Here it is! Our annual Design Book Gift Guide! In this list, we’ve compiled our favorite titles from the past year. We hope this helps you find the perfect gift for your loved ones this holiday season.

Graphic Stamps: The miniature beauty of postage stamps
Editors: Tony Brook & Adrian Shaughnessy
Stamps selected by Iain Follet & Blair Thomson
Essay: Mark Sinclair
Published by Unit Editions
328 Pages

The Archive Series is a bibliographic celebration of graphic design archives and collections. The first title in the new series is devoted to the design of postage stamps. Sourced from the collections of stamp design experts Iain Follett and Blair Thomson, the book celebrates the brilliance of postage stamp design from around the world.

Available at Unit Editions

Prints
By Karel Martens
Published by Roma Publications
48 pages

This artist publication contains a sequence of unique letterpress monoprints, made by Karel Martens between 2014 and 2016, reproduced at actual size (except for two larger prints). It is available in two different cover versions which is the result of a printing experiment by printing all the content of the book in 3 layers on one print sheet, which was cut and folded into two different covers.

Available at Roma Publications, Amazon, and your local bookshop.

Hall of Femmes: Barbara Stauffacher Solomon
By Hall of Femmes AKA Samira Bouabana and Angela Tillman Sperandio
Published by Hall of Femmes

A Hall of Femmes book about Californian Supergraphics pioneer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon.

Barbara Stauffacher Solomon was the first to create what came to be known as Supergraphics: monumental graphics designed in harmony with architecture. Her iconic style – mixing Swiss Modernism and West Coast Pop – pioneered the look of California Cool, an important moment in graphic design history.

In addition to an impressive portfolio, she boasts a fascinating life story. Ranging from being a teenage flamenco dancer, to marrying a well-known film director, to suddenly finding herself a young widow with a child to support. At a crossroads, she moves to Switzerland to study under the influential modernist designer Armin Hofmann, before returning to the U.S and creating influential designs that were bigger and bolder than her Swiss counterparts.

Coming Soon.

Official Symbol of The American Revolution Bicentennial: Guidelines for Authorized Usage; Official Graphics Standards Manual
Designed By Bruce Blackburn
Published by Standards Manual
52 pages + 8 panel jacket

The 1976 American Revolution Bicentennial symbol was the logo for America’s 200th birthday party and a precursor to the NASA logo that Bruce Blackburn would design in 1974.

This edition is a perfect facsimile of the original, wrapped in a black jacket with a foil stamped foreword from Bruce Blackburn and an essay from Christopher Bonanos. The first 1,976 copies are limited edition, featuring a hand-placed original bicentennial post stamp from ’76.

Available at Standards Manual and your local bookshop.

Design By Wangzhihong.com
By Wang Zhi-Hong
Published by Faces Publications and Cité Publishing
504 pages

Design By Wangzhihong.com is a collection of the work of one of Taiwan’s top book designers, Wang Zhi-Hong. From typography manuals to Albert Einstein’s Ideas and Opinions, Wang has tackled a range of translated volumes for Asia’s book market. Often employing geometric illustrations and minimal layouts, his work is clean, bold, and intriguing. His approach has earned him international recognition including six of Taiwan’s Golden Butterfly Awards, Kasai Kaoru’s Choice Award, and Excellent Works from the Tokyo Type Directors Club.

Available at Cité Publishing and your local bookshop.

This Brutal World
By Peter Chadwick
Published by Phaidon Press
224 pages

A curated collection of some of the most powerful and awe-inspiring Brutalist architecture ever built. This Brutal World is a global survey of this compelling and much-admired style of architecture. It brings to light virtually unknown Brutalist architectural treasures from across the former eastern bloc and other far flung parts of the world.

Available at Amazon and your local bookshop.

Mapping Graphic Design History in Switzerland
Edited By Rober Lzicar and Davide Fornari
Published by Triest Verlag für Architektur
328 pages

This volume presents eleven original essays on the production, mediation and consumption of graphic design artifacts and processes, as well as their respective discourses, by authors from the German, French and Italian-speaking areas of Switzerland.

Mapping Graphic Design History in Switzerland discusses theoretical and methodological approaches for historical research on graphic design; helps to establish graphic design history as an academic field in Switzerland; and aims to make this discourse accessible to researchers and professional graphic designers in Switzerland and abroad.

The texts are illustrated with around 100 color and largely unpublished images. In addition to the academic texts, the publications contains three visual essays on the history of graphic design in Switzerland, as well as an extensive list of literature and other references.

Includes an epilogue and prologue by the editors and contributions by Constance Delamadeleine, Davide Fornari, Roland Früh, Invar-Torre Hollaus, Barbara Junod, Leslie Kennedy, Robert Lzicar, Corina Neuenschwander, Franziska Nyffenegger, François Rappo, Michael Renner, Bettina Richter, Teal Triggs, Amanda Unger, Peter Vetter. With visual essays designed by Diana Iennaco, Marina Prado and Leonardo Signori

Available at Draw Down, Amazon, and your local bookshop.

Alain Grée: Works by the French Illustrator from the 1960s-70s
By Alain Grée
Published by PIE International
224 pages

This is the very first art collection title introducing his beautiful illustrations selected mainly from his work during the 1960s and 1970s. More than 200 art works are showcased, some of which are only available today in antique books. In addition, this title features Grée’s original paintings, rough sketches and interviews. This is a treasured collection for adults who have grown up with Grée’s books, who will recall their own childhood days, as well as a good reference for those studying illustration.

Available at Counter-Print, Amazon, and your local bookshop.

Explorations in Typography (Second Edition)
By Carolina de Bartolo with Stephen Coles and Erik Spiekermann
Published by 101 Editions

A brand new edition of Explorations in Typography is now available. It has been revised and expanded to include more typesetting examples and more typefaces as well as a visual index of page layouts and grids. Along with the same excerpt from Erik Spiekermann used in the first edition, this edition also features the writing of Stephen Coles who composed all new typeface descriptions and an index of alternates for each that are low-cost or free for educational use.

Available at 101 Editions and your local bookshop.

The British Rail Corporate Identity Manual
Created and edited by Wallace Henning
Published by Henning Limited
472 pages

Leaves on the lines, the wrong kind of snow, and soggy stale sandwiches never really helped British Rail become a brand that was truly loved by the nation. Yet, in 2011 the readers of Creative Review voted British Rail’s ‘double arrow’ as their sixth favourite logo.

This book celebrates the British Rail Corporate Identity in its entirety – not only it’s distinctive symbol but it’s full graphic design programme, from detailed specimens of the famous Rail Alphabet typeface to the livery of the Inter-City 125. With full agreement from the Department of Transport – this iconic manual initially created in 1965 have been published as a new, high specification book.

The nature of the ring binder system used to hold the individual Sheets of the original Manual has meant most, or quite possibly all sets of the Manual were never complete. This publication is the only printed full collection of the British Rail Corporate Identity Manual. Outside of museums, archives and private collections, this is only physical form of the Manual.
 
Foreword by Michael C Place, Creative Director and Founder of Build. Introduction by Tony Howard, former Head of Design at British Rail.

Available at British Rail Manual and your local bookshop.

Jde O To, Aby O Něco Šlo
Typograf Oldřich Hlavsa
By Barbora Toman Tylová
Published in 2015 by Akropolis Publishing House in cooperation with Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague
592 pages

For the first time, a publication summarizes the extensive graphic works of an author, whose work is an important chapter in the history of Czech graphic design of the late 20th century.

In his works, Oldrich Hlavsa (1909 – 1995) focuses especially on the typographic design of books. With the number of designed books, amounting nearly two thousand, he significantly formed the view on creation, function, and purpose of books. He is a follower of Czech avantgarde, works of Karel Teige and Ladislav Sutnar, but through his typographic work the constructional and functional elements get a new meaning.

He left a deep imprint on the history of graphic design with his four publications about fonts, illustration, and books.

His Typograficka pisma latinkova was published in 1957, followed by its English translation A Book of Type and Design published three years later. Three volumes of Typographie were published in 1976, 1981 and 1986. Oldrich Hlavsa was a member of a number of international applied graphic art institutions and committees, he took an active part in work of various international book culture and typography juries; he presented his work both at home and abroad. The quality of his work repeatedly received many local and international awards. For many years, he would take the top places at the competition for the most beautiful Czechoslovak book, and in 1991, he received the prestigious Gutenberg prize of Leipzig, as recognition of his extraordinary lifetime work in book art.

The extensive monograph starts with studies of Barbora Toman Tylova, Jan Rous, and Iva Knoblochova. The following pictorial part describes the essential milestones of Hlavsa’s innovative and unique art work, which is relatively and comprehensively described in the bibliography of Hlavsa’s book and magazine work. The publication is accompanied by a summary of Hlavsa’s theoretical articles, interviews, and reviews of his work, and Hlavsa’s correspondence with reputable Czech and foreign figures in the 20th century design (L. Sutnar, A. Frutiger, H. Zapf).

Available at OldrichHalvasa.ch and your local bookshop.

Postage Stamp Designs – From Kafka to Loriot
By Hans Günter Schmitz
Published by Niggli Verlag
160 pages

The world’s first official postage stamp was issued in May 1840: the legendary “One Penny Black” with the profile of the Queen of England. The new payment system in the field of logistics by Sir Rowland Hill quickly gained hold all around the world. For the first time, this publication discusses the significance and functions of postage stamps as prominently visible elements of communication design.

The expressiveness inherent in the small-sized images and the very peculiar and heterogeneous mage vocabulary of this medium of mass culture is analyzed based on more than 40 designs by Hans Günter Schmitz. The book also presents concepts that were not implemented, in addition to sketches, studies, and variations – from Adenauer to the film festival Berlinale, from a mathematicians’ congress to the famous Wuppertal suspension railway.

Available at Niggli Verlag, Amazon, and your local bookshop.

Draplin Design Co.: Pretty Much Everything
By Aaron James Draplin
Published by Harry N. Abrams
256 pages

Esquire. Ford Motors. Burton Snowboards. The Obama Administration. While all of these brands are vastly different, they share at least one thing in com­mon: a teeny, little bit of Aaron James Draplin. Draplin is one of the new school of influential graphic designers who combine the power of design, social media, entrepreneurship, and DIY aesthetic to create a successful business and way of life.

Pretty Much Everything is a mid-career survey of work, case studies, inspiration, road stories, lists, maps, how-tos, and advice. It includes examples of his work—posters, record covers, logos—and presents the process behind his design with projects like Field Notes and the “Things We Love” State Posters. Draplin also offers valuable advice and hilarious commentary that illustrates how much more goes into design than just what appears on the page. With Draplin’s humor and pointed observations on the contemporary design scene, Draplin Design Co. is the complete package for the new generation of designers.

Available at Amazon and your local bookshop.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Graphics Standards Manual
Designed by Richard Danne & Bruce Blackburn
Published by Standards Manual
220 Pages

The NASA Graphics Standards Manual by Richard Danne and Bruce Blackburn is a futuristic vision for an agency at the cutting edge of science and exploration.

The book features a foreword by Richard Danne, an essay by Christopher Bonanos, scans of the original manual (from Danne’s personal copy), reproductions of the original NASA 35mm slide presentation, and scans of the ‘Managers Guide’, a follow up booklet distributed by NASA.

Available at Standards Manual, Counter-Print, and your local bookshop.

Ghost
Written by Blaise Hemingway and Jesse Reffsin and illustrated by Chris Sasaki and Jeff Turley
Published by Illustratus

Ghost is a chilling new collection of short stories from a team of writers and illustrators with roots at Pixar, Disney and Paramount. Produced by Illustratus, Ghost marks the studio’s first foray into publishing. If the book is indicative of future releases, then they are off to a very good start. Sizing in at 9.25” x 12”, this mighty tome (or should I say tomb?) contains 13 hair-raising vignettes told through the voice of a reclusive groundskeeper. In each tale, the author meticulously summons the spirit of campfire nights of a youthful past through vivid storytelling that is equally engaging as it is terrifying. Interacting with and shaping the words are a series of dense and haunting visuals. Employing snow-bleached landscapes, speckled textures and muted tones, the images take on an ephemeral and otherworldly quality. The end result is aesthetically stunning and will serve as a worthy benchmark for a new generation of ghost stories.

Available at Illustratus and your local bookshop.

TD 63-73: Total Design and its pioneering role in graphic design (Expanded Edition) 
By Ben Bos / Edited by Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy / Design by Spin
Published by Unit Editions
520 Pages

Total Design began in Amsterdam in 1963. Ben Bos joined the founders (Wim Crouwel, Benno Wissing, Friso Kramar and the Schwarz Brothers) from the outset. Together and individually, they set new benchmarks for typography, identity design, cultural design, exhibition design and product design. These benchmarks have rarely, if ever, been surpassed.

