Interviews, Essays, Etc.

Below you will find links to a variety of special materials, including our Author Q&As, interviews with designers and commentators, and essays, that we would like to call to your attention.

chronological

Essays

6 items

Essays

Exploring, Through Design, the Big Ideas and Issues of Our Time

Susan S. Szenasy

December 13, 2011

Susan S. Szenasy talks about books that have, or should have, influenced our culture and the design community from her perspective as editor in chief of Metropolis, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2011.
40 Titles for New Architecture Students

Juhani Pallasmaa

June 7, 2011

Juhani Pallasmaa, former dean of the Faculty of Architecture at Helsinki University, lists 40 books that during his tenure he asked every new architecture student to read over the summer.
Books Every Architect Should Read: Seeing Things as You Have Never Seen Them Before

Paul Goldberger

May 3, 2011

Paul Goldberger reflects on books that deepen our encounters with architecture.
My Book List: A Wishful Affinity

Margaret McCurry

February 1, 2011

Margaret McCurry writes about authors, subject matter, and literary styles that have influenced her—and how a client once referred to her as “the Jane Austen of architects.”
Why I Write

Steven Heller

February 1, 2011

Steven Heller is the author, co-author, and/or editor of more than 100 books. In this essay he writes about why he writes—and why he writes mostly about design.
You Are What You Read

Maryanne Wolf

February 1, 2011

Maryanne Wolf writes about how the design dynamics of the human brain enable books to have an impact on us far beyond what we might imagine.

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Announcements

Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister

Now is Better

By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023

Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.

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Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future

By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022

Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.

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Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman

Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People

By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022

Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.

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Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber

Milton Glaser: POP

By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023

This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.

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Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022

Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”

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Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)

By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023

This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.

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