Notable Design Books of 2012
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| 20th-Century World Architecture: The Phaidon Atlas | Editors of Phaidon Press, | Phaidon Press | $135.14 |
| Porsche: Origin of the Species | Ludvigsen, Karl et al. | Bentley Publishers | $119.95 |
| The Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design | Editors of Phaidon Press, | Phaidon Press | $117.50 |
| Herb Lubalin | Shaughnessy, Adrian | Unit Editions | $100.00 |
| The Raw and the Cooked | Bialobrzeski, Peter | Hatje Cantz | $95.00 |
| Luca Barcellona: Take Your Pleasure Seriously | Barcellona, Luca | Lazy Dog Press | $90.57 |
| House | Keaton, Diane et al. | Rizzoli International Publications | $85.00 |
| Architecture Concepts: Red is Not a Color | Tschumi, Bernard | Rizzoli International Publications | $85.00 |
| Understanding Architecture | McCarter, Robert et al. | Phaidon Press | $85.00 |
| The Dutch Photobook | Gierstberg, Frits et al. | Aperture | $75.00 |
| Asia-Pacific Design No. 8 | Sandu Publishing Co. Limited, | Sandu Publishing Co. Limited | $72.00 |
| Imperfect Health | Borasi, Giovanna et al. | Lars Müller Publishers | $70.00 |
| Tree Houses | Jodidio, Philip et al. | TASCHEN | $69.99 |
| Wiel Arets | McCarter, Robert et al. | Birkhäuser | $69.95 |
| Information Graphics | Rendgen, Sandra et al. | TASCHEN | $69.00 |
| The Avant-Garde Applied (1890–1950) | Fontán del Junco, Manuel et al. | Fundación Juan March | $65.00 |
| The Book of Books | Lommen, Mathieu | Thames & Hudson | $65.00 |
| Graphic Design: A History, 2nd Edition | Eskilson, Stephen J. | Laurence King Publishing | $65.00 |
| Norman Bel Geddes Designs America | Albrecht, Donald et al. | Abrams | $65.00 |
| La Formentera | Piasecki, Eric et al. | The Monacelli Press | $65.00 |
| The Shape of Green | Hosey, Lance | Island Press | $60.00 |
| Terunobu Fujimori | Rössler, Hannes et al. | Hatje Cantz | $60.00 |
| Wendell Castle: Wandering Forms | Castle, Wendell et al. | Gregory R. Miller & Co. | $60.00 |
| Torre David | Brillembourg, Alfredo et al. | Lars Müller Publishers | $60.00 |
| FUSE 1-20 | Brody, Neville et al. | TASCHEN | $59.99 |
| How to Make a Japanese House | Nuijsink, Cathelijne | nai010 Publishers | $55.00 |
| Designing Information | Katz, Joel | John Wiley & Sons | $55.00 |
| Lowrider Space | Chappell, Ben | University of Texas Press | $55.00 |
| Bio Design | Myers, William et al. | The Museum of Modern Art | $50.00 |
| Building Stories | Ware, Chris | Pantheon Books | $50.00 |
| Confessions of a Generalist | Diffrient, Niels | Generalist Ink | $50.00 |
| A Visual Inventory | Pawson, John | Phaidon Press | $49.95 |
| Concrete | Koren, Leonard et al. | Phaidon Press | $49.95 |
| Japan Japanese | Schmid, Helmut | Robundo Publishing | $47.70 |
| The Postcard Age | Klich, Lynda et al. | Museum of Fine Arts Publications | $45.00 |
| Machine Art, 1934 | Marshall, Jennifer Jane | The University of Chicago Press | $45.00 |
| Elegantissima | Fili, Louise et al. | Princeton Architectural Press | $40.00 |
| The Art of Punk | Bestley, Russell et al. | Voyageur Press | $40.00 |
| City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age | Smith, P.D. | Bloomsbury | $39.99 |
| Photo Gallery of Good Buildings: West | Building Mania Cafe, | PIE International | $38.49 |
| 15 Years of Media Arts | Furuya, Kurando | BNN | $37.65 |
| Underground: How the Tube Shaped London | Bownes, David et al. | Allen Lane | $35.59 |
| The Color Revolution | Blaszczyk, Regina Lee | The MIT Press | $34.95 |
| Logo Life | Van der Vlugt, Ron | BIS Publishers | $32.00 |
| The Fractalist | Mandelbrot, Benoit | Pantheon | $30.00 |
| The Shape of Design | Chimero, Frank | Frank Chimero | $29.99 |