The expanded edition of TD 63-73 is a unique insider’s account of Total Design’s golden period. It contains hundreds of images from the TD archive, and in Ben Bos’s text the reader is given a personal history of a design group that remains as important today as it did when it launched in 1963.

Expanding on this original edition, this new edition features an updated and extended text by Ben Bos that looks beyond 1973, as well as many previously unseen images from his personal archive.

Available at Unit Editions

Very Graphic: Polish Designers of the 20th Century
Edited with introduction by Jacek Mrowczyk. Preface by Piotr Rypson, Krzysztof Lenk, Agata Szydowska.
Published by Culture PL
448 Pages

VeryGraphic: Polish Designers of the 20th Century is the first comprehensive history of Polish graphic design. The book showcases its immense and diverse legacy, from the world-renowned Polish Poster school to the lesser-known achievements of artists in the field of applied graphic design, including books and covers, typography and lettering, logos and visual identification as well as packaging. Chronologically detailing the work of over 60 of the most prominent Polish designers, the volume offers a review of Polish graphic design unprecedented in its scope. The cover of each copy is hand-painted, rendering it a truly one-of-a-kind object.

Available at Amazon, artbook.com and your local book shop.

The Music Library: Revised and Expanded Edition
By Jonny Trunk / Published by Fuel
248 Pages

This new and expanded edition of The Music Library contains twice the content of the original book, featuring 625 rare sleeves from 230 music library companies of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. The amazing cover designs of over 100 newly discovered library albums are beautifully reproduced (alongside all the sleeves contained in the first book) and accompanied by exhaustive, updated captions.

Available at Amazon, artbook.com and your local book shop.

The ABC of Custom Lettering:A Practical Guide to Drawing Letters
By Ivan Castro / Introduction by Ken Barber of House Industries
Published by Korero
140 Pages

This practical and inspirational workbook features easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions for hand drawing a range of letterforms, from Modern Roman and Gothic through to Latin, Script, and Interlocked. Offering traditional instruction methods with a modern twist, this reference also comes with gallery sections for inspiration and accompanying projects to practice your technique.

Available at Amazon and your local book shop.

Design for People – Stories About How (and Why) We All Can Work Together to Make Things Better
Edited by Chappell Ellison, Bryn Smith, Scott Stowell. Introduction by Karrie Jacobs. Foreword by Douglass G.A. Scott. Text by Wynton Marsalis.
Published by Metropolis Books
256 Pages

Most design books focus on outcome rather than on process. Scott Stowell’s Design for People is groundbreaking in its approach to design literature. Focusing on 12 design projects by Stowell’s design firm, Open, the volume offers a sort of oral history as told by those involved with each project–designers, clients, interns, collaborators and those who interact with the finished product on a daily basis.

Available at Amazon, artbook.com and your local book shop.

Min: The New Simplicity in Graphic Design
By Stuart Tolley
Published by Thames & Hudson
288 Pages

As creatives take contemporary design in fresh and exciting directions, they are also waving goodbye to the ornate patterns that have saturated our visual culture for the past decade.

MIN is the first thorough look at this rebirth of simplicity in graphic design. It showcases around 150 outstanding minimalist designers working across a wide range of formats and media – from independent magazines and album covers to corporate identity and branding.

Available at Amazon, Thames & Hudson and your local book shop

Max Bill
Published by Fundacion Juan March
Edited by Manuel Fontán del Junco, María Toledo.
Text by Karin Gimmi, Jakob Bill, Manuel Fontán del Junco, Neus Moyano, Fernando Marzá, María Amalia García, Gillermo Zuaznabar.
352 Pages

This gorgeously designed, hefty volume—the most thorough Bill overview ever published in English, and the only monograph in print—presents Bill’s oeuvre both chronologically and thematically, across every facet of his multifaceted oeuvre: painting, graphic art, sculpture, architecture, book and magazine design, industrial and furniture design, graphic design and advertising typography—from large-format posters to small inserts in periodicals—as well as his designs for exhibition spaces.

Available at Amazon and artbook.com

Herb Lubalin: Typographer
Editors: Adrian Shaughnessy & Tony Brook
Published by Unit Editions
208 Pages

Herb Lubalin claimed not to be a great typographer. ‘In fact,’ he said, ‘I’m terrible, because I don’t follow the rules.’ This new book proves the opposite. On every page it features Lubalin’s typographic genius (logos, layouts, lettering and typefaces), and places him at the forefront of 20th century typographic innovation.

Available at Unit Editions and your local bookshop.

Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe
Published by Vitra Design Museum
Edited by Mateo Kries, Jochen Eisenbrand.
Text by Susan Brown, Jochen Eisenbrand, Barbara Hauss, Alexandra Lange, Monica Obniski, Jonathan Olivares.
512 Pages

Alexander Girard was one of the most important modern textile artists and interior designers of the 20th century. He combined Pop and Folk art influences to create a colorfully opulent aesthetic language whose impact continues to be felt today. This richly illustrated catalogue draws on the vast holdings in Girard’s private estate, which were exhaustively investigated for the first time at the Vitra Design Museum. The book presents the oeuvre of the multitalented designer in all its facets, while offering the first scholarly, critical examination of his work.

Available at Amazon, artbook.com and your local book shop.

How to Write an Email
By Justin Kerr
Published by Extracurricular Press
109 Pages

The biggest mistake new employees make in the corporate world is thinking that hard work is what leads to success. The reality is that some basic and often overlooked behaviors are the real keys to thriving in the workplace. Part survival guide, part corporate myth-buster, How to write an email shows you how to raise your profile and make the most of your time in any organization.

Available at Amazon, Extracurricular Press and your local book shop.

We’ve received some amazing items in the past few months including books from Unit Editions, Princeton Architectural Press, Flying Eye, and more. If you’re looking for gift ideas, there’s plenty to choose from in here.  See the complete collection after the jump.

Action Time Vision
Editors: Tony Brook & Adrian Shaughnessy
Consultant Editor: Russ Bestley
Published by Unit Editions
320 pages

Action Time Vision: Punk & Post-Punk 7″ Record Sleeves [Unit 26] is a celebration of DIY graphics from the punk and post-punk eras. You might call it outsider graphic design.

Few of the sleeves showcased here are beautiful in the normal sense of the word. But they all have an urgency and an exhilarating disregard for design conventions that makes them exceptional. They are all clarion calls for independence and freedom from pop industry norms.

The work in this book is culled from the record collections of designer (and Unit Editions co-founder) Tony Brook, and leading punk scholar Russ Bestley. As one of the world’s leading authorities on punk and post-punk music, Russ has contributed an insightful essay to the book.

Available at Unit Editions and your local bookshop.

Ladies Drawing Night
By Julia Rothman, Leah Goren, and Rachael Cole / Photography Kate Edwards
Published by Chronicle Books
160 pages

Speaking directly to today’s explosion of creativity, Ladies Drawing Night is for women looking to deepen their creative connections and expressions. Join rock star illustrators Julia Rothman, Leah Goren, and Rachael Cole for ten evenings of fun and art-making. Each night is led by a talented guest artist and themed around a particular topic, from large-scale ink painting to making art with kids. Samantha Hahn, Mary Kate McDevitt, Joana Avillez, and many more share their expertise. Each chapter includes loads of exciting artwork, insights about drawing, and instructions for that night’s project.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books, and your local bookshop.

Slab Serif Type: A Century of Bold Letterforms
By Steven Heller and Louise Fili
Published by Thames & Hudson
352 pages

The slab serif typeface—in their classic form, wood types made for large-scale posters, ads, and newspapers—may not be as all-purpose as the gothic or sans serif, but it is equal, if not more powerful, in graphic appeal. Since being introduced in the nineteenth century, slabs have become ubiquitous and are today as popular as ever.

Following the cult typography volumes Scripts, Shadow Type, and Stencil Type, this new volume comprises an artfully curated selection of hundreds of international and classic examples to inspire fresh and unexpected typographic ideas.

Available at Amazon, Thames & Hudson, and your local bookshop.

Become: On the Origin of Passion
Compiled and arranged by Nate Burgos / Illustrated by Summer Pierre
Published by Design Feast
115 pages

This collection of stories addresses the phenomenon of finding your passion. That much-mentioned drive that people want, even crave. Whether it’s something you find or something that finds you, passion is an essential and necessary ingredient to a satisfying life. Passion is especially relevant when considering that life-consuming reality called work.

Available at Design Feast and your local bookshop.

Nature is the Answer
By Nate Williams

For the second edition in the Lustig Elements Collection, illustrator Nate Williams gives you the bold, playful energy of the sun and sea to hang in your home or office, to remind you of the joy of the seashore all year long. Each edition is lovingly letterpress printed in two colors by Fabrik on The Design Collection Papers by Neenah.

Available at The Beauty of Letterpress by Neenah Paper.

Listen! Listen!
By Ann & Paul Rand
Published by Princeton Architectural Press
32 pages

Paul Rand and his wife, Ann, wrote this book for their daughter, Catherine, to explain the interplay of sound and color. Rand’s distinctive paper-cut illustrations of bold shapes and bursts of color beautifully complement Ann’s rhythmic text, encouraging children to listen and repeat noises they hear every day: the “blop” of a raindrop, the “wham!” of a shutting door, the whisper of the wind in the trees, and the “crunch crunch” of buttered toast.

Available at Amazon, Princeton Architectural Press, and your local bookshop.

SP4RX
By Wren McDonald
Published by Nobrow Press
120 pages

SP4RX is the story of mankind clawing for survival. Set in a future where a class system has emerged, the world is divided into four levels, with the elite ruling from the extravagant top level.

SP4RX, a young hacker who lives off grid, hacks into corporations and sells stolen data to wealthy buyers on the black market – just your average thief. Mega corporation Structus Industries introduces a welfare programme called the “Elpis Program”, which allows the working class to apply for Cybernetic implants to make workers more efficient. On the surface, it seems like a programme to empower the poor and allow them to rise to the ranks of the elite. But SP4RX soon discovers all is not as it seems… SP4RX and Structus are set on a collision course with the fate of humanity at stake in Wren McDonald’s latest sci-fi tale of survival and corruption!

Available at Amazon, Nobrow Press, and your local bookshop.

The Olivetti Pattern Series: Notecards and Envelopes
Published by Princeton Architectural Press

The Olivetti typewriter is an icon, both as a design object and as the favorite writing tool of authors as diverse as John Cheever, Leonard Cohen, and Francis Ford Coppola. This elegant notecard set features four distinctive patterns made on the beloved Olivetti Lettera 32. With classic red-and-black printing on off-white paper, these cards are the perfect all-occasion notecard for the typophile, design maven, aspiring writer, or anyone who reveres the printed page.

Available at Amazon, Princeton Architectural Press, and your local bookshop.

Picture This
By Molly Bang
Published by Chronicle Books
152 pages

Molly Bang’s brilliant, insightful, and accessible treatise is now revised and expanded for its 25th anniversary. Bang’s powerful ideas—about how the visual composition of images works to engage the emotions, and how the elements of an artwork can give it the power to tell a story—remain unparalleled in their simplicity and genius. Why are diagonals dramatic? Why are curves calming? Why does red feel hot and blue feel cold? First published in 1991, Picture This has changed the way artists, illustrators, reviewers, critics, and readers look at and understand art.

Available at Chronicle Books and your local bookshop.

Me: A Compendium
By Wee Society
Published by Clarkson Potter
96 pages

Inventive, hilarious and joyously colorful, this fill-in journal was designed to help kids capture nearly everything that’s uniquely rad about them. With design-savvy, yet completely kid-friendly illustrations, they’re asked to draw or write about a bunch of interesting things — like what their hair looks like, what their band name would be, what they’d bring to outer space, and how they feel about lightning, lizards and pickles.

Available at Amazon, Penguin Random House, and your local bookshop.

An Incomplete Book of Awesome Things
By Wee Society
Published by Clarkson Potter
38 pages

A celebration some of the world’s most universally awesome (but perhaps overlooked) things: masking tape, tunnels, lava, argyle, elbows, and more. The incomplete compilation — featuring beautifully minimal, vibrant illustrations — was designed to boost kids’ vocabulary, share giggles, and spark conversations.

Available at Amazon, Penguin Random House, and your local bookshop.

Shapes Are Fun
By Katja Spitzer
Published by Flying Eye Books
48 pages

Perfect for Small hands, this mini hard-hardback book is a gentle introduction to shapes. Katja Spitzer’s vibrantly quirky illustrations encourage early learning and make this book a joy to own and read for any young child.

Available at Amazon, Flying Eye Books, and your local bookshop.

Wee Alphas: 26 A to Z Postcards, from Angelfish to Zebra
By Wee Society
Published by Clarkson Potter
26 cards

This imaginative take on the alphabet features 26 Wee Alphas postcards, each created with a “hidden letter” to find.

