Pierre Bernard
Pierre Bernard’s Book List
Roland Barthes, Milan Kundera, Georges Perec.
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About love of the written word. Barthes celebrates the fact that the 26 letters of the alphabet are not images, and as such they can be reinvented to mean whatever needs to be said. Giving meaning to the written word—using an alphabet that's not loaded in advance with stereotypes—is indeed one of the greatest challenges for the graphic designer.
The theme is the novel—fiction—as a form of narration that can still be an antidote to the numbing effect of mass media. I see a strong parallel between the work of the novelist and that of the graphic designer.
The French sociologist and philosopher Morin, who is in his early 90s, is the author of On Complexity, among many other books. In his latest book, La Voie (published in 2011), the title of which translates as The Way: For the Future of Humanity, he pleads for a new way of analyzing global issues, one that doesn’t take for granted the very notion of progress. As far as he is concerned, transdisciplinarity is the only methodology that will help us solve the present crisis—a conviction most graphic designers would support!
Perec’s first novel, written in 1965, is a criticism of the consumer culture as perceived in the 1960s. As one of the founders of the Grapus collective, this is a topic I have wrestled with all my life. For any designer with left-leaning convictions, Things is a pivotal text.
This book was my childhood favorite. A celebrated French classic (The Stories of the Cat on a Perch, not translated into English), it describes a world in which children and animals are accomplices, united in their perplexity in the face of a befuddling adult world. I can’t explain why this book is important, but I feel that the characters’ candid search for meaning is not unlike my own quest as a graphic designer.
Most admirable is the authors’ ability to introduce the notion of poetry in a political discourse. These two famous black writers/philosophers from Martinique introduced the concept of “créolisation” as a form of postcolonial engagement. In this book, they promote a vision of the world in which “beauty” is a lot more than an aesthetic notion—it’s a call to action. The Intractable Beauty of the World (not translated into English) is an open letter to Barack Obama upon his election.
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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