Reading List for Industrial Designers Part II
This reading list has been created for industrial designers. But I believe these books on this list will add value and inspire designers of all branches. The subjects of the books; design process, design thinking, design history, design techniques, etc.
1.Designing For People by Henry Dreyfuss
From the first answering machine (“the electronic brain”) and the Hoover vacuum cleaner to the SS Independence and the Bell telephone, the creations of Henry S. Dreyfuss have shaped the cultural landscape of the 20th century. Written in a robust, fresh style, this book offers an inviting mix of professional advice, case studies, and design history along with historical black-and-white photos and the author’s whimsical drawings. In addition, the author’s uncompromising commitment to public service, ethics, and design responsibility makes this masterful guide a timely read for today’s designers.
2.The Singular Objects of Architecture by Jean Baudrillard & Jean Nouvel
What is a singular object? An idea, a building, a color, a sentiment, a human being. Each in turn comes under scrutiny in this exhilarating dialogue between two of the most interesting thinkers working in philosophy and architecture today. From such singular objects, Jean Baudrillard and Jean Nouvel move on to fundamental problems of politics, identity, and aesthetics as their exchange becomes an imaginative exploration of the possibilities of modern architecture and the future of modern life.
3.Home: A Short History of an Idea by Witold Rybczynski
Walkthrough five centuries of homes both great and small — from the smoke-filled manor halls of the Middle Ages to today’s Ralph Lauren-designed environments — on a house tour like no other, one that delightfully explicates the very idea of “home.”
You’ll see how social and cultural changes influenced styles of decoration and furnishing, learn the connection between wall-hung religious tapestries and wall-to-wall carpeting, discover how some of our most welcome luxuries were born of architectural necessity, and much more. Most of all, Home opens a rare window into our private lives — and how we really want to live.
4.Industrial Design by John Heskett
The products of the industry are omnipresent; at home, in the street, they form the man-made landscape of our lives. The author’s highly original, broadly based approach shows how many and how diverse are the forces that have shaped the manufactured forms surrounding us during the past two centuries: the creativity of individual designers and design teams, technical innovations, economic and social pressures, and always the simultaneous and conflicting demands for continuity and change.
5.Objects of Desire: Design and Society Since by Adrian Forty
Objects of Desire looks at the appearance of consumer goods in the 200 years since the introduction of mechanized production, whether in Josiah Wedgewood’s use of neo-classicism for his industrially manufactured pottery or the development of appropriate forms for wirelesses. The argument is illustrated with examples ranging from penknives to computers and from sewing machines to railway carriages. In opening up new ways of appraising the man-made world around us, Objects of Desire is required reading for anyone who has any involvement with the design and a revealing document about our society.
6.A Century of Design: Design Pioneers of the 20th Century by Penny Sparke
The 20th century has been unique in the history of art and design, uniting creative imaginations with hi-tech and mass-production methods. The result has been well-designed products available to an unprecedented number of people. Many of these objects have found their way into the world’s finest museums, but even more beneficial has been their presence and common use in households around the world. This volume tells this fascinating story, combining the history of modern design movements with a chronological review of 80 top designers, from Otto Wagner at the end of the 19th century to Jasper Morrison, a young designer making an impact today. In between, you’ll find profiles of some of the most influential creative minds of the 20th century, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Eero Saarinen, and many others.
7.Twentieth-Century Design by Jonathan M. Woodham
The most famous designs of the twentieth century are not those in museums, but in the marketplace. The Coca-Cola bottle and McDonald’s logo are known the world over and may tell us more about our culture than a narrowly-defined canon of classics. One of the world’s foremost design historians, Jonathan Woodham takes a fresh look at the wider issues of design and industrial culture throughout Europe, Scandinavia, North America, and the Far East. Drawing on the most up-to-date scholarship, he explores themes such as national identity, the “Americanization” of ideology and business methods, the rise of multinationals, Pop and Postmodernism, and contemporary ideas of nostalgia and heritage. The history which emerges is clearly seen for what it is: the powerful and complex expression of aesthetic, social, economic, political, and technological forces.