Based on the award-winning Wee Alphas kids’ app, the postcards feature quirky illustrations of Biki the Buffalo, Ulysses the Unicorn, Yolanda the Yeti, and their furry, feathered, or finned friends. The cards are bound into a fold-out accordion format that can be displayed in its entirety, or they can be detached to separately display or share.

Available at Amazon, Penguin Random House, and your local bookshop.

All Kinds of Cars
By Carl Johanson
Published by Flying Eye Books
40 pages

From the wonderfully imaginative mind of Swedish illustrator Carl Johanson, this partly true, partly fictitious book is a fantastic visual collection of cars and other wacky forms of transportation.

Taking the form of a catalogue, Johanson’s book identifies the ordinary along with the extraordinary – from fire engines and snowploughs to galactic buses and guitar cars. All Kinds of Cars is a playful mix of existing and imaginary, creating a zany book enjoyed by adults and children alike.

Available at Amazon, Flying Eye Books, and your local bookshop.

OMG Posters
By Mitch Putnam
Published by Regan Arts
208 pages

Mining the archives of OMG Posters, founder Mitch Putnam has gathered over 400 of today’s most beautiful concert posters and art prints in one collection.

Available at Amazon, Regan Arts, and your local bookshop.

Professor Astro Cat’s Intergalactic Activity Book
By Zelda Turner / Illustrated by Ben Newman
Published by Flying Eye Books
80 pages

Looking at the stars, do you dream of new worlds beyond our own? Would you like to explore distant planets, fly a rocket or try some chocolate quantum physics? Good news, Professor Astro Cat is here to help!

Packed with amazing experiments, thrilling facts and create-your-own adventures, this Intergalactic Activity Book offers a universe of excitement, and is bursting with ideas for a future at the frontiers of space!

Available at Amazon, Flying Eye Books, and your local bookshop.

The Journey
By Francesca Sanna
Published by Flying Eye Books
48 pages

“I look up to the birds that seem to be following us. They are migrating just like us. And their journey, like ours, is very long, but they don’t have to cross any borders.”

What is it like to have to leave everything behind and travel many miles to somewhere unfamiliar and strange? A mother and her two children set out on such a journey; one filled with fear of the unknown, but also great hope.

Based on her interactions with people forced to seek a new home, and told from the perspective of a young child, Francesca Sanna has created a beautiful and sensitive book that is full of significance for our time.

Available at Amazon, Flying Eye Books, and your local bookshop.

Rubber Stamping
By Stephen Fowler
Published by Laurence King Publishing
160 pages

This beautiful book provides a complete guide to printing with rubber stamps as well as a handful of alternative methods such as using rollers, plaster, or clay. Beginning with a foreword by the artist Rob Ryan and a short history of rubber stamping, it goes on to explain the technical basics: what equipment to use, how to carve your stamps, register multiple colors, and mask prints.

Available at Amazon, Laurence King Publishing, and your local bookshop.

Dear Data
By Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec
Published by Princeton Architectural Press
288 pages

Equal parts mail art, data visualization, and affectionate correspondence, Dear Data celebrates “the infinitesimal, incomplete, imperfect, yet exquisitely human details of life,” in the words of Maria Popova (Brain Pickings), who introduces this charming and graphically powerful book. For one year, Giorgia Lupi, an Italian living in New York, and Stefanie Posavec, an American in London, mapped the particulars of their daily lives as a series of hand-drawn postcards they exchanged via mail weekly—small portraits as full of emotion as they are data, both mundane and magical. Dear Data reproduces in pinpoint detail the full year’s set of cards, front and back, providing a remarkable portrait of two artists connected by their attention to the details of their lives—including complaints, distractions, phone addictions, physical contact, and desires.

Available at Amazon, Princeton Architectural Press, and your local bookshop.

Locomotion
By Golden Cosmos
Published by Nobrow Press
20 pages

Designed by Golden Cosmos, this beautiful concertina book folds out to a stunning 139 cm panorama detailing the history of trains and locomotives. The wraparound cover also includes facts for each panel of the panorama; beginning with the very first steam engines and traveling through time to the trains we use today.

Available at Amazon, Nobrow Press, and your local bookshop.

Looking Good
By GraphicDesign&, Veronica Bennett, and illustrator Ryan Todd
Published by GraphicDesign&
95 pages

From Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music to Nobel Peace Prize recipient Mother Teresa (now St Teresa of Calcutta), nuns occupy a special place in popular consciousness as figures of fondness, fun, strictness, purity and grace. Many of us identify nuns by their deceptively simple form of dress – few of us understand, however, that the habit is also a visual code.

A collaboration between GraphicDesign&, Cambridge theology graduate Veronica Bennett and graphic illustrator Ryan Todd, Looking Good: A visual guide to the nun’s habit identifies and illustrates the dress of more than 40 Catholic communities of nuns and sisters. It catalogues and compares this ‘extra ordinary’ religious clothing, explaining its components, significance and distinguishing identifiers. The accompanying text, incorporating visions and miracles, high drama and humble beginnings, persecution and insurrection, reveals how the story of the habit is also that of the struggle between the powerful and the poor; of politics, social care and the role of women; and of the interplay between culture, fashion and faith.

In Looking Good, graphic design and illustration are employed with clarity and charm to decipher this most enduring and evocative form of visual identity – and present it for fresh appreciation at a time when it appears to be in demise.

Available at Amazon, GraphicDesign&, and your local bookshop.

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I have been anxiously awaiting the release of Ghost – a chilling new collection of short stories from a team of writers and illustrators with roots at Pixar, Disney and Paramount. Through word of mouth and cryptic Facebook updates, I have been tracking the book’s progress and this week I was excited to finally get my hands on a copy.

Produced by Illustratus, Ghost marks the studio’s first foray into publishing. If the book is indicative of future releases, then they are off to a very good start. Sizing in at 9.25” x 12”, this mighty tome (or should I say tomb?) contains 13 hair-raising vignettes told through the voice of a reclusive groundskeeper. In each tale, the author meticulously summons the spirit of campfire nights of a youthful past through vivid storytelling that is equally engaging as it is terrifying. Interacting with and shaping the words are a series of dense and haunting visuals. Employing snow-bleached landscapes, speckled textures and muted tones, the images take on an ephemeral and otherworldly quality. The end result is aesthetically stunning and will serve as a worthy benchmark for a new generation of ghost stories.

Ghost is available for pre-orders today, with books shipping out as early as November 1st. In addition, you can pick up a copy at a special book launch, art auction and Halloween party this weekend in LA. Included in the auction will be original art works by Pete Docter, Sanjay Patel, Chris Sasaki, Jeff Turley, Daniela Strijleva, Albert Lozano and many others. Tickets for the event can be purchased here.

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Here’s the latest round of books and goods to hit our shelves. Included are impressive new titles from Unit Editions, Princeton Architectural Press, Flying Eye Books, Extracurricular Press, GraphicDesign&, Laurence King and others. See all the items after the jump.

Graphic Stamps: The miniature beauty of postage stamps
Editors: Tony Brook & Adrian Shaughnessy
Stamps selected by Iain Follet & Blair Thomson
Essay: Mark Sinclair
Published by Unit Editions
328 Pages

The Archive Series is a bibliographic celebration of graphic design archives and collections. The first title in the new series is devoted to the design of postage stamps. Sourced from the collections of stamp design experts Iain Follett and Blair Thomson, the book celebrates the brilliance of postage stamp design from around the world.

Available at Unit Editions

Min: The New Simplicity in Graphic Design
By Stuart Tolley
Published by Thames & Hudson
288 Pages

As creatives take contemporary design in fresh and exciting directions, they are also waving goodbye to the ornate patterns that have saturated our visual culture for the past decade.

MIN is the first thorough look at this rebirth of simplicity in graphic design. It showcases around 150 outstanding minimalist designers working across a wide range of formats and media – from independent magazines and album covers to corporate identity and branding.

Available at Amazon, Thames & Hudson and your local book shop

Max Bill
Published by Fundacion Juan March
Edited by Manuel Fontán del Junco, María Toledo.
Text by Karin Gimmi, Jakob Bill, Manuel Fontán del Junco, Neus Moyano, Fernando Marzá, María Amalia García, Gillermo Zuaznabar.
352 Pages

This gorgeously designed, hefty volume—the most thorough Bill overview ever published in English, and the only monograph in print—presents Bill’s oeuvre both chronologically and thematically, across every facet of his multifaceted oeuvre: painting, graphic art, sculpture, architecture, book and magazine design, industrial and furniture design, graphic design and advertising typography—from large-format posters to small inserts in periodicals—as well as his designs for exhibition spaces.

Available at Amazon and artbook.com

Herb Lubalin: Typographer
Editors: Adrian Shaughnessy & Tony Brook
Published by Unit Editions
208 Pages

Herb Lubalin claimed not to be a great typographer. ‘In fact,’ he said, ‘I’m terrible, because I don’t follow the rules.’ This new book proves the opposite. On every page it features Lubalin’s typographic genius (logos, layouts, lettering and typefaces), and places him at the forefront of 20th century typographic innovation.

Available at Unit Editions

Graphic Designers Surveyed
Edited by Lucienne Roberts, Rebecca Wright and Jessie Price with Nikandre Kopcke and Stefanie Posavec
Published by GraphicDesign&
480 Pages

What happens when you survey UK- and US-based graphic designers and ask prying questions about life and work? Presented here are the responses, by turn fanatical, funny and frank, of 1,988 designers. Exhausted but enthusiastic, critical and creative, frustrated yet optimistic… their answers will surprise. One thing is certain – they really love graphic design and what it can do.

Examining their responses in collaboration with social scientist Nikandre Kopcke, we present new findings and re-evaluate age-old clichés about graphic design: from studio to household, from student to CEO, across gender, age and the Atlantic.

Available at GraphicDesign&

Digital Design Theory: Readings From the Field
By Helen Armstrong / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
152 Pages

Digital Design Theory bridges the gap between the discourse of print design and interactive experience by examining the impact of computation on the field of design. As graphic design moves from the creation of closed, static objects to the development of open, interactive frameworks, designers seek to understand their own rapidly shifting profession. Helen Armstrong’s carefully curated introduction to groundbreaking primary texts, from the 1960s to the present, provides the background necessary for an understanding of digital design vocabulary and thought.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop.

Wild Animals of the North
By Dieter Braun / Published by Flying Eye Books
144 Pages

The first in a pair of illustrated books covering the animals of the world, Wild Animals of the North features Dieter Braun’s beautiful drawings of northern animals accompanied by fun facts and clever descriptions.

From the polar bears of the Arctic to the North American pumas and pandas in Asia, Wild Animals of the North takes children on an exciting journey of discovery. The stunning drawings show these animals in all their natural majesty.

Available at Amazon, Flying Eye Books and your local book shop

The Typography Idea Book: Inspiration from 50 Masters
By Steven Heller and Gail Anderson
Published by Laurence King
128 Pages

The Typography Idea Book presents 50 of the most inspiring approaches used by masters of the field from across the world.

Geared towards helping you evolve different typographic styles, the book contains none of the technical jargon or tired old rules found in traditional tutorials but is packed with practical techniques and iconic examples. From type transformation to abstraction, via overlapping, hand-lettering, vectorizing, novelty typefaces and puns, discover all the brilliant ideas you could be bringing to your own designs.

Available at Amazon, Laurence King and your local book shop

What Can I Be?
By Ann Rand / Illustrations by Ingrid King
Published Princeton Architectural Press
32 Pages

Unearthed after nearly forty years, What Can I Be?, a stunning concept book written by Ann Rand and illustrated by Ingrid King, is sure to delight children with its superb graphics snd vivid palette. “What can I be?” A green triangle asks to become a tent, a kite, a Christmas tree, or the sail of a boat, or why not all of these things? Triangles, squares, circles, lines, and colors spring to life in various and creative formations as they ask, What can I be? A green triangle asks to become a tent, a kite, a Christmas tree, or the sail of a boat, or why not all of these things?

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop

Around Australia with Jacky Winter
Published by Thames and Hudson
160 Pages

Who is Jacky Winter? A native robin and namesake of The Jacky Winter Group – the powerhouse behind Australia’s top illustrators. Created by over 75 of their most awesome artists, big and little design fans will delight in the Australiana-themed doodling, designing, colouring in, crafting and games.

Available at the Brunswick Street Bookstore

Dangerfork Print Co. – Print’s Not Dead
Limited Edition art prints & promotional pack for
Design + Illustrations by Kindred Studio
Custom High Opacity Copper Ink + Black Enamel + Gloss
Printed on Kaskad Black, 270 GSM

A selection of print’s are available at Dangerfork’s online shop.

Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe
Published by Vitra Design Museum
Edited by Mateo Kries, Jochen Eisenbrand.
Text by Susan Brown, Jochen Eisenbrand, Barbara Hauss, Alexandra Lange, Monica Obniski, Jonathan Olivares.
512 Pages

Alexander Girard was one of the most important modern textile artists and interior designers of the 20th century. He combined Pop and Folk art influences to create a colorfully opulent aesthetic language whose impact continues to be felt today. This richly illustrated catalogue draws on the vast holdings in Girard’s private estate, which were exhaustively investigated for the first time at the Vitra Design Museum. The book presents the oeuvre of the multitalented designer in all its facets, while offering the first scholarly, critical examination of his work.

Available at Amazon, artbook.com and your local book shop.

Sigrid Calon Memory Game
Published Princeton Architectural Press
52 Cards

This fresh interpretation of the memory game features Sigrid Calons fluorescent, Risograph- print-inspired patterns.The stylish cube holds fifty-two mesmerizing paired cards and works as a design-savvy gift, mental challenge, and beautiful art object.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop

How to Write an Email
By Justin Kerr
Published by Extracurricular Press
109 Pages

The biggest mistake new employees make in the corporate world is thinking that hard work is what leads to success. The reality is that some basic and often overlooked behaviors are the real keys to thriving in the workplace. Part survival guide, part corporate myth-buster, How to write an email shows you how to raise your profile and make the most of your time in any organization.

Available at Amazon, Extracurricular Press and your local book shop

The Physics of Brand
By Aaron Keller, Renée Marino, and Dan Wallace
Published by How Books
192 Pages

The Physics of Brand is an exploration of how brands evolve in time and space. Drawing on experience working with companies such as Patagonia, General Mills, Target, and more, this book provides an exciting new systems approach to branding. By focusing on how brands and people actually interrelate, you’ll gain a new perspective on brand growth and interaction.

Available at Amazon, How Books and your local book shop

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In our latest installment of book picks we highlight new and exciting titles from Unit Editions, Princeton Architectural Press, Metropolis, Flying Eye and many others. All are worth noting, but we highly recommend TD 63-73, Very Graphic: Polish Designers of the 20th Century and Design for People.

TD 63-73: Total Design and its pioneering role in graphic design (Expanded Edition) 
By Ben Bos / Edited by Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy / Design by Spin
Published by Unit Editions
520 Pages

Total Design began in Amsterdam in 1963. Ben Bos joined the founders (Wim Crouwel, Benno Wissing, Friso Kramar and the Schwarz Brothers) from the outset. Together and individually, they set new benchmarks for typography, identity design, cultural design, exhibition design and product design. These benchmarks have rarely, if ever, been surpassed.

The expanded edition of TD 63-73 is a unique insider’s account of Total Design’s golden period. It contains hundreds of images from the TD archive, and in Ben Bos’s text the reader is given a personal history of a design group that remains as important today as it did when it launched in 1963.

Expanding on this original edition, this new edition features an updated and extended text by Ben Bos that looks beyond 1973, as well as many previously unseen images from his personal archive.

Available at Unit Editions

Very Graphic: Polish Designers of the 20th Century
Edited with introduction by Jacek Mrowczyk. Preface by Piotr Rypson, Krzysztof Lenk, Agata Szydowska.
Published by Culture PL
448 Pages

VeryGraphic: Polish Designers of the 20th Century is the first comprehensive history of Polish graphic design. The book showcases its immense and diverse legacy, from the world-renowned Polish Poster school to the lesser-known achievements of artists in the field of applied graphic design, including books and covers, typography and lettering, logos and visual identification as well as packaging. Chronologically detailing the work of over 60 of the most prominent Polish designers, the volume offers a review of Polish graphic design unprecedented in its scope. The cover of each copy is hand-painted, rendering it a truly one-of-a-kind object.

Available at Amazon, Art Book and your local book shop

The Brownstone
By Paula Scher and Stan Mack / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
32 Pages

Living in harmony with your neighbor isn’t always easy, but it’s doubly difficult if you’re a bear living in a New York City brownstone, getting ready to hibernate, and the kangaroos’ tap dancing upstairs and Miss Cat’s piano playing reverberate through the walls and floors. But Miss Cat has her own complaint: the cooking smells from the pigs downstairs. Happily, the wise owl landlord rearranges everybody so they can live in peace. This warm and funny story, slightly revised from the 1972 original, shows the young reader that you can learn to respect and live with others who are different from you.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop.

Show Posters: The Art and Practice of Making Gig Posters
By Pat Jones and Ben Nunery / Published by Print
208 Pages

Show Posters features step-by-step instructions to guide you through screen printing, hand lettering, and yes, even Xeroxing your way to recreating iconic, kickass posters.

Available at Amazon

Script Fonts
By Geeum-Hee Hong / Published by Laurence King
496 Pages

Script Fonts is a visual encyclopedia of over 300 fonts that includes complete alphabets and numerals for each font and a piece of sample text that shows how each typeface works in the context of a paragraph. It is richly illustrated with over 100 examples of the typefaces as used in manuscripts, on posters, in advertising and other graphic design. The book includes elegant Italian and French cursive scripts, English script fonts, expressive marker fonts, brush and swash fonts, deko and freestyle fonts – all illustrated with historical and contemporary examples.

Available at Amazon, Laurence King and your local book shop.

The Pancake King
By Phyllis La Farge and Seymour Chwast
Published by Princeton Architectural Press
32 Pages

This revised edition of the 1971 classic is a humorous reminder to keep our eyes on what’s most important, and it is sure to capture the fancy of anybody who’s found themselves focused single-mindedly on a pursuit or passion and lost perspective of their priorities.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop.

New Perspectives in Typography
By Scott Williams / Published by Laurence King
336 Pages

This A to Z survey of typographic design by leading typographers A2/SW/HK showcases over 100 carefully selected contemporary designers, including the best examples of their current work.

Featured designers include M/M (Paris), David Pearson, Philippe Apeloig, Anthony Burrill, Marion Deuchars, and Non Format, among others.

Available at Amazon, Laurence King and your local book hop.

The Music Library: Revised and Expanded Edition
By Jonny Trunk / Published by Fuel
248 Pages

This new and expanded edition of The Music Library contains twice the content of the original book, featuring 625 rare sleeves from 230 music library companies of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. The amazing cover designs of over 100 newly discovered library albums are beautifully reproduced (alongside all the sleeves contained in the first book) and accompanied by exhaustive, updated captions.

Available at Amazon, artbook and your local book shop.

Moderno: Design for Living in Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela, 1940–1978
Edited by Gabriela Rangel, Jorge F. Rivas Pérez/
Published by Americas Society
280 Pages

Moderno examines how design transformed the Latin American domestic landscape in a period marked by major stylistic developments and dramatic social and political change. Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela entered an expansive period of economic growth in the late 1940s which was accompanied by the purposeful modernization of major cities and the conscious importation of the International Style.

Available at Amazon, Artbook and your local book shop.

LogoLounge 9
Published by How books
192 Pages

LogoLounge volume 9 presents the 2,000 best logo designs as judged by a select group of identity designers and branding experts. Logos are organized into 20 visual categories for easy reference. Within each section, case studies allow a closer look at designs from diverse firms such as Hornall Anderson, Lippincott, Tether, Von Glitschka Studios, OCD and more. Each story details the logo design journey, from concept to finish.

Available at Amazon

Mind the Map: Illustrated Maps and Cartography
Edited by Antonis Antoniou, Robert Klanten, Sven Ehmann
Published by Gestalten
288 Pages

Maps speak a universal language and make the world accessible. A follow-up to the ­best-selling publication A Map of the World, this book features the cutting-edge of creative contemporary cartography.

Available at Amazon, Gestalten and your local book shop.

Eating with the eyes
By Harry Pearce  / Published by Unit Editions
282 Pages

Eating With The Eyes [Unit 23] is a visual mediation and a photographic recording of accidental events spanning over a decade and collected from Harry Pearce’s journeys around the world. Harry Pearce is a Pentragram partner, eternal optimist, human rights activist, dream diary keeper, graphic designer, accidentalist and photographer.

Available at Unit Editions.

Do you hear what I hear?
By Helen Borten / Published Flying Eye

With vivid poetic word imagery, and pictures as loud as a lion or as quiet as a whisper, Helen Borten introduces children to listening to everything around them to show them just how beautiful our world sounds.

Available at Amazon, Flying Eye and your local book shop

The ABC of Custom Lettering:A Practical Guide to Drawing Letters
By Ivan Castro / Introduction by Ken Barber of House Industries
Published by Korero
140 Pages

This practical and inspirational workbook features easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions for hand drawing a range of letterforms, from Modern Roman and Gothic through to Latin, Script, and Interlocked. Offering traditional instruction methods with a modern twist, this reference also comes with gallery sections for inspiration and accompanying projects to practice your technique.

Pre-order a copy at Amazon.

Square Circle Triangle
By Bruno Munari / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
280 Pages

In the early 1960s, Italian design legend Bruno Munari published his visual case studies on shapes: Circle, Square, and, a decade later, Triangle. Using examples from ancient Greece and Egypt, as well as works by Buckminster Fuller, Le Corbusier, and Alvar Aalto, Munari invests the three shapes with specific qualities: the circle relates to the divine, the square signifies safety and enclosure, and the triangle provides a key connective form for designers.

Available at PA Press, Amazon and your local book shop.

Design for People – Stories About How (and Why) We All Can Work Together to Make Things Better
Edited by Chappell Ellison, Bryn Smith, Scott Stowell. Introduction by Karrie Jacobs. Foreword by Douglass G.A. Scott. Text by Wynton Marsalis.
Published by Metropolis Books
256 Pages

Most design books focus on outcome rather than on process. Scott Stowell’s Design for People is groundbreaking in its approach to design literature. Focusing on 12 design projects by Stowell’s design firm, Open, the volume offers a sort of oral history as told by those involved with each project–designers, clients, interns, collaborators and those who interact with the finished product on a daily basis.

Available at Amazon, Artbook and your local book shop.

Promos Received:

Ben Loiz – Making Marks
Making Marks is a 24 page booklet of logos by Ben Loiz Studio with descriptions and insights on the making of a logo.

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Here it is, our annual book gift guide! Below you will find over 30 titles from our favorite publishers. Included are our top picks for illustration, graphic design and typography. Enjoy!

Design

Visual Design in Action
By Ladislav Sutnar / Edited by Steven Heller & Reto Caduff
Published by Lars Muller
188 Pages

Sutnar’s brilliant structural systems for clarifying otherwise dense industrial data placed him in the pantheon of Modernist pioneers and made him one of the visionaries of what is today called “information design”. Visual Design in Action is a snapshot of Sutnar’s American period (1939–1976), and includes graphics for Carr’s Department Store, advertisements for the Vera Neumann Company, identity for Addo-X, and other stunningly contemporary works. He is best known for his total design concept for the Sweets Catalog Service and lesser known for introducing the parenthesis as a way to typographically distinguish the area code from the rest of a phone number.

Visual Design in Action is a testament to the historical relevance of Modernism and the philosophical resonance of Sutnar’s focus on the functional beauty of total clarity. This reprint of Visual Design in Action (originally published in limited quantities in 1961) is as spot-on about the power of design and “design thinking” as it ever was.

Available at Amazon, Lars Muller and your local book shop.

Lance Wyman: Mexico
Published by RM / MUAC
264 pages

Throughout a career that spans over 50 years, Wyman has made his name by designing for museums, zoos, metro stations and the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign. But it was when he won a competition at age 29 to design the Mexico Olympic graphics for the 1968 games that Wyman launched his career; his work is now a cornerstone for understanding the visual culture of present-day Mexico. In lieu of the extravagance typical of Olympic designs, Wyman offered something refreshing, spacious and above all modern as he unwittingly entered a tumultuous and revolutionary moment in Mexican history.

Available at Amazon, artbook and your local book shop.

The Bauhaus: #itsalldesign
Edited by Mateo Kries, Jolanthe Kugler / Published by Vitra
464 Pages

This volume offers the most comprehensive overview of the extended concept of design that was initiated at the Bauhaus. Alongside rare exhibits from design, architecture, art, film and photography–some of which have never previously been published–the book documents the development processes as well as the socio-political concepts behind the Bauhaus. To underline their relevance for today’s creative practice, these ideas are contrasted to current themes in design such as the digital revolution, and the works of numerous present-day artists and designers.

Available at Amazon, artbook and your local book shop

Lance Wyman: The Monograph
Edited by Adrian Shaughnessy / Published by Unit Editions
Designed by Spin
Edition of 2000
464 pgs / Hardback, black cover and white foil

I’ve long admired Lance Wyman’s work, but that appreciation was limited to the scant selection of projects featured in peer journals over the years. I know others felt the same way and clearly there was a demand for a more comprehensive collection of Wyman’s output. It appears Unit Editions was listening and have answered in the form of a hefty and thoughtful tribute to the man’s work. Weighing in at almost five and half pounds the monograph showcases his significant and prolific out of identity design and examines his role as a pioneer of wayfinding. Included are his iconic designs for the Mexico 68 Olympics, the Minnesota Zoo and much more. Also featured are many previously unpublished items and a selection of pages from Wyman’s vast unseen archive of graphic design ‘log books’.

