Quote of the Day

chronological

183 blog entries

Quote of the Day: Deborah Berke & Outside Lies Magic

By Deborah Berke December 26, 2013

A great exhortation to all of us to be questioning observers.

Quote of the Day: André Leon Talley & A Christmas Memory

By André Leon Talley December 24, 2013

This is one of my favorite books, I always read it as a young boy at Christmas and loved the simple narrative. It so reminded me of my home, and my life with my grandmother: the prepping of fruit cake for the holidays, the intimate bonding of a young child to an older adult—friends between the generational divide. It’s a great, great masterpiece.

Quote of the Day: Sheila Bridges & Autobiography of a Face

By Sheila Bridges December 23, 2013

You will be moved by the author’s strength and resilience.

Quote of the Day: Michael Manfredi & Essentials of Italian Cooking

By Michael Manfredi December 20, 2013

As an architect who likes to cook, I can think of few cookbooks that are so “architectural.”

Quote of the Day: Witold Rybczynski & Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture

By Witold Rybczynski December 19, 2013

Pre-dates the descent into obfuscatory jargon that bedevils most theoretical texts. Still a stimulating read, even if the movement it helped to launch—postmodernism—fizzled out.

Quote of the Day: Tim Brown & NonZero

By Tim Brown December 18, 2013

A 40,000-year perspective on why it is better to make the pie bigger than compete for a slice of the existing pie.

Quote of the Day: David Kelley & Experiences in Visual Thinking

By David Kelley December 17, 2013

This book is the beating heart of the Stanford design project methodology. We use it liberally to help students improve their power of perception.

Quote of the Day: Tom Kelley & Design Revolution

By Tom Kelley December 16, 2013

The book’s collection of 100 social-innovation/design projects was just the jumping off point for Emily Pilloton’s subsequent ventures: a cross-country Design Revolution Road Show, a hands-on design thinking curriculum for high school kids, a design-and-build summer camp for tween girls, and a documentary film on the power of design thinking. It’s not just a book. It’s the harbinger of a bright future.

Quote of the Day: Alexander Haldemann & Füssli, the Wild Swiss (Fuseli, the Wild Swiss)

By Alexander Haldemann December 13, 2013

What inspires me about Swiss painter Johann Heinrich Füssli is that he had an international consciousness—expressed in his art—in the 18th century, decades before direct flights and the Internet would make that an easy thing to do. He did it when it was hard.

Quote of the Day: Winka Dubbeldam & Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World

By Winka Dubbeldam December 12, 2013

This book is a classic and everyone should read it.

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.

Order the book.

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.

Order the book.

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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