8.Design Museum of the 20th-Century Design by Catherine McDermott
The first book to be published in association with the prestigious Design Museum, this volume presents in one book the most important and influential pieces of design produced in the modern age, a distillation of the design classics from the Design Museum.
9.The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm by Tom Kelly
There isn’t a business in America that doesn’t want to be more creative in its thinking, products, and processes. At many companies, being first with a concept and first to market are critical just to survive. In The Art of Innovation, Tom Kelley, general manager of the Silicon Valley based design firm IDEO, takes readers behind the scenes of this wildly imaginative and energized company to reveal the strategies and secrets it uses to turn out hit after hit. In entertaining anecdotes, Kelley illustrates some of his firm’s own successes (and joyful failures), as well as pioneering efforts at other leading companies. The book reveals how teams research and immerse themselves in every possible aspect of a new product or service, examining it from the perspective of clients, consumers, and other critical audiences.
10.Digital Dreams: The Work of the Sony Design Center by Paul Kunkel
This book surveys Sony’s twenty-first-century product line, examining more than 100 new products, concepts, and prototypes. Following the transition to digital technology, Digital Dreams reveals the corporation’s techniques and design philosophy at work. Everyone who listens to music watches movies or TV, carries a Walkman, or communicates by telephone or the Internet will be affected by the “digital dream” now taking shape at Sony. Until now, the work of the Design Center has been shrouded in secrecy. Digital Dreams is the first comprehensive preview of the technological and aesthetic vision that will dominate the landscape of the next century.
11.Design Secrets:Products: 50 Real by Life Projects Uncovered
The Design Secrets series brings you inside the intriguing process of design. Unlike other design books that show only the final product, this series profiles design projects in detail, from concept to completion, and all the stages in between, seasoned with the designers’ insights and inspirations. Each volume presents 50 successful projects, created by leaders in the design field.
12.Information Graphics: Innovative Solutions in Contemporary Design by Peter Wildbur & Michael Burke
The organization and presentation of information are one of the most important but least recognized aspects of the design profession. Whether faced with masses of material, sophisticated sign systems or making the complex appear simple, designers must make the message accessible and available to everyone. Although the work of information designers is more visible than practically any other aspect of graphic art, we are seldom aware of what designers do, much less how they arrive at such elegant and useful solutions to complicated problems. The authors offer detailed commentary on how each design came to be, how it responded to the client’s needs, and why it succeeds. Within each chapter are detailed case studies that examine a single project in-depth, from the client’s initial request to the finished product.
13.Workspheres: Design and Contemporary Work Styles by Paola Antonelli
In the past, work has shaped the way we live. In the near future, the way we live may shape the way we work. Workspheres creatively confront the design demands of the ever-evolving contemporary work environment. Featuring design products, prototypes, and models, and part of a groundbreaking 2001 exhibition held at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, this exciting book introduces work concepts originated by internationally recognized designers who address the unique needs of specific work scenarios, including the nomadic office of a business traveler; the domestic office; the virtual office; and more traditional offices in settings configured for group interaction.
14.A History of Graphic Design by Philip B. Meggs
Now in its Fourth Edition, this unrivaled, seminal work continues its long tradition of providing balanced insight and thorough historical background. Under the new authorial leadership of Alston Purvis, this authoritative book offers more than 450 new images, along with expansive coverage of such topics as Italian, Russian, and Dutch design. It reveals a saga of creative innovators, breakthrough technologies, and important design innovations.
15.Graphic Design History — Steven Heller & Georgette Ballance
In this groundbreaking anthology, nearly 30 legendary writers explore and characterize the unique developments, notable people, and memorable events that shaped the world of graphic design. Taken in many cases from hard-to-find sources, these essays provide a unique scope and array of provocative viewpoints that are not found anywhere else.
16.A History of Interior Design by John Pile
Much like the history of art, the history of interior design encompasses numerous styles, movements, and the international political and social developments that have informed or challenged its evolution. This lavishly illustrated book will be of interest to anyone who appreciates interior design as well as antiques, furniture design, textiles, decorative objects, and the general evolution of the space where we work and live.
