Daily Features

The Online Design Book Fair Launches Today

A new way to discover and buy books about design

By Steve Kroeter October 7, 2013

We are excited to be introducing the Designers & Books Online Book Fair. This new approach to discovering books combines the serendipity and spontaneity of browsing at an “offline“ fair or in a bookstore with the refined search, sort, and filter capabilities of the Internet. The combination is intended to provide a helpful, enjoyable, and well-designed way to discover books about design—some at a significant discount.

Last October in New York, we launched the Designers & Books Fair—a weekend-long celebration of design, books, authors, and design book publishing. While our choice of weekends turned out to be less than ideal—it was the weekend of Hurricane Sandy—we offered a well-received mix of author presentations in three auditoriums, books signings, an exhibition hall full of publishers selling both brand-new and backlist titles, and attendees from three continents.

Afterward, as we were reflecting on the Fair, we realized that it was probably the first time that publishers, book designers, authors, editors, rare and out of print dealers, and book buyers interested in the full spectrum of design disciplines had ever assembled at one event.

We thought that if the event had been a good idea for two days, it might be worth exploring the possibility of extending it. Eventually this evolved into the idea of an online fair—which we are launching today with nearly 400 books from 13 internationally distinguished publishers.

The focus of the online book fair is on architecture, fashion, graphic design, interior design, landscape design, product and industrial design, urban design—and all the related design fields: 14 in total.

With 62 filter options that can be sorted 8 different ways, the site has been designed to make the discovery of books both pleasurable and pinpoint effective. With ease you’ll be able to find broad categories of books, like architecture titles (148 books on the site)—and with equal ease you’ll also be able to “drill down” and find specific architecture books; for example books that have been tagged “North American” and “20th-century,” “priced between $50 and $75” (8 books on the site).

And if you want to take the opposite approach of pinpoint precision because you are in the mood for surprises—you can choose the “random browse” sort for any filtered set of books.

The publishers currently participating are:

AMMO Books
Applied Research + Design Books
DAAB
Gestalten
GOFF Books
Lars Müller Publishers
Laurence King Publishing
The MIT Press
ORO Editions
Paintbox Press
Pointed Leaf Press
Prestel Publishing
Yale University Press

Purchases are made directly from each publisher, with different publishers offering different discounts—in some cases up to 50% off:

AMMO BOOKS: 50% off
Applied Research + Design: 50% off
DAAB: 30% off
Goff Books: 50% off
The MIT Press: 30% off
ORO Editions: 50% off

We hope you’ll take a moment to look over what we’ve put together—and we hope that you’ll enjoy what you find there. Whether you’re looking for a classic backlist book or a new title being released next month, we’re pretty sure you’ll find what you are looking for—or perhaps something that you didn’t know you were looking for. Our goal is to continually expand the offerings and features of the Fair, so if you have comments or questions to pass along, we will be eager to hear from you.

Follow the online design book fair by using the hashtag #DBFair and @designersbooks on Twitter, find us on Facebook, and subscribe to our updates.

10 Notable Design Books of 2013: October Reviews

12 Notable Design Books of 2013: September Reviews

comments powered by Disqus

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.

Order the book.

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.

Order the book.

Love Letter to a Garden by Debbie Millman

Love Letter to a Garden

By Debbie Millman
Contributions by Roxane Gay
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: April 15, 2025

From the award-winning artist, designer, and the host of the podcast Design Matters, Debbie Millman, this book tells the visual story of falling in love with gardening—and the philosophies that work conjures. Spread throughout are simple recipes using the garden’s ingredients from Millman’s wife, best-selling author Roxane Gay.

Order the book.

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.

Order the book.

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.”

Order the book.

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.

Order the book.