I’m afraid the pictures below barely do this book justice. It really needs to be seen in person to be fully appreciated.

Copies are available at Unit Editions. Highly recommended!

Airline Visual Identity 1945-1975
By M.C. Huhne / Published by Callisto
436 Pages

Airline Visual Identity 1945-1975 brings together the best corporate design from an era when the airline business exerted a magnetic pull on creative minds. This book not only takes you back in time to systematically explore how each of thirteen important airlines developed its own signature style, but also illustrates the fundamental shift from traditional methods of corporate design and advertising to comprehensive modern identity branding programs. Conceived by design titans such as Massimo Vignelli, Academy Award winner Saul Bass, Otl Aicher, Ivan Chermayeff or advertising luminaries such as Mary Wells Lawrence, the visual identities of airlines found in this volume demonstrate the avant-garde role of the aviation industry in the twentieth century and revive the romantic allure of travel in the jet age.

Available at Amazon. More info at  Callisto Publishers.

Bob Noorda Design
Published by Moleskine
384 Pages

This book is the last graphic work produced and wholly conceived by Bob Noord. Bob Noorda was a Dutch designer and architect who naturalized as an Italian citizen. Starting in the 1960s, he came to the fore as one of the main artificers of the renewal of twentieth century Italian graphic art. Noorda worked in the Dutch capital until 1954, when he decided to move to Italy to settle in Milan.

He worked on the signage and visual features of Milan’s subway system (1964) and which won him his first of four Compasso d’Oro. In 1965, along with the designer Massimo Vignelli, he set up the graphic agency Unimark International, famous for using a very modern approach to design for international clients such as IBM, Pirelli, Olivetti, la Rinascente and the New York subway system, for which they redesigned the entire communication system

Available at Amazon and Moleskine.

British Rail Corporate Identity Manual
Approx. 300 Pages

The British Rail logo created by Gerry Barney at Design Research Unit, has endured beyond its origins and has become a shorthand for Britain’s national rail network. Maintaining a strong and unified identity across a country’s railway, ferry and hovercraft network demanded a groundbreaking and extensive piece of graphic design. This book will celebrate British Rail’s identity in its entirety – not only its distinctive symbol.

• Foreword by Michael C Place, creative director and founder of Build
• Introduction by Tony Howard, former head of design at British Rail, now managing director of Transport Design Consultancy
• Essay from James Greenfield, creative director & founder of Koto
• Interview with Gerry Barney, designer of the British Rail double arrow symbol
• Overseen by Wallace Henning

Reserve a copy at their Kickstarter campaign.

Statement and Counter-Statement: Notes on Experimental Jetset
Edited by Jon Sueda / Published by Roma
576 Pages

The first publication on the work of Experimental Jetset features almost two decades of graphic design praxis. Rather than a monolithic monograph, it is a very loose, personal archive, with essays by Linda van Deursen, Mark Owens, and Ian Svenonius, plus two photographic chapters with a selection of work by the studio, covering both printed matter and the documentation of site-specific pieces and installations. To conclude is a glossary-like anthology of texts (fragments of interviews, lectures, correspondence, etc.

Available at Roma Publications and your local book shop.

Wim Crouwel: modernist
Edited by Frederike Huygen / Published by Lecturis
464 Pages

A new, detailed monograph about Wim Crouwel, graphic designer and exhibition designer.

Available at Lecturis Books.

Logo Modernism
By Jens Muller and R. Roger Remington
Published by Taschen
432 Pages

This unprecedented TASCHEN publication, authored by Jens Müller, brings together approximately 6,000 trademarks, focused on the period 1940–1980, to examine how modernist attitudes and imperatives gave birth to corporate identity. Ranging from media outfits to retail giants, airlines to art galleries, the sweeping survey is organized into three design-orientated chapters: Geometric, Effect, and Typographic. Each chapter is then sub-divided into form and style led sections such as alphabet, overlay, dots and squares.

Available at Amazon, Taschen and your local book shop.

Michael Cina: A Century of Artifice
A VSCO Artist Initiative
240 Pages

Over the course of his career, award-winning visual artist Michael Cina has experimented with and mastered a dizzying array of disciplines, including typography, branding, art direction, illustration, fine art, motion, web, and photography. He has put these considerable talents to use, designing stunning album covers for Ghostly International since 2007.

In conjunction with VSCO Artist Initiative™, Cina has produced a limited edition book featuring 100 album covers and the accompanying concept art he has created over the years.

Available at VSCO and the Ghostly store.

Been Busy: The Art & Graphic Design of Mike Davis
104 Pages
Limited Edition of 500

This book features over 100 full color pages of 12+ years worth of concert posters, logos, illustrations, t-shirt designs, type treatments, doodles, and never-before-seen artwork from Burlesque’s own Mike Davis.

Available at Burlesque of North America

Spin 360
Published by Unit Editions
520 pages / Hardcover

Spin: 360º is a portrait of one of London’s leading design studios. It’s a 520pp monograph that looks in mouth-watering detail at every aspect of Spin’s work in identity, print, moving image, retail, digital and environmental graphics, as well as the studio’s self-directed activities in publishing, curating and collecting.

Available at Unit Editions

Graphics and Industry
By Bruno Tonini / Published by Corraini Edizioni
128 Pages

Graphics and Industry is an illustrated bibliography, a collection of commercial catalogues that were created for design companies between 1906 and 2002. It is published to mark the exhibition of the same name held from 15 September to 24 December at the Bibliothèque des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the book traces the history of Italian editorial graphic design through a new and unusual context, the layout of commercial catalogues.
Arranged alphabetically throughout the book with captions in Italian and English, there are brochures,booklets, catalogues and leaflets featuring innovative and revolutionary designs. A range of projects that saw some of Italy’s foremost designers, such as Gio Ponti, Ettore Sottsass, Enzo Mari and Giovanni Pintori, put their skills as graphic designers to the test.

Available at Amazon, Corraini Edizioni and your local book shop.

The Muse in the Wheels: Pirelli: a Century of Art at the Service of its Products
Published by Corraini Edizioni

The book contains over 450 works made by over 200 world-famous artists (among them Fortunato Depero, Michael Pavel Engelmann, Max Huber, Lora Lamm, Bruno Munari, Bob Noorda, Albe Steiner, Armando Testa, Pino Tovaglia and Massimo Vignelli) to advertise Pirelli products, to illustrate Pirelli magazine, or to celebrate the anniversaries of the industrial group. This heritage represents a cross-section of Pirelli’s corporate culture but also, in more general terms, the history of the figurative arts, of graphic design and of corporate communication.

Available at Amazon, Corraini Edizioni and your local book shop.

How to
By Michael Beirut / Published by Thames & Hudson
320 Pages

This is the first career monograph from graphic designer Michael Bierut. Using examples from a portfolio spanning five decades, he provides the answers, describing three dozen projects from start to finish, with insights into the creative process, his working life, his relationship with clients, and the challenges that any creative person faces in bringing innovative work into the world today.

Available at Amazon and your local book shop.

One Thing Leads to Another
By Dan Stiles / Published by powerHouse Books
176 Pages / Softcover

Internationally acclaimed designer and illustrator Dan Stiles offers a collection of over 200 concert posters for many of todays leading acts including Arctic Monkeys, Wilco, The XX, Sonic Youth, Girl Talk, Sigur Ros and hundreds more. From Indie Rock to Dance Punk, Americana, Hip-Hop and Garage Rock these lovingly screen printed posters provide a visual narrative of the music that shaped the last decade.

Available at Amazon, powerHouse books and your local book shop.

Munari’s Books
By Giorgio Maffei / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
288 Pages

One of the greatest graphic designers of the twentieth century–called by Picasso “the Leonardo of our time”–Italian artist and designer Bruno Munari (1907-1998) considered the book the best medium to communicate his visual ideas, showcase his art, and convey his creative spirit. Primarily produced in large quantities for the general public, his more-than-sixty publications, from design manuals and manifestos to visionary tactile children’s books, displayed all the beauty and technical ingenuity of works of art. Munari’s Books, the definitive collection of his book designs, examines in detail his seventy–year legacy in print, from his pioneering work as a graphic designer and collaborations with major publishers to his experimental visual projects and innovative contributions to the fields of painting, sculpture, design, photography, and teaching.

Pre-order a copy at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop.

Graphic Design Visionaries
By Caroline Roberts / Published by Laurence King
312 Pages

Featuring 75 of the world’s most influential designers, this book presents the story of graphic design through the fascinating personal stories and significant works that have shaped the field.

Arranged in chronological order, the book shows the development of design, from early innovators such as Edward McKnight Kauffer and Alexey Brodovitch to key figures of mid-century Swiss Design and corporate American branding. The book profiles masters of typography, such as Wim Crouwel and Neville Brody; visionary magazine designers, such as Leo Lionni and Cipe Pineles; designers who influenced the world of film, such as Saul Bass and Robert Brownjohn; and the creators of iconic poster work, such as Armin Hofmann, Rogério Duarte and Yusaku Kamekura.

Pre-order a copy at Amazon or your local book shop.

Start Me Up! New Branding for Business
Edited by Robert Klanten, Anna Sinofzik / Published by Gestalten
256 Pages

Start Me Up! is a compendium of innovative corporate design for a new generation. Brimming with imaginative business ideas that range from a turban tailoring house to an artistically ambitious mattress manufactory, it presents brands that break away from stereotypes through their visual identities. The book also shows that entrepreneurship today is more personal than ever before. It features outstanding work that results when young founders turn to creative agencies that then transform their business ideas into personalized narratives through visual storytelling strategies.

Available at Amazon, Gestalten and your local book shop.

Architecture

Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia
448 Pages / Softcover

Edited with text by Andrew Blauvelt. Text by Greg Castillo, Esther Choi, Alison Clarke, Hugh Dubberly, Ross Elfline, Craig Peariso, Tina Rivers Ryan, Catharine Rossi, Simon Sadler, Felicity Scott, Lorraine Wild with David Karwan. Interviews by Adam Gildar, Susan Snodgrass, Elizabeth Glass.
Published by Walker Art Center

Hippie Modernism examines the art, architecture and design of the counterculture of the 1960s and early 1970s. The catalogue surveys the radical experiments that challenged societal norms while proposing new kinds of technological, ecological and political utopia. It includes the counter-design proposals of Victor Papanek and the anti-design polemics of Global Tools; the radical architectural visions of Archigram, Superstudio, Haus-Rucker-Co and ONYX; the installations of Ken Isaacs, Joan Hills, Mark Boyle, Hélio Oiticica and Neville D’Almeida; the experimental films of Jordan Belson, Bruce Conner and John Whitney; posters and prints by Emory Douglas, Corita Kent and Victor Moscoso; documentation of performances by the Diggers and the Cockettes; publications such as Oz and The Whole Earth Catalog; books by Marshall McLuhan and Buckminster Fuller; and much more.

Available at Amazon, artbook and your local bookshop.

Misc

This Book is a Camera
By Kelli Anderson

Features:

– a piece of paper folded into a working 4×5″ camera
– a lightproof bag
– 5 sheets of photo-paper “film”
– development instructions (from complete DIY to “outsource it”)
– a fancy foil-stamped cover that will look good on your shelf!
– a satisfying demonstration of the connection between design & science / structures & functions

Available at kellianderson.com

Typography

Glyph: A Visual Exploration of Punctuation Marks and Other Typographic Symbols
By Adriana Caneva and Shiro Nishimoto
Published by Cicada Books
112 Pages

Glyph is a look into the representations of marks and glyphs in the Latin alphabet. From & to } to *, each mark has a brief explanation of its use and history, and a grid of its most interesting typographic variations.

Available at Amazon, Magma Books and your local book shop.

In Progress: See Inside a Lettering Artist’s Sketchbook and Process, from Pencil to Vector
By Jessica Hische / Published by Chronicle Books
176 Pages

This show-all romp through design-world darling Jessica Hische’s sketchbook reveals the creative and technical process behind making award-winning hand lettering. See everything, from Hische’s rough sketches to her polished finals for major clients such as Wes Anderson, NPR, and Starbucks. The result is a well of inspiration and brass tacks information for designers who want to sketch distinctive letterforms and hone their skills.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

Illustration

Elephants, Whales & Kangaroos
By Tomi Ungerer / Published by Nieves
3 Books in Slipcase, 16 / 12 / 12 Pages

In his childhood, Tomi Ungerer was accustomed to draw and sketch in notebooks. He often drew from nature, showing a keen sense of observation of the world around him. Having reached adulthood, he continued to engage in this exercise essential for an artist to master his trait. In the 1960s, when he lived in New York, he filled many sketchbooks in preparation of his satirical drawings and work in advertising. Among other topics, they contain sketches of animals featuring human characteristics in the tradition of fabulists to serve as support to social satire. These three thin volumes feature drawings of elephants, whales, kangaroos and a handful of camels selected from one of these sketchbooks.

