DESIGNING DESIGN – Kenya Hara
‘A human being is a bundle of senses working hard to perceive the world’
https://www.amazon.ca/Designing-Design-Kenya-Hara/dp/3037784504
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2034402
https://www.ndc.co.jp/hara/en/
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THE PHILOSOPHY OF DESIGN – Glenn Parsons
‘…. the designers problem is greater still. This line of thought is essentially that the artefacts produced by Design not only serve functional, symbolic and aesthetic aims, but also play a more fundamental role in influencing human life.’
https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/product/9780745663890-item.html?s_campaign=goo-SmartShop_Books_EN&gclid=Cj0KCQjw94WZBhDtARIsAKxWG–YWKZevCQxls-zEJOncVitEPzPFdW_KYUc1B_T0izWPXI_gbie4WUaAiHYEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
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NOW YOU SEE IT & OTHER ESSAYS ON DESIGN – Michael Beirut
‘The technology we have at our disposal is dazzling, and our efficiency is such that clients have come to expect fast solutions and near-instantaneous revisions and updates. Still, I wonder if we have not lost something in the process: the deliberation that comes with a slower pace, the attention to detail required when mistakes can’t be undone with the click of a mouse. Younger designers hear me talking this way react as if I am getting sentimental about the days when we all used to churn our own butter.’
https://www.amazon.ca/Now-You-Other-Essays-Design/dp/1616896248
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/34220731
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THE IBM POSTER PROGRAM- A Visual Memoranda
Robert Finkel and Shea Tillman
‘Rand created a series of guidelines for the proper implementation of the IBM logotype across a range of mediums…..
So, it stands as ironic that one of Rand’s most iconic designs is his Eye, Bee, M [IBM] poster, which freely substitutes two of the logotypes distinct letterforms with pictographs. Using the rebus principle, he designed this poster for the presentation of the in-house IBM Golden Circle award in 1981. Upon its creation, the poster was temporarily banned due to concerns that it would encourage IBM staff to take liberties with the IBM logo. However, Rand prevailed and the poster has since become an exemplar of graphic design whimsy and the humanization of a corporation.’
https://www.visualmemoranda.com/
https://www.printmag.com/graphic-design/the-ibm-poster-program-visual-memoranda-by-robert-finkel-and-shea-tillman/
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TEN LESSONS FOR A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD – Fareed Zakaria
Lenin once said, “There are decades when nothing happens and weeks when decades happen.” This is one of those times when history has sped up.
How cities and urban life evolve after a disaster, be it a natural as the pandemic, the likes of which we see today or man made … what gave rise to the renaissance in Florence, the vertical urban growth of Chicago after the devastating fire which gave our vocabulary the term ‘skyscrapers’ …. cities evolve and transform, its because ‘humans by nature are social animals’….. and it has arrived!
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/53452906
https://www.amazon.ca/Lessons-Post-Pandemic-World-Fareed-Zakaria/dp/0393542130
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ARE WE HUMAN? Notes on an Archeology of Design –
Colomina & Wigley
‘Design has become dangerously successful’
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EX-FORMATION – Kenya Hara
I was first introduced to his work through his book ‘Designing Design’, [shared here in this space] where he impresses upon the reader the importance of emptiness in both the visual and philosophical traditions of Japan. In terms of design I love his work on the famous label MUJI where he has moulded the identity of this brand as its design advisor.
‘The essence of design… lies in the process of discovering a problem shared by many people and trying to solve it. Creativity is to discover a question that has never been asked. If one brings up an idiosyncratic question, the answer he gives will necessarily be unique as well.’
His more recent book ‘Ex-formation’ as opposed to ‘information, is where he questions our human notion of ’knowing’ and searches for the beginning of design in the unknown and how little we really know and thus that becomes the starting point for any type of design.
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/26495713
https://www.amazon.ca/Ex-formation-Kenya-Hara/dp/3037784660
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Herb Lubalin’s U&lc, the First Magazine for Typeface Lovers
‘One of the first publications intended specifically for the design community, U&lc (shorthand for Upper and lower case) was a product of Herb Lubalin and the International Typeface Corporation. The production run of the magazine lasted from 1970 to 1999 and there were over 120 issues produced during that time. The magazine was an effort to display and advertise for the latest typefaces from ITC, which was the first type foundry to have nothing to do with the production of metal type.’ [designhistory.com]
https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/design-history-101-herb-lubalins-ulc-the-first-magazine-for-typeface-lovers/
http://www.designishistory.com/1960/ulc/
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HOW DESIGN MAKES THE WORLD – Scott Berkun
‘The question about whether design is necessary or affordable is besides the point. Design is inevitable. The alternative to good design is bad design, not no design at all.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrVOTifAJQg
https://www.amazon.com/Design-Makes-World-Scott-Berkun/dp/0983873186
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