Alice Rawsthorn

Critic; Writer; Lecturer / Architecture; Fashion Design; Graphic Design; Interior Design; Product Design / United Kingdom /

www.alicerawsthorn.com / www.facebook.com/alice.rawsthorn / www.twitter.com/alicerawsthorn

10 Great Books on Product Design

The toughest thing about choosing ten great books on product design was whittling down the long list. Product design may not have as erudite or provocative a critical culture as graphics or architecture, but it is so rich and complex a subject that it has inspired some wonderful books. . . . View the complete text

Some are monographs, of course. I chose one of my favorites—Sergio Polano’s study of the great Italian designer Achille Castiglioni. I could happily have added many more, such as Dieter Rams’s Less and More and Irma Boom’s beautifully designed survey of the history of Royal Tichelaar Makkum, the venerable Dutch ceramics manufacturer.

At a time when product designers are grappling with the challenge of transforming their way of working to embrace sustainability and inclusivity, it seems impossible not to include the book that anticipated those movements some 40 years ago, Victor Papanek’s Design for the Real World. The same can be said for two very different design manifestos: Christien Meindertsma’s Pig 05049, a stellar example of intellectually adroit, yet fully functional conceptual design; and Jasper Morrison’s A World Without Words.

Irma Boom’s eponymous mini-book on her work as a book designer is an exemplar of the book as an impeccably designed object, just as Reyner Banham’s Design by Choice is a template for thoughtful and engaging design writing. Product design has also benefited from being interrogated by gifted writers and thinkers from other disciplines. This list includes wonderful books by a social scientist in Richard Sennett, a semiologist in Roland Barthes, and a philosopher in Robert Grudin. Again, there were many more to choose from, notably The Lunar Men, a fascinating study of the role of pioneering scientists, inventors, and industrialists in Britain’s Industrial Revolution by the cultural historian Jenny Uglow.

Some of my favorite product-design books didn’t set out to explore design at all, yet do so adroitly, like the veteran war reporter C.J. Chivers’s study of the development and deadly impact of the AK-47 in The Gun.

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Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister

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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.

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Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

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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

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By Debbie Millman
Contributions by Roxane Gay
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: April 15, 2025

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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

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Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange

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By Alexandra Lange
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Published: June 2022

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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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