Designers & Books Blog

 

856 blog entries
The Proust Questionnaire — Book Edition
By The Editors, Designers & Books December 30, 2013

We showcase highlights from among the many memorable answers in the 29 Proust Questionnaires we published during November and December. More...

By Amanda Dameron December 30, 2013

Whether he’s dealing with the visual pollution clogging our daily lives, the necessity of avoiding “the monstrosity of sprawl,” or the proper way to “read” a painting or a sign, Nelson is a patient but forthright teacher for training oneself to embrace the right kind of sight.

Weekly Wrap-Up & Preview
December 27, 2013

This holiday week we featured the books that inspire interior designer Sheila Bridges, a classic analysis of mass media as our Book of the Week, and a list of books on the design of advertising media. Next week we bring you some best-of-the-best round-ups and highlights from 2013 and announce our latest Design Books to Win winners. Happy new year! More...

Themed Book Lists
December 27, 2013

Inspired by this week's Book of the Week, The Medium is the Massage, by mass communications analyst Marshall McLuhan, here are 10 books from our contributors on advertising and design. More...

By Mark Fox December 27, 2013

This slim but dense book explores the relationship between art, advertising, desire, and capitalism. One of my favorite passages exposes the sociopolitical dimension of advertising, using the British term publicity: “Publicity turns consumption into a substitute for democracy. The choice of what one eats (or wears or drives) takes the place of significant political choice.”

By Deborah Berke December 26, 2013

A great exhortation to all of us to be questioning observers.

By André Leon Talley December 24, 2013

This is one of my favorite books, I always read it as a young boy at Christmas and loved the simple narrative. It so reminded me of my home, and my life with my grandmother: the prepping of fruit cake for the holidays, the intimate bonding of a young child to an older adult—friends between the generational divide. It’s a great, great masterpiece.

Book of the Week
By Tiffany Lambert, Designers & Books December 24, 2013

An experimental 1967 collaboration between the originator of media analysis and a major designer has new meaning today. More...

By Sheila Bridges December 23, 2013

You will be moved by the author’s strength and resilience.

Book List of the Week
By Steve Kroeter December 23, 2013

On the walls in one of her rooms at home, Sheila Bridges has painted the words of the authors and books she loves, she tells Design Matters’s Debbie Millman in a recent interview. More...