“Windows of Style” gathers three essays that treat feeling, identity, and style as openings into what contemporary design is really doing. Instead of offering tidy definitions, each piece cracks the surface of the field in its own way, revealing how emotion steers our choices, how identity slips and reforms, and how style is rooted in cultural relevancy. Together, they read like light passing through different panes of the same window: shifting in color, angle, and intensity, but revealing a larger picture only when seen side by side.

This project was designed and developed by Sooim Kang for Typography and Interaction 1 (’25–’26) at The New School with HTML and CSS. DM Sans (headings) and Rethink Sans (body text) form a clear typographic system, while a stained-glass motif shapes the visuals through saturated color, a glass texture by Sirisvisual (Unsplash), and pane-like divisions that symbolize framed perspectives. Each section functions as its own “window,” tinted to reveal texture without losing legibility, and the layout adapts fluidly across breakpoints and light or dark mode.

A brief shimmer on refresh sweeps across the grid like sunlight through glass and turns off automatically for reduced-motion settings.

Hooked on a Feeling

2015

Michael Rock

This article reflects on how contemporary design has moved away from solving problems and toward shaping feelings. It follows the rise of mood boards, branding, and ideas of emotional coherence in a world saturated with images and shaped by the empathy economy.

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Post-Identity Design

2017

Federico
Pérez Villoro

Christopher
Hamamoto

This article looks at how identity systems have grown unstable amid powerful platforms and fast technological change, and how designers navigate brands that must continually adapt.

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Style is Not a Four Letter Word

2004

Jeffery Keedy

This article examines how visual identity operates in fast, networked environments and argues that branding is stronger when it adapts instead of staying fixed.

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