Celebrating Our Anniversary Continued: Five More Designer Book Lists from the Archive
March 17, 2014
Our celebration of the three-year anniversary of Designers & Books, launched in February 2011, continues. Following our round-up of five vintage book lists on March 3, we’ve brought together five additional book lists from our archive of more than 300 lists of books that have inspired designers and design commentators. Included here are graphic designers Maira Kalman ( featured in our post “Just Sit Under a Tree and Read”) and Seymour Chwast (“Of Printed Matter, Picture Postcards and People in Woodcuts”), architect Farshid Moussavi (“Overlaps, New Connections, and New Readings”); interior and product designer Todd Oldham (“Like a Starburst: Todd Oldham Interviewed by Wendy Goodman”); and fashion designer Guo Pei (“Telling a Story about Beauty: Guo Pei and Zara Arshad in Conversation”). More designers’ book lists can be found here.
The books I like are human-size 3-D objects. The are made of ink and paper and sometimes boards and cloth. They often contain things to ponder, ignore, memorize, and laugh and wonder at.
I am interested in books that can be read in different ways, that offer different insights depending on the spatial position you adopt within them. This way of reading inspired my book The Function of Form, whose chapters are related through a theme but can be read independently of one another; similarly the pages can be read as double spreads or as a series of left-hand pages or right-hand pages.
It was a pleasure to make a list of my favorite books—the only challenge was stopping. I live in rooms filled with stalagmite towers of books and this is just a start.
The list consist of top-drawer efforts that are all treasures to me. I have visited them often, and my pleasure and fascination is never diminished. I hope you enjoy them, too.
The authors I love tend to be lyrical and slightly absurd in one way or another. You could read any or all of the books by the authors listed. There are photographers you should look at—such as Diane Arbus and August Sander—who all have monographs. There are children’s book authors and illustrators that you should know—like Ludwig Bemelmans and William Steig.
But mainly, just read. That will show the way. Walk to a garden. Take a book with you, maybe a cup of coffee or tea. Just sit under a tree and read. That is the only answer to everything.
Ever since my childhood, I have loved reading books. Reading even just one book makes me feel as if I have been on a journey of a thousand miles.
When I was growing up in China in the 1980s, however, books were really scarce. There were very few titles available on the market and books from abroad were unheard of. Low living standards also meant that published material was mostly unaffordable for the masses. Some publications were even priced as high as $100-200!
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.
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.
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.”
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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