Available at Nieves

The Art of Sanjay’s Super Team
By Sanjay Patel / Foreward John Lasseter
Published by Chronicle Books
130 Pages

In the new short film from Pixar Animation Studios, Sanjay’s Super Team, accomplished artist Sanjay Patel uses his own experience to tell the story of a young, 1st generation Indian boy whose love for western pop culture comes into conflict with his father’s traditions. This art-filled peek behind the curtain of this groundbreaking film is sure to excite Sanjay’s legion of fans, and thrill animation lovers around the world.

Available Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

Kid’s Books

Puff
By William Wondriska / Published by Universe
32 Pages / 6.5″x10.2″

A reprint of a rare, much-sought-after 1960s-era children’s book beloved by the graphic design world and children’s book collectors, Puff’s midcentury modern aesthetic will appeal to adults and children alike. A design darling, Puff by William Wondriska illustrates an imaginary world in which sometimes the small but brave gestures are important. Puff is a tale about an old-fashioned small steam engine who lives a very unexciting life in a train yard. Puff daydreams that he could swim or imagines traveling to such distant lands as Egypt, India, France, and even to outer space. Puff’s chance to prove his mettle finally arrives when a newer modern engine pulling circus cars breaks down during a snowstorm. Puff bravely hooks to the cars and manages to bring the circus into warm sunshine. Playfully mixing type with bold graphics, Puff is a beautifully illustrated and charming underdog story that will appeal to design fans and people of all ages.

Pre-order at Amazon, Universe or your local book shop

Mad About Monkeys
By Owen Davey / Published by Nobrow
40 Pages / Hardcover

Ever wonder what monkeys are and what makes them so special?
With over 250 species inhabiting our planet, this book explores the many different types of monkeys from the smallest Pygmy Marmoset to the largest Mandrill as well as providing all the facts you wanted to know and more. Discover where monkeys come from, how they swing from tree to tree and why they fight and play with each other.
Available at Amazon, Nobrow and your local book shop.

100 Great Children’s Picturebooks
By Martin Salisbury
Published by Laurence King
216 pages

This unashamed visual feast celebrates the best designed and illustrated picturebooks from around the world over the past one hundred years.

Each book is a creation of genius and inventiveness, and their design and illustration represent such diverse trends as the Russian Constructivists, Italian Futurists and Postwar Neo-romantics. They are also mirrors of their times reflecting social concerns from a child’s and family’s perspectives throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first century.

Available at Amazon, Laurence King and your local book shop.

Interstellar Cinderella
By Deborah Underwood / Illustrated Meg Hunt
Published by Chronicle Books
40 Pages

With a little help from her fairy godrobot, Cinderella is going to the ball. But when the prince’s ship has mechanical trouble, someone will have to zoom to the rescue! Readers will thank their lucky stars for this irrepressible fairy tale retelling, its independent heroine, and its stellar happy ending.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

Tough Guys Have Feelings Too
By Keith Negley / Published by Flying Eye Books

Keith Negley’s charming illustrations reveal heart wrenching emotions in unexpected places in this fun book that teaches children that even tough guys like wrestlers, astronauts, and superheroes have feelings too.

Available at Amazon, Flying Eye Books and your local book shop.

Jill & Dragon
By Lesley Barnes / Published by Tate
32 Pages

‘… and they all lived happily ever after…’

At least, that’s what Jill’s story book tries telling her, but Jill can’t help noticing that at the end of the story, one character looks far from happy. Dragon is despised by the King because all he can do is singe, burn and barbeque. So in an attempt to see her fairy tale ring true, Jill invites Dragon out of the book so she can teach him some alternative life skills.

Dragon throws himself into all of Jill’s favourite things: flower arranging, fashion styling, playing the trumpet, and hosting a tea party, but with disappointing results. When it seems as though all hope is lost, Jill and Dragon discover that he has one very unique, and palatable, talent…

Available at Amazon, Abrams, Published Art and your local book shop.

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will add value to our readers.
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We’ve received some wonderful titles this week and i’m excited to share them. Included are entries from Lars Muller, Chronicle Books, Print, Penguin Books, Walker Art Center, Vitra and Silvania Editoriale. See all the books and images after the jump.

Visual Design in Action
By Ladislav Sutnar / Edited by Steven Heller & Reto Caduff
Published by Lars Muller
188 Pages

Sutnar’s brilliant structural systems for clarifying otherwise dense industrial data placed him in the pantheon of Modernist pioneers and made him one of the visionaries of what is today called “information design”. Visual Design in Action is a snapshot of Sutnar’s American period (1939–1976), and includes graphics for Carr’s Department Store, advertisements for the Vera Neumann Company, identity for Addo-X, and other stunningly contemporary works. He is best known for his total design concept for the Sweets Catalog Service and lesser known for introducing the parenthesis as a way to typographically distinguish the area code from the rest of a phone number.

Visual Design in Action is a testament to the historical relevance of Modernism and the philosophical resonance of Sutnar’s focus on the functional beauty of total clarity. This reprint of Visual Design in Action (originally published in limited quantities in 1961) is as spot-on about the power of design and “design thinking” as it ever was.

Available at Amazon, Lars Muller and your local book shop.

Lance Wyman: Mexico
Published by RM / MUAC
264 pages

Throughout a career that spans over 50 years, Wyman has made his name by designing for museums, zoos, metro stations and the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign. But it was when he won a competition at age 29 to design the Mexico Olympic graphics for the 1968 games that Wyman launched his career; his work is now a cornerstone for understanding the visual culture of present-day Mexico. In lieu of the extravagance typical of Olympic designs, Wyman offered something refreshing, spacious and above all modern as he unwittingly entered a tumultuous and revolutionary moment in Mexican history.

Available at Amazon, artbook and your local book shop.

Poster Collection 27: The Hand
Edited by the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / Published by Lars Muller
98 Pages

Gestures and facial expressions are our foremost non-linguistic means of interpersonal communication. It is thus no coincidence that the face and hand are also popular motifs in visual communication. The history of posters is particularly rich in variations on the hand. In consumer posters and billboards, a hand presents desirable products or demonstrates how certain items are used. But the hand can also take the form of a symbolically charged gesture in the political poster: as fist held high, admonishing pointer finger, or violent paw. In cultural posters, the hand then becomes the emblem of the creative and artistic individual. Just as versatile as the rhetoric of the hand are its diverse uses as a design element. Photographic, illustrative and abstract graphic images add up to a small cultural history of the hand as an eloquent conveyor of messages.

Available at Amazon, Lars Muller and your local book shop.

Covering Print: 75 Covers, 75 Years
By Steven Heller  / Published by Print
152 Pages

To celebrate one of the world’s most revered graphic design publications’ 75th anniversary, Heller curated a collection of 75 Print magazine covers straight from the archives. In Covering Print, he explores the context, aesthetics and individuals that made these iconic covers significant in both the design industry and history at large.

Available at Amazon and your local book shop.

Posters: Eat & Drink in Italian Advertising 1890-1970
Edited by Mario Piazza and Alessandro Bellenda
Published by Silvania Editoriale
250 Pages

This book offers the opportunity to delight in the graphic creativity of the advertising of Italy’s major food producers, including Cinzano spumante, Perugina chocolate, Saiwa biscuits and Voiello pasta, as well as campaigns launched by Cirio and Star. Compiling a substantial collection of covers, it provides an overview of Italian imagery from the late nineteenth century to the period of postwar reconstruction, through the drauftsmanship of artists such as Cappiello, Dudovich, Codognato, Mauzan, Seneca and Boccasile.

Available at Amazon, artbook and your local book shop.

The Journey of the Penguin
By Emiliano Ponzi / Published by Penguin
96 pages

To celebrate 80 years of Penguin Books, a charming picture book that tells the imagined story of the penguin who waddled his way into history as the symbol of a beloved publisher

In The Journey of the Penguin, award-winning graphic artist Emiliano Ponzi delivers a boldly illustrated, wildly imaginative, and terrifically fun story—told entirely through image—that brings to life the “dignified yet flippant” bird chosen eighty years ago by Allen Lane as the name and icon of his revolutionary publishing business. With cameo appearances by legendary Penguin authors including Jack Kerouac, Arthur Miller, and Dorothy Parker, this exquisite, one-of-a-kind book celebrates the enduring appeal of storytelling.

Available at Amazon, Penguin and your local book shop.

Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia
448 Pages / Softcover

Edited with text by Andrew Blauvelt. Text by Greg Castillo, Esther Choi, Alison Clarke, Hugh Dubberly, Ross Elfline, Craig Peariso, Tina Rivers Ryan, Catharine Rossi, Simon Sadler, Felicity Scott, Lorraine Wild with David Karwan. Interviews by Adam Gildar, Susan Snodgrass, Elizabeth Glass.
Published by Walker Art Center

Hippie Modernism examines the art, architecture and design of the counterculture of the 1960s and early 1970s. The catalogue surveys the radical experiments that challenged societal norms while proposing new kinds of technological, ecological and political utopia. It includes the counter-design proposals of Victor Papanek and the anti-design polemics of Global Tools; the radical architectural visions of Archigram, Superstudio, Haus-Rucker-Co and ONYX; the installations of Ken Isaacs, Joan Hills, Mark Boyle, Hélio Oiticica and Neville D’Almeida; the experimental films of Jordan Belson, Bruce Conner and John Whitney; posters and prints by Emory Douglas, Corita Kent and Victor Moscoso; documentation of performances by the Diggers and the Cockettes; publications such as Oz and The Whole Earth Catalog; books by Marshall McLuhan and Buckminster Fuller; and much more.

Available at Amazon, artbook and your local bookshop.

Design for the Good Society: Utrecht Manifest 2005-2015
Edited by Max Bruinsma. Text by Victor Margolin, Nynke Tromp, Bert van Meggelen
224 Pages

This publication celebrates the conclusion of five editions of the Utrecht Manifest, the biennial dedicated to social aspects of design. Compiling ten years of critical reflection on engaged design, the book also outlines possible future developments in the field.

Available at Amazon, artbook and your local bookshop.

Colors: A Book About a Magazine About the Rest of the World
Foreword by Francesco Bonami. Interviews with Luciano Benetton, Oliviero Toscani
Published by Damiani/Fabrica
240 Pages

Colors explores the very best of more than 20 years of the influential magazine of the same name, a quarterly Italian publication “about the rest of the world.” Founded in 1991 by photographer Oliviero Toscani and art director Tibor Kalman, each issue of Colors focuses on a single topic and follows it around the world, relying on images as heavily as text to tell stories. Some have called it the magazine of the MTV generation; Kalman himself described it as “a mix of National Geographic and Life on acid.”

Available at Amazon, artbook and your local bookshop

Color: The Professional’s Guide: Understanding, Appreciating and Mastering Color in Art and Design
By Karen Triedman / Published by How Books
256 Pages

The Ultimate Guide to Color is comprehensive color manual for the age of the retina display,  illustrated with over 300 color images and offers informative techniques, examples, inspiration, and exemplary solutions to fit the designer’s every need, whatever their discipline.

Available at Amazon and your local book shop.

The Bauhaus: #itsalldesign
Edited by Mateo Kries, Jolanthe Kugler / Published by Vitra
464 Pages

This volume offers the most comprehensive overview of the extended concept of design that was initiated at the Bauhaus. Alongside rare exhibits from design, architecture, art, film and photography–some of which have never previously been published–the book documents the development processes as well as the socio-political concepts behind the Bauhaus. To underline their relevance for today’s creative practice, these ideas are contrasted to current themes in design such as the digital revolution, and the works of numerous present-day artists and designers.

Available at Amazon, artbook and your local book shop

Illustrators Annual 2015: Bologna Children’s Book Fair
Published by Chronicle Books
192 Pages

A highlight of the time-honored gathering of children’s publishers in Bologna, Italy, the Illustrators Annual—juried every year from the finest art at the show—celebrates debut and storied talent from around the world, the talent that engages a whole new generation of book lovers.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

100 Years of Color
By Katie Greenwood / Published by Print
240 Pages

A perfect source of inspiration for any professional in the visual arts, this innovative book presents one hundred sensational examples of eye-opening color design, complete with all the information you need to reproduce them faithfully on screen or in print.

