Quote of the Day

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183 blog entries

Quote of the Day: Carola Zwick & Information Anxiety 2

By Carola Zwick September 22, 2014

My all-time favorite and recommendation for students on how to cope with complexity.

Quote of the Day: Carola Zwick & The Rise of the Creative Class

By Carola Zwick August 30, 2013

Although it is already ten years old, this book is helpful in recognizing and understanding the ongoing changes and shift in priorities occurring in society.

Quote of the Day: Cino Zucchi & Bully for Brontosaurus

By Cino Zucchi November 18, 2013

Plain language and sophisticated thought by one of the last scientists with deep humanistic interests. Gould narrates the story of the QWERTY keypad as it were that of a mollusk of the “Cambrian explosion.”

Quote of the Day: Eva Zeisel & Line and Form

By Eva Zeisel October 16, 2013

This 1900 work was an important book for me. Crane talks about expressive and communicative line. I often referred to it in my lectures.

Quote of the Day: Rocco Yim & Amsterdam

By Rocco Yim September 24, 2013

A dark comedy and morality tale of the fate of several individuals. That of a narcissistic composer is in particular a stark warning to any self-absorbed architect or designer.

Quote of the Day: George Yabu & Wabi-Sabi: For Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers

By George Yabu December 2, 2013

What I love about this simple book is the philosophical exploration of beauty in impermanence and imperfection. I've always strived to attain the opposite in our work and I know I see the beauty in almost everything seen or unseen.

Quote of the Day: Richard Saul Wurman & The Thinking Eye

By Richard Saul Wurman September 30, 2020

Reading Klee’s writings was akin to having the switch turned on in a dark room.

Quote of the Day: David Weeks and The Periodic Table

By David Weeks November 15, 2013

This was required reading for the classes I taught at Parsons, in 1999–2004. The final chapter on carbon is so insightful and makes our relationship with the planet captivating.

Quote of the Day: Christian Wassmann & You Are Not a Gadget

By Christian Wassmann September 30, 2013

Warns us not to lose our individual creativity and settle for junk quality.

Quote of the Day: Alissa Walker & Rebels in Paradise

By Alissa Walker December 6, 2013

Messy, scandalous, and racy, but so was L.A. in the ‘60s. And visual culture was never the same.

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.

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Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman

Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People

By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
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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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.

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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.”

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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
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.

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