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.

title a–z

Design, General

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71 books

Ai Weiwei’s Blog: Writings, Interviews, and Digital Rants, 2006–2009 Ai Weiwei On Amanda Dameron’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Arranging Things: A Rhetoric of Object Placement Leonard Koren et al. On Zuzana Licko’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Biomimicry Janine M. Benyus On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Chocolates on the Pillow Aren’t Enough Jonathan M. Tisch et al. On Jeffrey Beers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Cleopatra’s Nose Daniel J. Boorstin On Jens Holm’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Craftsman Richard Sennett On Milton Glaser’s Book List On Alice Rawsthorn’s Book List On Carola Zwick’s Book List On Richard Sachs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Creating with Paper Pauline Johnson On Todd Oldham’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Creative Intelligence Bruce Nussbaum On Dan Formosa’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Decline of the West Oswald Spengler On Eric Owen Moss’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 fai da te Recession Design, ed. On Paolo Deganello’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 Now! Peter and Charlotte Fiell On Jens Martin Skibsted’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	Design Revolution Emily Pilloton On Tom Kelley’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Diderot Encyclopedia Denis Diderot On Michael Graves’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Dream Society Rolf Jensen On Freeman Lau’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Elements of Design Gail Greet Hannah On Tucker Viemeister’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Fantasia Bruno Munari On Giuseppe Lignano’s Book List On Ada Tolla’s Book List Add to My Reading List	From Atoms to Patterns Lesley Jackson On Coralie Bickford-Smith’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A Grammar of Chinese Lattice Daniel Sheets Dye On Ed Ng’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Grammatica della Fantasia (The Grammar of Fantasy) Gianni Rodari On Giuseppe Lignano’s Book List On Ada Tolla’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Heraldry Ottfried Neubecker On Kit Hinrichs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Hidden Dimension Edward T. Hall On Nancye Green’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Hot House Andrea Branzi On Anthony Dunne’s Book List Add to My Reading List	How to See George Nelson On Stanley Abercrombie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	How to See: A Guide to Reading Our Manmade Environment George Nelson On Amanda Dameron’s Book List Add to My Reading List	I Seem To Be a Verb R. Buckminster Fuller On Jennifer Morla’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Image/Music/Text Roland Barthes On Ellen Lupton’s Book List On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	In Praise of Shadows Jun’ichiro Tanizaki On Antoine Predock’s Book List On Akiko Fukai’s Book List On Paul Marantz’s Book List On Tom Kundig’s Book List On David Adjaye’s Book List On Ada Tolla’s Book List On Giuseppe Lignano’s Book List On Craig Dykers’s Book List On Marco Romanelli’s Book List On Ian Ritchie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Interface Culture Steven A. Johnson On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Kimono Mind Bernard Rudofsky On Tom Geismar’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Kitsch Gillo Dorfles On Inga Sempé’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Language of Vision György Kepes On Massimo Vignelli’s Book List On Stanley Abercrombie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Laws of Form G. Spencer-Brown On Neil Denari’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Laws of Simplicity John Maeda On Tim Brown’s Book List On list of Books by John Maeda Add to My Reading List	Le système des objets (The System of Objects) Jean Baudrillard On Alberto Alessi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Makers: The New Industrial Revolution Chris Anderson On Daijiro Mizuno’s Notable Books of 2012 list On Massimo Pitis’s Notable Books of 2012 list On Hugh Hardy’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Marinetti: Selected Writings F. T. Marinetti On Daniel Libeskind’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Masterpieces from the House of Fabergé Alexander von Solodkoff On Richard Sachs’s Book List Add to My Reading List

Announcements

Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy by John Lobell

Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy

By John Lobell
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: June 2020

Noted Louis I.Kahn expert John Lobell explores how Kahn’s focus on structure, respect for materials, clarity of program, and reverence for details come together to manifest an overall philosophy.

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Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison

Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn

By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Forthcoming: October 2020

An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.

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Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes

Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes

By Per Olaf Fjeld and Emily Randall Fjeld
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: October 4, 2019

A new and personal reading of the architecture, teachings, and legacy of Louis I. Kahn from Per Olaf Fjeld’s perspective as a former student. The book explores Kahn’s life and work, offering a unique take on one of the twentieth century’s most important architects. Kahn’s Nordic and European ties are emphasized in this study that also covers his early childhood in Estonia, his travels, and his relationships with other architects, including the Norwegian architect Arne Korsmo.

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Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman

Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context

By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020

An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.

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David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor

David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian

By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020

A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.

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Teaching Graphic Design History by Steven Heller

Teaching Graphic Design History

By Steven Heller
Publisher: Allworth Press
Published: June 2019

An examination of the concerted efforts, happy accidents, and key influences of the practice throughout the years, Teaching Graphic Design History is an illuminating resource for students, practitioners, and future teachers of the subject.

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