99% Invisible: A Great Design Podcast

“Design is everywhere in our lives, perhaps most importantly in the places where we’ve just stopped noticing.”

Recently we discovered a great podcast called 99% Invisible. The podcast’s host, Roman Mars, created a radio show to talk about the unnoticed architecture and design that shapes our world. The production began as a collaborative project between a San Francisco public radio station, KALW, and the American Institute of Architects. Now, with over 100 million downloads, 99% Invisible is one of the most popular podcasts on iTunes.

If you’re interested in how invisible design impacts our lives everyday, then this is great place to sit back and enjoy. Granted, a lot of the episodes have an American bias, but they’re often universal celebrating the hidden aspects of design. One of our favorite things about this production is how bite-sized each episode is. Plus, your almost guaranteed to learn something new every time you press play. Because 99% Invisible has released more than 450 episodes, we’ve recommended a few of our favorites below.

Rebar and the Alvord Lake Bridge: A brief history on the invention of rebar.

In this episode, Roman takes us back to 1889 when Rebar was first used to build a small bridge in Golden Gate Park.

 

Built for Speed: Designing highways and the landscape around us for speed.

Want to know why our major highways are designed the way they are? This episode is for you.

 

Razzle Dazzle: A look back at a different kind of camouflage.

This episode talks about the many different types of camouflage and the origin of the “Dazzle” trend.

Enjoy! Visit 99percentinvisible.org every Tuesday for a new episode.