One Book and Why

One Book and Why: Graphic Design Writer Steven Heller Recommends . . .

By Steven Heller January 24, 2023

We can think of no better way to begin the year than to introduce our new occasional series, “One Book and Why,” where we ask designers to recommend one book they’ve found inspiring recently—and why it speaks to them. And we can think of no better first installment in the series than this book recommendation from graphic design writer and expert Steven Heller: Revenge of the Librarians by Tom Gauld. —Designers & Books

REVENGE OF THE LIBRARIANS. Cartoons by Tom Gauld. Published by Drawn & Quarterly, October 2022. Hardcover, 180 pages.

“For anyone who has ever had writer’s block, books published, loves reading, has less and less time to read . . . Gauld’s humor will be comforting and exhilarating.” — Steven Heller

REVENGE OF THE LIBRARIANS
Cartoons by Tom Gauld
Published by Drawn & Quarterly
Hardcover, 180 pages, October 2022

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Announcements

Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister

Now is Better

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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.

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Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

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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

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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.

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Published: March 2023

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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.”

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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
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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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