| 100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design | Heller, Steven et al. | Laurence King Publishing | $29.95 |
| Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies | Aubert, Danielle et al. | Metropolis Books | $29.95 |
| English Graphic | Lubbock, Tom | Frances Lincoln | $29.95 |
| Mirko Ilić: Fist to Face | Kršić, Dejan et al. | Print Publishing | $29.25 |
| Adversarial Design | DiSalvo, Carl | The MIT Press | $28.00 |
| To Forgive Design | Petroski, Henry | Harvard University Press | $27.95 |
| Walkable City | Speck, Jeff | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | $27.00 |
| Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet | Blum, Andrew | HarperCollins | $26.99 |
| The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City | Ehrenhalt, Alan | Knopf | $26.95 |
| The Style of the Stedelijk | Huygen, Frederike | nai010 Publishers | $26.00 |
| Makers: The New Industrial Revolution | Anderson, Chris | Random House | $26.00 |
| Some Remarks | Stephenson, Neal | William Morrow | $25.99 |
| Writing About Architecture | Lange, Alexandra | Princeton Architectural Press | $24.95 |
| Abstract City | Niemann, Christoph | Abrams | $24.95 |
| Blown Covers | Mouly, Françoise | Abrams | $24.95 |
| Sign Painters | Levine, Faythe et al. | Princeton Architectural Press | $24.95 |
| ReThinking a Lot | Ben-Joseph, Eran | The MIT Press | $24.95 |
| Instant: The Story of Polaroid | Bonanos, Christopher | Princeton Architectural Press | $24.95 |
| Quay Brothers | Magliozzi, Ron et al. | The Museum of Modern Art | $24.95 |
| The Where, the Why, and the How | Volvovski, Jenny et al. | Chronicle Books | $24.95 |
| Le Corbusier Redrawn | Park, Steven | Princeton Architectural Press | $24.95 |
| China’s Design Revolution | Justice, Lorraine et al. | The MIT Press | $21.95 |
| Design Is a Job | Monteiro, Mike | A Book Apart | $18.00 |
| The Future Will Be…China | Obrist, Hans Ulrich et al. | Pinacoteca Agnelli/UCCA | $15.00 |
| Hippopposites | Coat, Janik | Abrams | $14.95 |
| Futuro | Augé, Marc et al. | Bollati Boringhieri | $14.95 |
| Fear of Music | Lethem, Jonathan | Continuum | $12.95 |
| I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail | Urveti, Ramsingh | Tara Books | $12.25 |
| Cinesi (The Chinese) | Visetti, Giampaolo | Feltrinelli | $12.00 |
| Girls’ Fashion in Japanese Manga | Takemura, Mana | Paiintanashonaru | |
| The New Art of Landscape: Conversations between Xin Wu and Contemporary Designers | Wu, Xin et al. | China Architecture & Building Press | |
| Ikko Tanaka and the Future/Past/East/West of Design | Koike, Kazuko | Foiru | |
| Katsuji Wakisaka: Japanese Textile Designer | Wakisaka, Katsuji | PIE International | |
| Wim Crouwel: A Graphic Odyssey (Japanese edition) | Brook, Tony et al. | BNN | |
| Juliaan Lampens | Campens, Angelique | ASA Publishers |
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.
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.
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Love Letter to a Garden by Debbie Millman
Love Letter to a Garden
By Debbie Millman
Contributions by Roxane Gay
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: April 15, 2025
From the award-winning artist, designer, and the host of the podcast Design Matters, Debbie Millman, this book tells the visual story of falling in love with gardening—and the philosophies that work conjures. Spread throughout are simple recipes using the garden’s ingredients from Millman’s wife, best-selling author Roxane Gay.
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.”
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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