Our designers, commentators, guest bloggers, and specially invited guests have chosen these as the most notable design books of 2012. Also see Notable Design Books of 2011.
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81 books
| 15 Years of Media Arts | Furuya, Kurando | BNN | $37.65 |
| Abstract City | Niemann, Christoph | Abrams | $24.95 |
| Adversarial Design | DiSalvo, Carl | The MIT Press | $28.00 |
| Architecture Concepts: Red is Not a Color | Tschumi, Bernard | Rizzoli International Publications | $85.00 |
| The Art of Punk | Bestley, Russell et al. | Voyageur Press | $40.00 |
| Asia-Pacific Design No. 8 | Sandu Publishing Co. Limited, | Sandu Publishing Co. Limited | $72.00 |
| The Avant-Garde Applied (1890–1950) | Fontán del Junco, Manuel et al. | Fundación Juan March | $65.00 |
| Bio Design | Myers, William et al. | The Museum of Modern Art | $50.00 |
| Blown Covers | Mouly, Françoise | Abrams | $24.95 |
| The Book of Books | Lommen, Mathieu | Thames & Hudson | $65.00 |
| Building Stories | Ware, Chris | Pantheon Books | $50.00 |
| China’s Design Revolution | Justice, Lorraine et al. | The MIT Press | $21.95 |
| Cinesi (The Chinese) | Visetti, Giampaolo | Feltrinelli | $12.00 |
| City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age | Smith, P.D. | Bloomsbury | $39.99 |
| The Color Revolution | Blaszczyk, Regina Lee | The MIT Press | $34.95 |
| Concrete | Koren, Leonard et al. | Phaidon Press | $49.95 |
| Confessions of a Generalist | Diffrient, Niels | Generalist Ink | $50.00 |
| Design Is a Job | Monteiro, Mike | A Book Apart | $18.00 |
| Designing Information | Katz, Joel | John Wiley & Sons | $55.00 |
| The Dutch Photobook | Gierstberg, Frits et al. | Aperture | $75.00 |
| Elegantissima | Fili, Louise et al. | Princeton Architectural Press | $40.00 |
| English Graphic | Lubbock, Tom | Frances Lincoln | $29.95 |
| Fear of Music | Lethem, Jonathan | Continuum | $12.95 |
| The Fractalist | Mandelbrot, Benoit | Pantheon | $30.00 |
| FUSE 1-20 | Brody, Neville et al. | TASCHEN | $59.99 |
| The Future Will Be…China | Obrist, Hans Ulrich et al. | Pinacoteca Agnelli/UCCA | $15.00 |
| Futuro | Augé, Marc et al. | Bollati Boringhieri | $14.95 |
| Girls’ Fashion in Japanese Manga | Takemura, Mana | Paiintanashonaru | |
| Graphic Design: A History, 2nd Edition | Eskilson, Stephen J. | Laurence King Publishing | $65.00 |
| The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City | Ehrenhalt, Alan | Knopf | $26.95 |
| Herb Lubalin | Shaughnessy, Adrian | Unit Editions | $100.00 |
| Hippopposites | Coat, Janik | Abrams | $14.95 |
| House | Keaton, Diane et al. | Rizzoli International Publications | $85.00 |
| How to Make a Japanese House | Nuijsink, Cathelijne | nai010 Publishers | $55.00 |
| I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail | Urveti, Ramsingh | Tara Books | $12.25 |
| Ikko Tanaka and the Future/Past/East/West of Design | Koike, Kazuko | Foiru | |
| Imperfect Health | Borasi, Giovanna et al. | Lars Müller Publishers | $70.00 |
| Information Graphics | Rendgen, Sandra et al. | TASCHEN | $69.00 |
| Instant: The Story of Polaroid | Bonanos, Christopher | Princeton Architectural Press | $24.95 |
| Japan Japanese | Schmid, Helmut | Robundo Publishing | $47.70 |
| Juliaan Lampens | Campens, Angelique | ASA Publishers | |
