Chosen Books

Invited designers and commentators have chosen these as the books that inspire them and that have shaped their worldview or their ideas about design.

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2000 books

Diary of the Cavaliere Bernini’s Visit to France Paul Fréart de Chantelou On Daniel Libeskind’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank On Margaret McCurry’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Diaries of Paul Klee, 1898–1918 Felix Klee On Richard Saul Wurman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Diaries of Franz Kafka, 1910–1913 Max Brod, ed. On Steven Holl’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Diane Arbus Diane Arbus On Todd Oldham’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Diamond Age Neal Stephenson On Julie Iovine’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp Pierre Cabanne On Daniel Libeskind’s Book List On David Piscuskas’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Dialogues Paul Valéry On Juhani Pallasmaa’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Dialogue in the Void: Beckett & Giacometti Matti Megged On Antoine Predock’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Devil in the White City Erik Larson On Galia Solomonoff’s Current Reading list On Jens Holm’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Details of Modern Architecture Edward R. Ford On Witold Rybczynski’s Book List On Barry Bergdoll’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Designs on the Land Alex MacLean On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Designing the Modern Interior: From the Victorians to Today Penny Sparke et al. On Susan Weber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Designing Interactions Bill Moggridge On Carola Zwick’s Book List On Donald Norman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Designing for People Henry Dreyfuss On Niels Diffrient’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Designing Design Kenya Hara On Adam Tihany’s Book List On Akiko Fukai’s Book List On Massimo Pitis’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Designing: Ivan Chermayeff et al. On Kit Hinrichs’s Book List On list of Books by Ivan Chermayeff On list of Books by Tom Geismar Add to My Reading List	A Designer’s Art Paul Rand On Kit Hinrichs’s Book List On Ivan Chermayeff’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Designer: No Name Torbjörn Lenskog On Michael Maharam’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design/Writing/Research: Writing on Graphic Design Ellen Lupton et al. On Rick Poynor’s Book List On list of Books by Ellen Lupton On list of Books by Abbott Miller Add to My Reading List	Design with Nature Ian McHarg On Michael Manfredi’s Book List On Craig Dykers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design with Climate Victor Olgyay On Jeanne Gang’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design Since 1945 Kathryn Hiesinger, ed. On R. Craig Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design Revolution Emily Pilloton On Tom Kelley’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Design Process: Olivetti 1908-1978 Nathan H. Shapira et al. On David Kelley’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Design of Everyday Things Donald Norman On Tim Brown’s Book List On list of Books by Donald Norman Add to My Reading List	Design Now! Peter and Charlotte Fiell On Jens Martin Skibsted’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design 1935–1965: What Modern Was Martin Eidelberg, ed. On R. Craig Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design Like You Give a Damn Kate Stohr and Cameron Sinclair of Architecture for Humanity, eds. On Zoë Ryan’s Book List On list of Books by Kate Stohr Add to My Reading List	Design in America: The Cranbrook Vision, 1925–1950 Robert J. Clark et al. On R. Craig Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design Going Forward (與設計向前行) Ikko Tanaka On Freeman Lau’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design for the Real World Victor Papanek On Tim Brown’s Book List On Alice Rawsthorn’s Book List On Zoë Ryan’s Book List On Gijs Bakker’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Design fai da te Recession Design, ed. On Paolo Deganello’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design by Choice Reyner Banham et al. On Alice Rawsthorn’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design as Art Bruno Munari On Angus Hyland’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design and Truth Robert Grudin On Alice Rawsthorn’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design and Art (Documents of Contemporary Art) Alex Coles On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design After Modernism: Beyond the Object John Thackara On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design Activism Alastair Fuad-Luke On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Deposition of Richard Prince: In the Case of Cariou V. Prince et al. Greg Allen, ed. On Prem Krishnamurthy’s Book List Add to My Reading List

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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.

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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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