Quote of the Day

title a-z

183 blog entries

Quote of the Day: Sou Fujimoto & Libraries

By Sou Fujimoto October 29, 2013

Libraries could be beyond architecture.

Quote of the Day: Stanley Abercrombie & Problems of Design

By Stanley Abercrombie October 3, 2013

The design problems George Nelson observed in the adolescence of modern design are with us still, though rarely as wittily considered.

Quote of the Day: Stanley Abercrombie & The Library

By Stanley Abercrombie April 16, 2014

In his preface the author asks “[W]ill this study serve merely as a memorial to a defunct building type?” The book’s final words answer that “… humankind has created an extraordinary variety of spaces in which to read, to think, to dream and to celebrate knowledge. As long as humankind continues to value these activities, it will continue to build places to house them. Whether they will involve books or will still be called libraries, only time will tell.” If indeed what we now know as the library disappears, this book will be the perfect reminder of all that we will have lost.

Quote of the Day: Stefan Sagmeister & A Year with Swollen Appendices

By Stefan Sagmeister October 17, 2013

A wonderful diary about someone who figured out how to live a truly full life.

Quote of the Day: Stefan Sagmeister & Edward de Bono’s Thinking Course

By Stefan Sagmeister February 3, 2014

Many of our ideas were aided by the techniques discussed in this book.

Quote of the Day: Stefan Sagmeister & Visual Design in Action

By Stefan Sagmeister May 18, 2015

Ladislav Sutnar is the most under-appreciated giant in design.

Quote of the Day: Stephen Burrows & The Red Shoes

By Stephen Burrows September 12, 2013

The way Andersen centers his story around the sickness of the shoes fascinates me. And besides, I'm a shoe fanatic—they complete the outfit!

Quote of the Day: Steven Heller & Meditations on a Hobby Horse and Other Essays on the Theory of Art

By Steven Heller August 16, 2013

I always hoped that Ernst H. Gombrich and I were somehow related. I began my “career” writing about the history of caricature. Gombrich and psychoanalyst Erst Kris wrote a book together on the subject. Apparently, the only place it was ever published (in a sharply cut version) was in Meditations on a Hobby Horse. And that is why I treasure this book.

Quote of the Day: Temple St. Clair & Anna Karenina

By Temple St. Clair January 6, 2014

I love the descriptions of the clothes and jewels—Anna’s hands, the social order depicted, from the peasants to the aristocracy.

Quote of the Day: Thomas Girst & Abstract City

By Thomas Girst October 7, 2013

Sophistication and smiles do go together.

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.

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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