Michael Bierut and Jessica Helfand talk about design, performance, and fear of Ebola.

Here is a preview of The Observatory, a new podcast we’re developing at Design Observer. In each episode, Michael Bierut and Jessica Helfand talk about a few things going on in the world of design that have caught their attention.

Steven Heller is the co-chair (with Lita Talarico) of the School of Visual Arts MFA Design / Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program and the SVA Masters Workshop in Rome. He is a prolific writer.

Sandra Nuut is investigating spaces for contemporary fashion curation inside and beyond the museum, and is analyzing the collision between culture and commerce.

Hala A. Malak is a design critic, curator, branding consultant, and Middle East expert with her own particular view of the world.

Bryn Smith is a writer, graphic designer, and critic based in Brooklyn. She writes about design for Core77, Designers & Books and L’ArcoBaleno, among others, and teaches in the graduate graphic design program at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Angela Riechers is a Brooklyn-based art director and writer specializing in design, media, and visual culture.

Brigette Brown is a 2013 graduate of SVA MFA Design Criticism program who has worked for the Museum of Latin American Art, written for Disegno and Surface, researched for Metropolis, and edited a publication for Domus.

Anne Quito will graduate in May 2014 from SVA’s MFA Design Criticism program. In 2009, she earned a master’s degree in Visual Culture from Georgetown University.

Anna Marie Smith is currently working on her MFA in Design Criticism from the School of Visual Arts, with particular interest in social media, video game design, and branding within the Young Adult demographic.