Carl Magnusson

Product/Industrial Designer / United States / CGM Design LLC

Carl Magnusson’s Book List

I chose my books for this list based on several, perhaps random, criteria:

1. Enlightening for our profession

2. Outsiders’ views on design, which tend to put our work into perspective—i.e., design is not the most important factor but a part of a larger picture

3. Divertimenti: intellectually entertaining

4. Early books written by proven historians

5. Foreign authors: their views work to complete the picture

1 book
William J. Mitchell
Christopher E. Borroni-Bird
Lawrence D. Burns

I attended William Mitchell’s presentation of his concept and book at the New-York Historical Society and was taken by the authors’ pragmatic blueprint for mobility’s future. It redefined the car in context of today’s challenges—congestion, safety, and energy—and opportunities. I very much appreciate the clear sanity of their thoughts while reminiscing about Frank Lloyd Wright’s early ideas on mobility. In a parallel and separate development, Ross Lovegrove’s recent visual solution for a concept car for Renault brings cultural content back into automobile design.

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