a separate cameras for still photos and videos. Plus, the iPhone’s interface and apps make it easy to e-mail and Tweet dispatches to followers from the road.
MacBook Pro

For writing blog posts or editing book manuscripts while at conferences or on airplanes, the MacBook Pro laptop has a keyboard with whisper-soft keys. Walters likes that she can type without disturbing neighbors in convention halls or fellow plane passengers on planes
MacBook Pro Charger

Since she's prone to losing them, Walters always travels with spare chargers for her devices.
iPad

For quick entertainment on the road, Walters reads and watches movies on her iPad.
Yasujiro Ozu DVD

Walters recommends films by the Japanese master director Yasujiro Ozu, whose movies she first encountered during a trip to Tokyo.
Super 8 Camera

Although she is a specialist on innovative technology and design, Walters loves old-fashioned gadgets. Her favorite vintage device? A super-8 camera, which she uses to film memorable scenes she stumbles upon in her hometown of New York City.
Mid-century Danish Modern Desk Chair

When she’s back home in Brooklyn, Walters prefers to rest and relax on mid-century Danish Modern furniture, which she is often bidding on and researching on eBay.
300% Cotton by Helen Walters

Walters is the author of numerous design books, including a series on t-shirt graphics. They're a terrific source for collectors and designers alike. Here's her latest, "300% Cotton."
Through You: Photography from the Martin Margulies Collection

(buy it now price, $19.99)

One of Walters' favorite destinations is the Margulies Collection in Miami. Learn about the gallery, which features the holdings of Martin Margulies, a major art collector, with this book. It documents photographs in the collection by greats such as Diane Arbus.
Ryan McGinness Signed Silkscreen

(buy it now price, $2,950)

On her blog, Helen Walters often writes about artists whose work she admires, such as Ryan McGinness.