Zoë Ryan

Curator; Academic; Writer; Editor; Lecturer / Architecture; Product Design / United States / The Art Institute of Chicago

Books Every Product Designer Should Read

As the field of design becomes ever more complex, reaching into increasingly diverse areas of practice, designers are arming themselves with an expanded toolbox of methodologies and approaches in an effort to create projects that defy traditional disciplinary boundaries and more effectively speak to contemporary modes of practice and ways of living. . . . View the complete text
8 books
William McDonough
Michael Braungart

A manifesto for our time.

Alastair Fuad-Luke

Fuad-Luke’s book is rich with examples of inventive approaches to design that emphasize collective rather than individual efforts, with networks of people and industry coming together to share their knowledge, skills, and resources as a method for generating more innovative and thoughtful solutions to numerous problems.

John Thackara

Design guru John Thackara makes clear the need for objects and buildings that are not only concerned with delivering a result but also, and more important, take into consideration the process of use.

Jonathan Chapman

Jonathan Chapman makes an articulate case for the need for objects and buildings with strong narratives that can help forge bonds with users through their inherent storytelling qualities.

Carl Honoré

Honoré believes that by rethinking the fluidity and pace of subject-object relationships, and following a more intuitive approach, people will have much richer, more significant experiences. His ideas are inherent in the Slow Food movement, as well as Slow Design, which emphasize sustainable approaches to contemporary production and consumption and a more mindful approach to daily life.

Deyan Sudjic

Deyan Sudjic eloquently sums up the importance of design: “Design in all its manifestations is the DNA of an industrial society or of a post-industrial society, if that’s what we now have. It’s the code we need to explore if we are to stand a chance of understanding the nature of the modern world.” 

George Kubler

A fascinating book that explores our understanding of time and of our place within history, the present, and even the future.

Naoto Fukasawa

A manifesto calling for an appreciation of the well-designed objects we use every day that often go overlooked or get taken for granted, written by two designers committed to producing work based on early modernist principles and founded on conceptual rigor and the employment of innovative technology and an honest use of materials.

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