Chosen Books

Invited designers and commentators have chosen these as the books that inspire them and that have shaped their worldview or their ideas about design.

title a–z

Nonfiction, Product/Industrial Design

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103 books

Enzo Mari Hans Ulrich Obrist et al. On Sam Hecht’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Enzo Mari—Sixty Paperweights: The Intellectual Work Alessio Ascari et al. On Jonathan Olivares’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Eureka! Edward de Bono On Bruce Hannah’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A Fine Line Hartmut Esslinger On list of Books by Hartmut Esslinger Add to My Reading List	Furniture from British India and Ceylon Amin Jaffer On David Easton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Furniture of Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Daniele Baroni On Michael Maharam’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Furniture of Poul Kjaerholm Michael Sheridan et al. On Ronan Bouroullec’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Hans J. Wegner Jens Bernsen On Michael Maharam’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Hidden Forms Franco Clivio On Fritz Frenkler’s Book List Add to My Reading List	An Illustrated History of Furnishing Mario Praz On Jeffrey Bilhuber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	In Praise of Slowness Carl Honoré On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Industrial Design, Unikate, Serienerzeugnisse Hans Wichmann On R. Craig Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	An Introduction to Design and Culture in the Twentieth Century Penny Sparke On R. Craig Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Irma Boom: Biography in Books Irma Boom On Alice Rawsthorn’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Italy: The New Domestic Landscape Emilio Ambasz, ed. On R. Craig Miller’s Book List On James Biber’s Book List On list of Books by Emilio Ambasz On Marco Romanelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft Paul A. Jackson On Michael Sorkin’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Jean Puiforcat Françoise de Bonneville On Lisa Jenks’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Jean Royère Musée des Arts Décoratifs On Todd Oldham’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Jean-Michel Frank Adolphe Chanaux On Alexa Hampton’s Book List On Vincent Van Duysen’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Josef Hoffmann Designs Peter Noever, ed. On Lisa Jenks’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Katachi Takeji Iwamiya On Ronan Bouroullec’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Kelly Clarence L. (Kelly) Johnson On Niels Diffrient’s Book List Add to My Reading List	KGID Florian Bohm, ed. On Marco Romanelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List	La Crisi della Qualità (The Quality Crisis) Andrea Branzi On Stefano Giovannoni’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Language of Things Deyan Sudjic On Adam Tihany’s Book List On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Les Années “25” Yvonne Brunhammer On R. Craig Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Les Créateurs du temps Kazuyuki Takahashi On Richard Sachs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams Suntory Museum, ed. On Erik Spiekermann’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Maarten van Severen Gert Bekaert On Michael Maharam’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mackintosh to Mollino Derek E. Ostergard On Hugh Newell Jacobsen’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Magic of a People Alexander Girard On Ronan Bouroullec’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Makers: The New Industrial Revolution Chris Anderson On Daijiro Mizuno’s Notable Books of 2012 list On Massimo Pitis’s Notable Books of 2012 list On Hugh Hardy’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Marianne Brandt Hans Brockhage et al. On Michael Maharam’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Memphis: Research, Experiences, Results, Failures and Successes of New Design Barbara Radice On R. Craig Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Modernism: Designing a New World, 1914–1939 Christopher Wilk, ed. On Susan Weber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	One Gear Matteo Cossu On Craig Dykers’s Current Reading list Add to My Reading List	100 Best Bikes Zahid Sardar On Jens Martin Skibsted’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Perché un libro su Enzo Mari (Why Write a Book on Enzo Mari) François Burkhardt et al. On Michael Maharam’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Phaidon Design Classics Editors of Phaidon Press On Kit Hinrichs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius Nikolaus Pevsner On R. Craig Miller’s Book List On Stanley Abercrombie’s Book List Add to My Reading List

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.

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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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