Design Books to Win

Win a Copy of the New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual, Designed by Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda

One winner will receive a copy of this recent Kickstarter graphic design book sensation.

April 9, 2015

Designers & Books is excited to announce that later this month we will be launching the first in a series of facsimile reprints of classic design books on Kickstarter. We look forward to having you join us in this creative program. To receive announcements and updates on our first reprint, be sure to subscribe to Designers & Books.

Update, April 22, 2015: This drawing is now closed. The winner is Joseph Swerdlin— congratulations! To mark the occasion—and the contribution that Kickstarter is making to design book publishing—we are giving away one copy of an enormously successful and much talked-about design book recently launched on Kickstarter (and no longer available): The New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual designed by Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda in 1970 and re-created in book form in 2014 by Pentagram designers Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth. Enter to win (details below photo) by Monday April 20, 11:59 PM (EST)!

New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual, designed by Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda (1970), re-issued as a full-size book created by Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth as a result of their Kickstarter campaign, 2014. Photo: Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth

From the Standards Manual’s Kickstarter page:

“In 1967 the New York City Transit Authority hired Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda of the design firm Unimark International to design a signage and wayfinding system that would solve the problem underground.

“The work they delivered, the 1970 New York City Transit Authority Graphic Standards Manual, succeeded in that goal and, perhaps unintentionally, the Standards Manual became one of the world’s classic examples of modern design.”

Enter the drawing to win a copy of the New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual, re-created in book form by Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth:

Win a copy of The New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual

The drawing ends Monday, April 20, 11:59 PM (EST).

—Designers & Books Editor in Chief Steve Kroeter writes:

It is becoming more and more obvious that one of the most dynamic and exciting platforms for creating design books today is crowdfunding in general—and Kickstarter, in particular. Remarkably successful examples of this from the past few years include Frank Chimero’s The Shape of Design, which received $112,159 from 2,109 backers in 2011. And Dhiru Thadani raised $35,197 from 117 backers for Visions of Seaside, which went on to become a Designers & Books Notable Design Book of the Year for 2013.

Most recently—and most notably—over 30 days last fall, two Pentagram designers, Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth, attracted 6,718 backers and $802,813 with their Kickstarter project to reissue The New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual as a full-size book. The idea that a book could attract over 6,000 backers in 30 days was a revelation.

Inspired by all of this, later this month Designers & Books is launching a new initiative—on Kickstarter. We will be starting a program to publish facsimile editions of classic out-of-print design titles and also other materials of interest to the design community.

First up is Ladislav Sutnar: Visual Design in Action, originally published in 1961 and out of print for decades. Our collaborators on this project are Steven Heller, Reto Caduff, Radoslav Sutnar, and Lars Müller. Full details will be available shortly. You can add your name to our mailing list if you would like to be notified about this project, and watch for details on this site.

As a way to honor the shift in thinking learned from Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth, and also to acknowledge the way they highlighted the role that Kickstarter now plays in the world of design book publishing, we are holding our current giveaway of the book they launched.

Subscribe by e-mail, follow Designers & Books on Twitter and Facebook, or use the hashtag #bookstowin to receive information and updates about “Design Books to Win” and our Kickstarter projects.

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