Painstakingly selected to tell the story of color’s evolution through the 20th century, each of the original artworks is accompanied by a newly made color chart illustrating the different effects achieved when altering the dominant color. These invaluable schemes, combined with accurate RGB and CMYK references, make this an essential handbook for anyone working in interior design, graphic design, illustration, fashion, or any of the visual arts.

Available at Amazon, My Design Shop, and your local book shop.

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will add value to our readers.

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Here’s the latest round of books and goods to hit our shelves. Included are impressive new titles from Nobrow, Chronicle Books, Lars Muller, Laurence King, F&W Media and Princeton Architectural Press. Especially worth noting is Unit Edition’s latest endeavor – a hearty monograph on Lance Wyman.

Lance Wyman: The Monograph
Edited by Adrian Shaughnessy / Published by Unit Editions
Designed by Spin
Edition of 2000
464 pgs / Hardback, black cover and white foil

I’ve long admired Lance Wyman’s work, but that appreciation was limited to the scant selection of projects featured in peer journals over the years. I know others felt the same way and clearly there was a demand for a more comprehensive collection of Wyman’s output. It appears Unit Editions was listening and have answered in the form of a hefty and thoughtful tribute to the man’s work. Weighing in at almost five and half pounds the monograph showcases his significant and prolific out of identity design and examines his role as a pioneer of wayfinding. Included are his iconic designs for the Mexico 68 Olympics, the Minnesota Zoo and much more. Also featured are many previously unpublished items and a selection of pages from Wyman’s vast unseen archive of graphic design ‘log books’.

I’m afraid the pictures below barely do this book justice. It really needs to be seen in person to be fully appreciated.

Copies are available at Unit Editions. Highly recommended!

Cyber Realm 
By Wren McDonnald / Published by Nobrow
24 Pages

Blending sci-fi with an honest and dark humour, Wren McDonald transports us to a post-apocalyptic future world where a tyrannical King reigns supreme over the disparate and feuding common people; a people that survived the earth’s annihilation, only to endure the cruel powers wielded by the King.

Available at Amazon, Nobrow and your local book shop

Presenting Shakespeare: 1,100 Posters from Around the World
By Steven Heller & Mirko Ilic / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
320 Pages

A skull held aloft, a lovesick donkey, a bloodied dagger: these familiar icons are instantly recognizable shorthand for the plays of William Shakespeare. In the four hundred years since his death, the Bard of Avon’s exalted place in the pantheon of theater and poetry—indeed, all of Western culture—is unequaled. As Ben Jonson proclaimed, Shakespeare “is not of an age but for all time!” And just as centuries of theatrical artists have reimagined his works through the lens of their own time and culture, so too have illustrators and designers been inspired to create posters that reinvent Shakespeare’s well-known themes for each new generation of theatergoers. Presenting Shakespeare collects 1,100 posters for Shakespeare’s plays, designed by an international roster of artists representing 55 countries, from Japan to Colombia, India, Russia, Australia, and beyond.

Available at Amazon, PA Press, and your local book shop.

100 Great Children’s Picturebooks
By Martin Salisbury
Published by Laurence King
216 pages

This unashamed visual feast celebrates the best designed and illustrated picturebooks from around the world over the past one hundred years.

Each book is a creation of genius and inventiveness, and their design and illustration represent such diverse trends as the Russian Constructivists, Italian Futurists and Postwar Neo-romantics. They are also mirrors of their times reflecting social concerns from a child’s and family’s perspectives throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first century.

Available at Amazon, Laurence King and your local book shop.

Outside the Box: Hand-Drawn Packaging from Around the World
By Gail Anderson / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
256 Pages

In an age of slick, computer-generated type and Photoshopped perfection, hand-drawn packing is enjoying a global resurgence. As shorthand for something more authentic, homegrown, handmade, or crafted, hand-drawn packaging is found on everything from supermarket eggs to Chipotle drink cups. In this exhaustive and lavishly illustrated survey, organized by four types—DIY, art, craft, and artisanal—Gail Anderson pulls back the curtain on the working processes and inspirations of forty letterers, illustrators, and designers from all around the world through insightful interviews, process sketches, and her infectious love of the medium.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop

Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials & Processes (2nd edition)
By Bill Fick and Beth Grabowski / Published by Laurence King
256 Pages

Printmaking is a practical and comprehensive guide to printmaking techniques.

This fully updated edition includes expanded chapters on digital and mixed media processes, and a brand new ‘Print & Make’ chapter, which explores the opportunities for creative expression within the many processes available to print makers. The more traditional techniques of relief, intaglio, collograph, lithography, screen printing and monoprint have also been refreshed with the addition of new images showing a broader range of subject matter, including more contemporary prints and international artists.

Available at Amazon, Laurence King and your local book shop.

William Addison Dwiggins: Stencilled Ornament and Illustration: Expanded Edition
By Dorothy Abbe / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
112 Pages

There has never been anyone in the design world like William Addison Dwiggins (1880-1956). The first American to call himself a graphic designer, he applied his prodigious talents in the fields of typography, calligraphy, illustration, and even puppeteering–a more fitting title might have been Renaissance man. He is best known for his book designs, which combine his expertise in calligraphy, use of stencils, and typography. Very little has been published on Dwiggins, until now. The first of several planned volumes on his incredible legacy, this reprint of Stencilled Ornament & Illustration includes the original book, hand-set in an experimental Linotype face he designed, along with stencils and plates illustrating a dizzying array of graphical elements. A new introduction by Bruce Kennett shows how Dwiggins used ornaments, rules, and other elements in his final book and jacket designs. Originally published in a letterpress edition of 120 copies, this important book introduces the unique genius of Dwiggins to a broader audience.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop

Every Person in New York
By Jason Polan, Foreword by Kristen Wiig
Published by Chronicle Books
408 pages

Jason Polan is on a mission to draw every person in New York, from cab drivers to celebrities. He draws people eating at Taco Bell, admiring paintings at the Museum of Modern Art, and sleeping on the subway. With a foreword by Kristen Wiig, Every Person in New York, Volume 1collects thousands of Polan’s energetic drawings in one chunky book. As full as a phone book and as invigorating as a walk down a bustling New York street, this is a new kind of love letter to a beloved city and the people who live there.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle books and your local book shop

Grids & Guides Red: A Notebook for Visual Thinkers 
Published Princeton Architectural Press
160 pages / 5.75 x 8.25 inches (14.6 x 21.0 cm), Hardcover

Grids & Guides Red promises another 144 pages of varied and unusual graph paper (including some new grid designs), interspersed with more engaging charts and infographics—from knot tying to logic expressions—for right- and left-brainers alike.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop

The Art of Illustrated Maps
By John Roman / Published F&W Media
200 Pages 

his book maps the origins and history of creative cartography, analyzes why our brains so easily relate to conceptual maps, presents how professional artists create illustrated maps, and showcases the works of contemporary map illustrators from around the world.

Available at Amazon and your local book shop.

Camper: The Walking Society
Edited by Anniina Koivu / Published by Lars Muller
408 Pages

What is a “walking society”? A society that is in motion, that is setting out for somewhere. And what connects the individuals in this society with the ground they stand on? It’s their shoes of course.

The focus here is on a very special shoe: the Camper shoe. It has gone through considerable changes since its early days, when it was cobbled together by Mallorcan peasants from a piece of car tire and a scrap of fabric. What remains is the philosophy embraced by the Spanish family business, that innovative shoes produced according to the highest standards should not only be comfortable but should also offer their wearers the greatest possible freedom of movement.

The book tells the story of the Camper brand while at the same time unfurling a range of related themes, from the anatomy of the foot to the cultural history of the shoe. All of which leads to a visual exploration of our “walking society.”

Available at Amazon, Lars Muller and your local book shop.

Sigrid Calon Notecards
Produced by PA Press
12 Notecards and Envelopes

nspired by the vibrant Risograph prints of Dutch artist Sigrid Calon, this stunning collection includes twelve deluxe notecards. Each perforated card features two extraordinary works—for a total of twenty-four framable prints! With mesmerizing patterns and fluorescent details, this set makes for beautiful correspondence or display.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local bookshop

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will add value to our readers.

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Recently Received Books: Oct
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Here’s the latest round of books and goods to hit our shelves. This week’s entries include items from Nobrow, Chronicle Books, powerHouse Books, Unit Editions and Princeton Architectural Press. See all the books after the jump.

Mad About Monkeys
By Owen Davey / Published by Nobrow
40 Pages / Hardcover

Ever wonder what monkeys are and what makes them so special?
With over 250 species inhabiting our planet, this book explores the many different types of monkeys from the smallest Pygmy Marmoset to the largest Mandrill as well as providing all the facts you wanted to know and more. Discover where monkeys come from, how they swing from tree to tree and why they fight and play with each other.
Available at Amazon, Nobrow and your local book shop.

Spin 360
Published by Unit Editions
520 pages / Hardcover

Spin: 360º is a portrait of one of London’s leading design studios. It’s a 520pp monograph that looks in mouth-watering detail at every aspect of Spin’s work in identity, print, moving image, retail, digital and environmental graphics, as well as the studio’s self-directed activities in publishing, curating and collecting.

Available at Unit Editions

Graphic Design: The New Basics (Revised 2nd Edition)
By Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips
248 Pages / Softcover

In Graphic Design: The New Basics, bestselling author Ellen Lupton (Thinking with Type, Type on Screen) and design educator Jennifer Cole Phillips explain the key concepts of visual language that inform any work of design, from logo or letterhead to a complex website. Through visual demonstrations and concise commentary, students and professionals explore the formal elements of twodimensional design, such as point, line, plane, scale, hierarchy, layers, and transparency.

This revised edition replaces sixty-four pages of the original publication with new content, including new chapters on visualizing data, typography, modes of representation, and Gestalt principles, and adds sixteen pages of new student and professional work covering such topics as working with grids and designing with color.

Available at Amazon, Princeton Architectural Press and your local book shop.

One Thing Leads to Another
By Dan Stiles / Published by powerHouse Books
176 Pages / Softcover

Internationally acclaimed designer and illustrator Dan Stiles offers a collection of over 200 concert posters for many of todays leading acts including Arctic Monkeys, Wilco, The XX, Sonic Youth, Girl Talk, Sigur Ros and hundreds more. From Indie Rock to Dance Punk, Americana, Hip-Hop and Garage Rock these lovingly screen printed posters provide a visual narrative of the music that shaped the last decade.

Available at Amazon, powerHouse books and your local book shop.

The Architect Says Notebooks
By Princeton Architectural Press
64 Pages

A companion to the bestselling book The Architect Says, this trio of gridded notebooks offers words of wisdom from three architecture icons. A different bold, inspiring quote on each cover makes the notebooks the perfect gift for any architecture or design enthusiast eager to sketch or take notes.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will add value to our readers.

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Recently I had the pleasure of testing the Nix Pro Color Sensor. Originally developed in 2012, the compact Bluetooth enabled device allows you to easily capture and save colors from the real world. Simply hover over an object, click “scan” on the iPhone synced app, and Nix will  convert the found color into RGB, CMYK, HEX, and CIELAB values. Once entered into the app, the color profile can be saved and organized into palettes to be referenced at a later time.

For designers, Nix is a dream tool that replaces the need to carry around heavy swatchbooks. Since it’s lightweight and roughly the size of a ping pong ball, it can be easily stored in a bag or backpack and it’s innovative design allows for a more accurate method of color matching. In addition, color swatches can be compared against each other, making for a powerful and effective tool for client work in the field.

For grain edit readers, Nix is currently offering 10% off a purchase of a Nix Pro Color Sensor.

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Asuka Watanabe
Spin
Gracia Lam

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We’ve received some wonderful titles this week and i’m excited to share them. Included are entries from Nobrow, Laurence King, Princeton Architectural Press, D.A.P, Fshnunlimited and Chronicle Books. See all the books and images after the jump.

Munari’s Books
By Giorgio Maffei / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
288 Pages

One of the greatest graphic designers of the twentieth century–called by Picasso “the Leonardo of our time”–Italian artist and designer Bruno Munari (1907-1998) considered the book the best medium to communicate his visual ideas, showcase his art, and convey his creative spirit. Primarily produced in large quantities for the general public, his more-than-sixty publications, from design manuals and manifestos to visionary tactile children’s books, displayed all the beauty and technical ingenuity of works of art. Munari’s Books, the definitive collection of his book designs, examines in detail his seventy–year legacy in print, from his pioneering work as a graphic designer and collaborations with major publishers to his experimental visual projects and innovative contributions to the fields of painting, sculpture, design, photography, and teaching.

Pre-order a copy at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop.

