A look-back at my Brissago summer: five weeks with great teachers and a fantastic group of fellow students, a hopelessly picturesque setting, hikes up to medieval hill towns on weekend mornings, my first Italian weekend, and (gasp!) my first and only hitchhiking experience.

The Children’s Museum sign, installed on a historic Houston Street department store façade, was a specialty piece of signage designed to delight. With its splashy colors and spinning toy elements, the bracket sign borrowed from vintage signage of Houston Street’s heyday, and reflected the sophisticated design of the children’s play space within.

Every designer loves doing ephemera. Those time-sucking, money-losing, last-minute, low-budget nightmares - they are in fact truly the love projects, where personality can win over protocol. This invitation is one of my favorites, for close friends and long time clients Alamo Architects.

In 1982, as a baby design intern in Philadelphia, I answered an open call for banner designs for City Hall Courtyard. My entry won! Which was beyond exciting. I followed the process of making and installing – from chatting with the crew of middle aged ladies cutting and sewing in a second floor workroom, to watching the riggers put them up on installation day.