Designers & Books Blog

 

856 blog entries
Book List of the Week
April 25, 2019

Recently named to TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2019, architect Jeanne Gang finds inspiration in reading and writing books. More...

Book List of the Week
By Steve Kroeter September 29, 2014

British architect Ian Ritchie lists 35 books that have inspired him in the course of a career that extends over 40 years. His celebrated work includes sharing the creation of the Louvre Pyramid and Sculpture Courts with I. M. Pei in Paris, the Leipzig International Exhibition Center Glass Hall in Germany, and The Spire in Dublin. More...

Book List of the Week
By Steve Kroeter February 10, 2014

The founder of frog design, the company that worked with Apple in the 1980s to develop some of its most well-known products, Hartmut Esslinger has told the story of his years with Apple and Steve Jobs in two recent books: Design Forward and Keep It Simple. More...

Book List of the Week
June 16, 2014

This week we spotlight the book lists of four winners of the annual Pritzker Architecture Prize, including the 2014 winner, Shigeru Ban. The architects whose book lists we feature, in addition to Ban, are Norman Foster (1999), Richard Meier (1984), and Robert Venturi (1991). More...

Book List of the Week
May 19, 2014

Books that illuminate! To mark longer, lighter days and the spring calendar of high-profile design events in May around the world, including New York’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF), which showcases product design in 11 different categories, and London’s Clerkenwell Design Week, we feature the books that inspire five designers of lamps and lighting. More...

Book List of the Week
June 30, 2014

Traveling to hotels and restaurants are among summer’s (or any season’s) pleasures. Here are five major designers of notable hotel and restaurant spaces worldwide who list the books that have been influential for them. The designers include Jeffrey Beers, Ed Ng, Adam Tihany, and George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg. More...

Book List of the Week
May 12, 2014

Designers from the Netherlands and the books that have influenced them are the subject of today’s Book List of the Week. The contributing designers are Droog founder Gijs Bakker, product designer Aldo Bakker, graphic designer Wim Crouwel, architect Mels Crouwel, and architect and founder of MVRDV Nathalie de Vries. More...

Book List of the Week
March 31, 2014

From Our Archive: April is National Poetry Month in the U.S. In honor, we take a look at five designers’ book lists from our archive that have included books of poetry—by authors ranging from Shakespeare to Mark Strand—as design inspiration. More...

Book List of the Week
April 14, 2014

Our contributing designers find inspiration and recall formative moments in reading children’s books. Here are five book lists from our archive that have included books written for children, from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to Harry Potter. More...

Book List of the Week
May 5, 2014

This week we highlight five book lists chosen by British graphic designers and critics (some are authors of their own major books on graphic design), from Penguin book cover designer Coralie Bickford-Smith to Eye magazine founding editor and visual culture critic Rick Poynor. Our complete list of graphic designers includes 46 contributors. More...