Stefano Giovannoni
Stefano Giovannoni’s Book List
I think that it is very important as a designer to open one’s vision to the philosophical and sociological aspects related to the evolution of our society. I don’t know that any design book is so important to read: design books should be looked at in order to understand the concepts behind the projects illustrated through the images, but I’ve never found a design book deep enough for a broad vision of our profession.
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In this book Baudrillard goes deeper into his earlier analyses of consumer society, critically examining its structure and paradigms.
An analysis of 1970s society through the development of advertisement and the new power of the media, especially of television.
This book succeeds in showing us the mind of the most important entrepreneur of our age. Steve Jobs was a perfectionist and a positive person, who created the ultimate “design company,” the reference for any designer and entrepreneur.
This book created a new important point of view about the meaning of art and its vanishing with the end of the avant-garde in the late 1980s.
This book surveys the attitudes and beliefs of artists during the period of Mannerism in the 16th century. I think it’s a real masterpiece and a reference point for any critic of art. Achille Bonito Oliva analyzes the approach of artists to painting in this particular historical period with a very smart and elegant style.
In this book Baudrillard analyzes the concept of “merchandise,” with its cynical market value, as a crucial issue of consumer society. This book has been central to my design approach and the most important for my background.
This book, written by New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman in 2005, describes the changing society at the beginning of the 21st century. With globalization, the Internet, and new technologies the world becomes flat, destroying all barriers to the dissemination of knowledge, and offering society the possibility of developing a transparent economy. We can visualize and communicate in real time with anyone all over the world, making a reality what Baudrillard had imagined and defined 20 years earlier as “the ecstasy of communication.”
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.
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.
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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