Category: Design Books

Articles Featuring the Work of Design Books

Founded in 2015, Triest Verlag für Architektur, Design und Typografie have published notable works on graphic design history, including biographies of Othmar Motter, studies on Eugen Gomringer’s typography and poetry, Ernst Keller’s teachings. Thier latest book The Birth of a Style, focuses on the influence of the Basel Educational Model on the evolution of Swiss graphic design into the renowned international style.
As a champion of graphic design history, I was thrilled to find the upcoming book "Penrose 1964-73: The Herbert Spencer Years," a captivating visual anthology dedicated to honouring Spencer's legacy as a trailblazer in modern typography. Spanning 288 pages, this book commemorates Spencer's influential editorship at the Penrose Annual from 1964 to 1973.
The book "Modern Man In The Making" (1939), is a fantastic example of Neurath's work. The book uses Isotype's principles with text to illustrate complex societal issues like globalisation and war's impact on economies, prioritising visual recognition through symbols to aid in memorability—a philosophy that remains paramount in design today.
Unit Editions launches Fred Troller Design on Volume – the first comprehensive survey of the work of a pioneering designer who brought Swiss modernism to America in the 1960s, via influential projects for clients including IBM, American Airlines and Geigy.
Why Graphic Culture Matters is a compilation of 46 thought-provoking essays by renowned design critic Rick Poynor, delving into the realms of art, design, and visual communication.
The stories of Norwich’s medieval merchants’ marks is being told in a new book and exhibition.
Helmut Schmid Typography explores the typographer’s oeuvre in its entirety. The book’s generous design allows each image to breathe, and the accompanying texts narrate Schmid’s life and career in an informative and pleasant manner.
"Rudy is one of the unsung pioneers of American mid-century modernist graphic design. He had a unique and definitive point of view that was really never celebrated. This may have been attributed to his strict adherence to the formal principles of modernism and the International Typographic Style."
A new interpretation of the work of Bramante, suggesting an agenda for contemporary architectural practice.
Support American Bauhaus on Kickstarter to pre-finance the project and its production: www.kickstarter.com/projects/908813786/american-bauhaus
Flexible Visual Systems is the design manual for contemporary visual identities. It teaches you a variety of approaches on how to design flexible systems, adjustable to any aesthetic or project in need of an identifiable visual language.
Parallel Public is a new publication by Sara Blaylock, published by MIT Press. The book documents the East German artists pioneering work that made their country’s experimental art scene a form of (counter) public life.
I have always loved the design work created for Olivetti. The colourful midcentury designs by Italian designer Giovanni Pintori, the minimal typographic poster by Swiss designer Walter Ballmer and my personal favourite the 1959 poster for Olivetti designed by Herbert Bayer. I recently found out Triest Verlag released a new book, Visual identity and branding at Olivetti which contains further work by Xanti Schawinsky, Renato Zveteremich, Ettore Sottsass, Hans von Klier, Egidio Bonfante and Walter Ballmer.
Direction of Travel is a project by Christian Nolle, a half Danish/half German London based artist and map collector. He has spent decades creating work, often in photographic form, that looks at the interplay between aviation, politics and the cities we live in. Christian is also the Founder and Head of Good Caesar, a design and technology studio.
How design can transcend the logics, structures, and subjectivities of capitalism: a framework, theoretical grounding, and practical principles. A new book published by MIT Press written by Matthew Wizinsky.
To Have and To Hold, contains hundreds of bag designs collected during over half a century. The book is a must-buy for anyone interested in ephemera, the history of design or British high street history.
The most comprehensive account of ghost signs ever published, focusing on London’s hand-painted relics of advertising past
From time to time members of the Graphic Design History group and others have asked for a number of recommendations for books related to design history, theory and specific areas of graphic design. This is the first of a series of articles from educators, designers and archivists featuring book recommendations and resources.
Both educators have a keen interest in multiscriptual design, Arabic type design, and graphic design and recently released A History of Arab Graphic Design. I contacted Bahia and Haythem to find out more.
In the late 1960s, IBM was one of the world’s pre-eminent corporations, employing over 250,000 people in 100 countries. While Paul Rand’s creative genius has been well documented, the work of the IBM staff designers who executed his intent outlined in the IBM Design Guide has often gone unnoticed.
This book shows, for the first time, all of Hans Hillmann’s film posters. Unpublished sketches and drafts from his estate along with commentary from conversations and interviews provide an insight into the creative process of the award-winning designer.
In the ambitious new monograph Rational Simplicity: Rudolph de Harak, Graphic Designer, Volume shines a light on the complete arc of the exceptionally rich and varied career of Rudolph de Harak, showcasing his vibrant, graphic, formally brilliant work, which blazed a colourful trail through the middle decades of the twentieth century.

Artefacts Featuring the Work of Design Books

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Yūsaku Kamekura had a long list of clients and as well as cover designs, he worked across logo and brand design, packaging, book design, and other printed matter, but he is particularly known for his poster design. His clients included Nikon, Tokyo 1964 Olympics, Meiji and TDK.

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Hiroshi Ohchi was a prominent Japanese designer, known for his playful and imaginative illustrated poster and packaging designs. He often combined bright colours with simple geometric forms and illustrated people and humanistic elements.

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Kazumasa Nagai  (永井 一正) was born in 1929 in Osaka and is one of Japan's most acclaimed graphic designers. He designed iconic corporate logos for major companies such as Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan Railways, Nissin, and TEPCO and designed 100s of posters.