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