17.Big Book of Corporate Identity Design by David E. Carter
The Big Book of Corporate Identity Design details how nearly 200 companies have carefully created their logos-the very heart of their corporate identity and brand image. This amazing guide is filled with well over 1,500 extraordinary full-color examples of these innovative logos, along with practical examples of just how they are being used on a variety of items in order to help develop a high-profile brand image. The companies featured in this fascinating guide run the gamut from global giants to mid-sized corporations. Readers will discover how they consistently and creatively apply their corporate identity to vehicles, signage, uniforms, stationery, Web sites, packaging, and more.
18.The Meaning of Things: Domestic Symbols and the Self by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi & Eugene Rochberg-Halton
The meaning of things is a study of the significance of material possessions in contemporary urban life, and of the ways people carve meaning out of their domestic environment. Drawing on a survey of eighty families in Chicago who were interviewed on the subject of their feelings about common household objects, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene Rochberg-Halton provide a unique perspective on materialism, American culture, and the self. They begin by reviewing what social scientists and philosophers have said about the transactions between people and things.
19.The Social Construction of Technological Systems by Wiebe Bijker & Thomas P. Hughes, Trevor Pinch
The thirteen essays in the book tell stories about such varied technologies as thirteenth-century galleys, eighteenth-century cooking stoves, and twentieth-century missile systems. Taken together, they affirm the fruitfulness of an approach to the study of technology that gives equal weight to technical, social, economic, and political questions, and they demonstrate the illuminating effects of the integration of empirics and theory. The approaches in this volume―collectively called SCOT (after the volume’s title) have since broadened their scope, and twenty-five years after the publication of this book, it is difficult to think of a technology that has not been studied from a SCOT perspective and impossible to think of a technology that cannot be studied that way.
20.Nationalism and Internationalism (Design in the 20th Century) by Jeremy Aynsley
Nationalism and Internationalism look at the way designers have addressed the national and international context of their work during this century. Text and 66 illustrations demonstrate the positive response to avant-garde ideas and belief in the social relevance of designs on an international level. By contrast, the varied responses to materials, techniques, and sources of ideas to reinforce national identity are also considered.
21.Japan 2000:Architecture and Design for the Japanese Public by John Zukowsky & Tetsuyuki Hirano
Japanese architecture and design acquired international prominence during the boom of the 1980s. Japanese products were sold in record numbers throughout the world and, together with Japanese architecture, became synonymous with high-quality and aesthetics.
22.The Design Dimension: The New Competitive Weapon for Product Strategy and Global Marketing by Christopher Lorenz
The Design Dimension examines the new revolution in product design, and its dramatic impact on the corporate strategies and commercial performances of a wide range of international companies. Lorenz rejects the idea of design as mere styling and considers it a vital competitive weapon in a global marketplace. He examines the work of innovators such as Sony, Olivetti, Ford, and Philips — companies that have placed design at the center of their operations with great success.
23.Winners!: How Today’s Success Companies Innovate by Design by John Thackara
Innovation is essential for survival, but it can also hold the key to fantastic success. If innovation is important to you, this book will inspire you by showing you how others have innovated their way to success.
24.Against the Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson
The maverick inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner recounts how he succeeded against the odds to become the UK’s leading entrepreneur. This inspirational autobiography tells the remarkable story behind James Dyson and his most successful invention to date: the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner. With little or no support, Dyson endured years of personal struggle and financial crisis before his unswerving optimism and self-belief won him spectacular success. This is a story of personal and business triumph over the established multinational companies that tried to halt his progress.
25.Interface: An Approach to Design by Bonsiepe
Discusses changes in the concept of design that have taken place during the last decade under the influence of computer sciences.
26.The Social Life of Information by John Seely Brown & Paul Duguid
For years pundits have predicted that information technology will obliterate everything, from supermarkets to business organizations to social life itself, but beaten down by info-glut, exasperated by computer crashes, and daunted by the dot com crash, individual users find it hard to get a fix on the true potential of the digital revolution. John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid argue that the gap between digerati hype and end-user gloom is largely due to the “tunnel vision” that information-driven technologies breed. We’ve become so focused on where we think we ought to be — a place where technology empowers individuals and obliterates social organizations — that we often fail to see where we’re really going. The Social Life of Information shows us how to look beyond our obsession with information and individuals to include the critical social networks of which these are always apart.
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