Chris Bangle

This is a fantastic book for anyone who doubts the infallibility of modernism, or who harbors a secret admiration for pop and kitsch. I am sure it is too one-sided to make for a good textbook in design schools, but I enjoyed it, learned from it, and really respect Sparke for writing it.

I am eternally indebted to Alec Bernstein from Designworks USA for turning me on to this masterpiece, along with three others on my list—An Essay on Typography, The Nude, and Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons. He’s a smart guy.

This is super-special to me; I recently purchased old copies of this 1931 book, rewrote all of my own notes in the margins, and gave one of them to a client . . . it means so much! Poor Gill writes like a man who knows he is going down on the Titanic because his craftsman-culture is vanishing around him, but the game rules he sets out for a “humane” world are valid today. I am convinced we can save him and our sense of “humanity,” using tools that Gill never dreamed of. But first I suggest everyone read this to find out what it is we are fighting for!

Chuck Jones, former chief of design of Whirlpool, first gave me this to read. After the thinking sinks in, you begin to really see the world in the authors’ organizational manner and realize how much is missing from, for instance, the world of car design regarding insights and relationships. Another must-be-a-textbook for design schools.

The guy is the Oscar Wilde of design; just when you think you have thought of something new you discover he has done it (or “said it,” in the case of Wilde) two decades ago. One of the best books to have around to remind you that deep intellectual thought, fantastic artistic skills, and great design abilities really can go together.