| Katsuji Wakisaka: Japanese Textile Designer | Wakisaka, Katsuji | PIE International | |
| La Formentera | Piasecki, Eric et al. | The Monacelli Press | $65.00 |
| Le Corbusier Redrawn | Park, Steven | Princeton Architectural Press | $24.95 |
| Logo Life | Van der Vlugt, Ron | BIS Publishers | $32.00 |
| Lowrider Space | Chappell, Ben | University of Texas Press | $55.00 |
| Luca Barcellona: Take Your Pleasure Seriously | Barcellona, Luca | Lazy Dog Press | $90.57 |
| Machine Art, 1934 | Marshall, Jennifer Jane | The University of Chicago Press | $45.00 |
| Makers: The New Industrial Revolution | Anderson, Chris | Random House | $26.00 |
| Mirko Ilić: Fist to Face | Kršić, Dejan et al. | Print Publishing | $29.25 |
| The New Art of Landscape: Conversations between Xin Wu and Contemporary Designers | Wu, Xin et al. | China Architecture & Building Press | |
| Norman Bel Geddes Designs America | Albrecht, Donald et al. | Abrams | $65.00 |
| 100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design | Heller, Steven et al. | Laurence King Publishing | $29.95 |
| The Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design | Editors of Phaidon Press, | Phaidon Press | $117.50 |
| Photo Gallery of Good Buildings: West | Building Mania Cafe, | PIE International | $38.49 |
| Porsche: Origin of the Species | Ludvigsen, Karl et al. | Bentley Publishers | $119.95 |
| The Postcard Age | Klich, Lynda et al. | Museum of Fine Arts Publications | $45.00 |
| Quay Brothers | Magliozzi, Ron et al. | The Museum of Modern Art | $24.95 |
| The Raw and the Cooked | Bialobrzeski, Peter | Hatje Cantz | $95.00 |
| ReThinking a Lot | Ben-Joseph, Eran | The MIT Press | $24.95 |
| The Shape of Design | Chimero, Frank | Frank Chimero | $29.99 |
| The Shape of Green | Hosey, Lance | Island Press | $60.00 |
| Sign Painters | Levine, Faythe et al. | Princeton Architectural Press | $24.95 |
| Some Remarks | Stephenson, Neal | William Morrow | $25.99 |
| The Style of the Stedelijk | Huygen, Frederike | nai010 Publishers | $26.00 |
| Terunobu Fujimori | Rössler, Hannes et al. | Hatje Cantz | $60.00 |
| Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies | Aubert, Danielle et al. | Metropolis Books | $29.95 |
| To Forgive Design | Petroski, Henry | Harvard University Press | $27.95 |
| Torre David | Brillembourg, Alfredo et al. | Lars Müller Publishers | $60.00 |
| Tree Houses | Jodidio, Philip et al. | TASCHEN | $69.99 |
| Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet | Blum, Andrew | HarperCollins | $26.99 |
| 20th-Century World Architecture: The Phaidon Atlas | Editors of Phaidon Press, | Phaidon Press | $135.14 |
| Underground: How the Tube Shaped London | Bownes, David et al. | Allen Lane | $35.59 |
| Understanding Architecture | McCarter, Robert et al. | Phaidon Press | $85.00 |
| A Visual Inventory | Pawson, John | Phaidon Press | $49.95 |
| Walkable City | Speck, Jeff | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | $27.00 |
| Wendell Castle: Wandering Forms | Castle, Wendell et al. | Gregory R. Miller & Co. | $60.00 |
| The Where, the Why, and the How | Volvovski, Jenny et al. | Chronicle Books | $24.95 |
| Wiel Arets | McCarter, Robert et al. | Birkhäuser | $69.95 |
| Wim Crouwel: A Graphic Odyssey (Japanese edition) | Brook, Tony et al. | BNN | |
| Writing About Architecture | Lange, Alexandra | Princeton Architectural Press | $24.95 |
