PRI: Design for the Real World

You might remember zoot suits from the swing craze in the late nineties. But for one Southern California tailor and her prom-bound customers, zoot suits have never gone out of style. Produced by Eric Molinsky.

Graphic designer Noah Scalin created a new skull design every day for a year and posted them to his blog Skull-a-Day. He used whatever was at hand: breakfast cereal, sparklers, and little green army men. Scalin thinks that no matter the material, the skull is timeless. Produced by Studio 360's Michele Siegel and Erin Calabria.

Cubicles have a bad reputation as soul-crushing, gray boxes wallpapered in Post-its. But they were originally designed to promote health and wellness. Cubicle pioneer Joe Schwartz explains what went wrong. Produced by Catherine Epstein.

Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister's favorite album cover of all time is one of Warhol's notorious designs: The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers, with the fully operational zipper. Produced by Derek John. And Cale reveals Warhol's inspiration for the Velvet Underground's signature banana cover.

Jeremy Kinney of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum explains how the Wright brothers' wooden propeller -– designed using the world's first wind tunnel -- made the dream of defying gravity come true. Produced by Dennis Nishi.

Design guru Steven Heller explains how Father Christmas became branded as a jolly bearded old man in a red suit.

Cartoon characters have helped sell burgers and fries for years. But for graphic designer Steven Heller, there's one icon that stands above the rest. He's a pudgy little boy with a pompadour, checkered overalls and a Double-Decker burger in his hand.

Every time a new Apple product is rumored, a fraction of the country goes into a frenzy. Every bit of new information is pored over by millions of Apple cultists. A new release is earning that kind of excitement right now, but it's an old-fashioned book — a handsome, hardcover biography of Steve Jobs.

Darren Wershler-Henry, a professor of Communications, pays tribute to the whack of metal against paper, the smell of ink, and a technology we've almost forgotten. Produced by Zeke Turner.

Today rock band T-shirts are sold at major retailers, to kids who weren't alive when classic rock was born. But when music writer Johan Kugelberg was growing up in Sweden, wearing the Sex Pistols or Ramones on your chest was its own act of rebellion. Produced by Andrea Silenzi.