Alissa Walker’s Notable Books of 2011
2011 was notable for me as it was the year I began reading digitally, specifically, on my iPhone. After much hesitation, I eschewed the hardback book on my nightstand as I launched iBook, downloaded the Kindle app, and popped open PDFs of ebooks. The experiment was astounding. Where once reading was confined to a tiny corner of my bed, I was now dipping into stories while waiting in line at the grocery store, riding the bus, even as I walked around the block. Most importantly: Where I once had read a single book a month, I was now reading three or four or five.
If I could recommend anything when it comes to reading, I’d recommend going digital. And as I sat down to select these books, I realized that recommending my must-read design books this year should also include my recommendations on how to read them.
The first, Steve Jobs, would be scandalous to read on anything but an iPad or iPhone.
The second is a gossip-soaked art-world page-turner that you won't want to put down. So read Rebels in Paradise fast on a Kindle or Kindle app.
Designing for Emotion has a revolutionary publishing strategy that will change the way design books are distributed. The paperback can be gobbled in a few hours, but the accompanying PDF can sit on your desktop for reference.
Of course, some tomes still require a cinematic monitor, if you will. Star Wars: The Blueprints begs for a custom table—maybe even a custom room—to make the most of its expansive, visionary pages.
Maps by Paula Scher is a world onto itself which demands a place next to your couch, a good warm light, repeat viewings, a tour for guests.
And finally, one book that's 50 years old, re-released this year with a new introduction. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, I would say, should be read as it is practiced. Analog, hardback, in a park, with the hum of the city around you.
I've chosen six books that are personal, about people and their ideas. Technology has enabled us to take these ideas with us out in the world in a new way. But no matter how we choose to consume a book, it's still all about the story.
Nonfiction, Graphic Design
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Since the 1990s, in what I imagine to be her 15 minutes per day of free time, Pentagram partner Paula Scher has been painting massive maps of her own imagination. The colorful tapestries with type rendered in all-caps look like imaginative wayfinding but they function more like infographics, their visual hierarchies layered with not only place names but details like trade routes, zip codes, transit lines. The book takes a cue from Google Maps, giving one image of the full-sized painting and one that zooms in to a detail, where you can almost see Scher’s hand meticulously cramming in the name of every city in Uruguay, eventually spilling out into the Atlantic Ocean in waves. As the book progresses, Scher gets more topical (and more political) painting not only places but events like the 2000 Florida election results, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, or mapping out the history of the term “weapons of mass destruction.” As art, it’s gorgeous; as a process, it’s a lesson in obsession; and as a narrative, it’s storytelling at its best.
Okay, maybe George Lucas has screwed up a few times (Han shooting first, computer-generated Yoda, Jar Jar), but all is forgiven here in this double-whammy treasure trove of design and sci-fi nerdery: hundreds of original blueprints from Star Wars sets, unearthed from the Lucasfilm archives. From the dim booths of the Mos Eisley Cantina, to the sterile Imperial corridors of the Death Star, to the swinging wooden bridges of the Ewok Village, the true artistry of the film is revealed here in architect-accurate renderings—most of which were indeed built, which is even more impressive, considering that half of them were created in the age of computer-generated imagery. Yes, it's a $500 book, but with only 5,000 produced, it’s a must for the true fan. The depth and detail of Lucas’s vision was never more apparent: He really did design an entire universe.
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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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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.
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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