The Sketchbook Project: World Tour
By Steven Peterman and Shane Zucker / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
224 Pages

Destined to go down as one of the era’s most astonishing global art projects, the Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook Project has, in less than a decade, amassed more than thirty thousand sketchbooks submitted by people of all ages and artistic abilities from more than 130 countries. Bursting with color, vivid imagery, and bouts of whimsy mixed with deeply intimate insights, the sketchbooks capture the texture of personal experience in a dizzying variety of illustrative styles and layouts that run the gamut from street portraits to stream-of-consciousness doodles, comics, and pop-ups. The Sketchbook Project World Tour presents the most compelling, surprising, and visually stunning examples from this one-of-a-kind artistic treasury.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

See For Yourself: A Visual Guide to Everyday Beauty
By Rob Forbes / Published by Chronicle Books
176 Pages

This accessible handbook from design guru Rob Forbes uncovers the beauty in the commonplace and reveals how visual thinking can enrich our lives. In friendly text complemented by photographs taken on his travels around the world, Forbes explains how to appreciate the design elements that surround us in the built environment. Linking broad concepts such as composition and materiality to quotidian details such as the play of color in hanging laundry or the repeated forms in a row of ice cream scoops, Forbes reveals how an appreciation of the hues, patterns, and textures that surround us can enhance a life well lived.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

Swedish Details
Forword by Annika Huett and Ulf Huett Nilsson / Published by Max Strom
192 Pages

With a range of photos, from large landscapes capturing entire rooms, to small close-ups of the little knickknacks one might normally overlook, the volume establishes an aesthetic uniquely Swedish and welcoming in its personality and warmth. The details captured are neither new nor expensive, nor are they the fashion-inspired, cutting-edge design that has come to characterize some corners of Scandinavia. Instead, they are personal, homey and almost impossible to replicate—and it is these qualities that make this compilation such a quirky delight.
Available at Amazon,  Artbook.com and your local book shop.

Unlearning to Draw
By Peter Jenny / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
216 Pages

Unlearning to Draw looks to the art of children and outsider artists for inspiration, advocating a return to carefree, untrained drawing and a renewed focus on the joys of making rather than on the end result.

Available at Amazon, PA Press, and your local book shop.

FSHN Unlimited

Fshnunlimited (FU) acts as a collective archive of profound Canadian creativity in fashion, art, design, and media. Produced seasonally in the spirit of collaboration and community, FU’s brash aesthetic and powerful visual narrative are a direct reflection of the very artists – photographers, writers, designers, illustrators, painters, and entire creative teams – that join together to build it. With a defined mandate to support, nurture, and celebrate local talent, FU aspires to provide a lasting and endearing portrait of the creative Canadian landscape and the incredible individuals therein.

Available at fshnunlimited.com

Lost Property
By Andy Poyiadgi / Published by Nobrow
24 Pages 

What if all the things you ever lost, each valuable possession you vowed to treasure but could not keep safe, all the misplaced items you never found, were all to re-appear?

Gerald is a postman, much like many other postmen. One day, having lost a precious and personal item, he visits his local lost and found. Only to find far more than he bargained for, because in this “self storage”, each and every one of Gerald’s lost possessions has been kept and contained. How each item got there and why they were under one roof was a mystery. But they were all there…

Faced with this new trove of personal riches, Gerald discovers their ability to trigger powerful memories, resurrecting the ghosts of his past, igniting long lost passions and helping him change the course of his future.

Available at Amazon, Nobrow and your local book shop

Graphic Design Visionaries
By Caroline Roberts / Published by Laurence King
312 Pages

Featuring 75 of the world’s most influential designers, this book presents the story of graphic design through the fascinating personal stories and significant works that have shaped the field.

Arranged in chronological order, the book shows the development of design, from early innovators such as Edward McKnight Kauffer and Alexey Brodovitch to key figures of mid-century Swiss Design and corporate American branding. The book profiles masters of typography, such as Wim Crouwel and Neville Brody; visionary magazine designers, such as Leo Lionni and Cipe Pineles; designers who influenced the world of film, such as Saul Bass and Robert Brownjohn; and the creators of iconic poster work, such as Armin Hofmann, Rogério Duarte and Yusaku Kamekura.

Pre-order a copy at Amazon or your local book shop.

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will add value to our readers.

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In our latest round of book finds we feature titles from William Wondriska, Friends of Type, Veritas and Princeton Architectural Press. It’s a brief. but solid list filled with solid additions to any library. See all the books after the jump.

Puff
By William Wondriska / Published by Universe
32 Pages / 6.5″x10.2″

A reprint of a rare, much-sought-after 1960s-era children’s book beloved by the graphic design world and children’s book collectors, Puff’s midcentury modern aesthetic will appeal to adults and children alike. A design darling, Puff by William Wondriska illustrates an imaginary world in which sometimes the small but brave gestures are important. Puff is a tale about an old-fashioned small steam engine who lives a very unexciting life in a train yard. Puff daydreams that he could swim or imagines traveling to such distant lands as Egypt, India, France, and even to outer space. Puff’s chance to prove his mettle finally arrives when a newer modern engine pulling circus cars breaks down during a snowstorm. Puff bravely hooks to the cars and manages to bring the circus into warm sunshine. Playfully mixing type with bold graphics, Puff is a beautifully illustrated and charming underdog story that will appeal to design fans and people of all ages.

Pre-order at Amazon, Universe or your local book shop

Vintage Values: Classic Pamphlet Cover Design from 20th Century Ireland
Edited by Lir Mac Carthaigh / Intro by Niall McCormack / Published by Veritas
127 Pages 

This beautiful gift book showcases over one hundred high-quality pamphlet covers from the archives of the Catholic Truth Society of Ireland. The collection unearths striking designs and illustrations by some of Ireland’s most inventive commercial artists from the 1920s to the 1960s, and offers a unique insight into Irish culture in the middle years of the twentieth century.

Available at Vintagevalues.com and Veritas

Inside the Rainbow: Russian Children’s Literature 1920-1935: Beautiful Books, Terrible Times
Edited by Julian Rothenstein and Olga Budashevskaya / Published by Redstone Press
320 Pages / 7.75″ x 11.8″

Inside the Rainbow reprints for the first time in English a unique compendium of Soviet-era picture books from the 1920s and 1930s–a high point in the history of children’s literature. In the dark and dangerous world of revolutionary Petrograd, some of the greatest Russian poets and artists of the century came together to create a new kind of book for children, one that reflected the endless possibilities of a brave new world. Managing for a time to escape the scourge of state censorship, these books became a haven for learning, poetic irony, burlesque, and laughter. Showcasing more than three hundred brilliant examples from this golden age of illustration and design, Inside the Rainbow also includes translated poems, stories, and key texts by those who bore witness to the Russian revolution.

Available at Amazon, Redstone Press, Princeton Architectural Press and your local book shop

Grids and Guides: 3 Notepads for Visual Thinkers 
By Princeton Architectural Press
72 Pages

Sketch, catalog, plot, thumbnail, dream, and develop with these three distinctive, colorful tablets—a companion to our bestselling Grids & Guides Notebook. Each pad in this new format features handy scientific resources—from precise measurements to Pythagoras’s constant to the golden ratio—to spark creative thinking or aid in the design process. Whether used for list making, letter writing, imaginative doodling, or visualizing designs, this collection of portable graph-paper pads is an essential tool for right-brainers and left-brainers alike.

Available at Amazon and your local book shop.

Let’s Go Letter Hunting: A Field Guide for Typographic Expeditions
By Friends of Type / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
160 Pages / 6″ x 8.3′

Letter hunting, type spotting, font finding—whatever you want to call it—designers, typographers, and handletterers have long taken to the streets for inspiration in the bountiful and amazing examples of type that surround us. Whether hunting for forgotten vintage signage, a perfect piece of street art, or colorful handpainted ephemera, this lightly guided notebook from the popular design collective Friends of Type (authors of the Keep Fresh, Stay Rad Postcard Box) provides ample space to record, sketch, and riff off all the letters in the world that are fit to hunt.

Available at Amazon, Princeton Architectural Press and your local book shop.
Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will add value to our readers.

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If you’re looking for last-minute gift ideas, we’ve got you covered. We received some exciting new titles this week, just in time for the holidays. Included in the list below are titles from Gestalten, Lars Muller, Kat Ran Press and Metropolis Books. These titles along with many others can be seen in the full version of our Holiday Book Gift Guide.

Hello, I am Erik / Erik Spiekermann: Typographer, Designer, Entrepreneur
Edited by Johannes Erler / Published by Gestalten
320 Pages / Hardcover

Erik Spiekermann is one of the best-known graphic designers in the world. He not only represents German typeface and corporate design like no other, but his work and the companies he has founded have had an unparalleled influence on contemporary graphic design around the globe. The visual biography Hello, I am Erik is the first comprehensive exploration of Spiekermann’s more than 30-year career, his body of work, and his mindset. Contributions by Michael Bierut, Neville Brody, Mirko Borsche, Wally Olins, Stefan Sagmeister, Christian Schwartz, Erik van Blokland, and others round out this insightful publication.

Available at Amazon, Gestalten and your local book shop.

Max Bill’s View of Things / Die gute Form: An Exhibition 1949
Edited by Lars Müller in collaboration with the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Published by Lars Muller
160 Pages / Hardcover

The international touring exhibition Die gute Form was conceived by Max Bill on behalf of the Swiss Werkbund and was shown for the first time in 1949 at the Basel Mustermesse trade fair. The exhibition consisted of 80 display panels, designed by Bill, presenting a selection of consumer goods from all over the world, chosen by Bill as examples of good design. The show caused some upset in Switzerland and fuelled heated debates abroad. But it also exerted a wide-reaching influence – for example, upon the way in which consumer goods were perceived.

This publication documents Bill’s initiative in reproductions of the original display panels and layout plans for the venues visited by the exhibition, and places Die gute Form in a theoretical context that considers its reception and impact within the history of design.

Available at Amazon, Lars Muller and your local book shop.

Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires & Riots: California and Graphic Design, 1936-1986
By Louise Sandhaus with contributions by Lorraine Wild, Denise Gonzales Crisp, Michael Worthington
Published by Metropolis Books
432 Pages / Hardcover

Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires & Riots is the first publication to capture the enormous body of distinctive and visually ecstatic graphic design that emanated from this great state throughout most of the twentieth century. Edited and designed by graphic designer Louise Sandhaus, this raucous gathering of smart, offbeat, groundbreaking graphic design from the “Left Coast” will amaze readers with its breadth and richness. The fruit of more than a decade of research, the volume is arranged in four sections: “Sunbaked Modernism,” “Industry and the Indies,” “60s Alt 60s” and “California Girls.” Included are books and magazines designed by Merle Armitage, Alvin Lustig, Herbert Matter and Sheila Levrant DeBretteville; posters for Disneyland, Cream and Herman Miller; Marget Larsen’s print ads for Joseph Magnin; title cards or title sequences for Lassie, The Smothers Brothers and other hit TV shows; title sequences for films from Taxi Driver to Tron; motion graphics from the earliest animated abstractions to the classic 7-Up “Bubbles” ad and Atari video games; immersive live shows of Bill Ham and Single Wing Turquoise Bird; architectural supergraphics by Barbara Stauffacher Solomon and Alexander Girard; print and environmental designs by Gere Kavanaugh and Deborah Sussman; and much, much more.
 

Available at Amazon, Artbook.com and your local book shop

Schwarz Black
By Katrin Trautwein / Published by Lars Muller
64 pages plus 24 color charts / Hardcover in slipcase

In this publication, color expert Katrin Trautwein allows subtle differences in a “black palette” to be experienced by means of 24 high-quality screenprints. Made using genuine, water-based pigment paints, the screenprints show how rich and sensual black can be. They are accompanied by eight essays that place the topic in its creative, linguistic, architectural, and cultural contexts. Black is shown to be not the absence of light, but the means by which the elements of white architecture are rendered most visible.

Pre-order at Amazon, Lars Muller and your local book shop

Towards a Reform of the Paper Currency – Particularly in point of its design
By W.A. Dwiggins / Published by Kat Ran Press
60 Pages

Towards a Reform of the Paper Currency particularly in point of its design is a passionate and lively little rant with lots of good design ideas for the improvement of banknotes and stamps—and just about anything else. First published in 1932 by the Limited Editions Club in an edition of 452 copies, this new edition is also printed in an edition of 452 copies—potentially doubling the number of copies in the world. In truth, the original edition is now one of WAD’s less seen and more expensive books and is often selling for one hundred or more times its original publication price of $5.84. This edition is more modestly priced—and produced with the tools and methods of our time in history (as Dwiggins would have wanted it)—and comes with a new introduction by Bruce Kennett, whose forthcoming biography of Dwiggins will be published by the Letterform Archive in 2015.

Available at Kat Ran Press

Looking for more gift ideas? Check out our 2014 design & illustration book gift guide.

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will add value to our readers.
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2014 DesignBook Gift Guide
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Here it is, our annual book gift guide! Below you will find over 30 titles from our favorite publishers. Included are our top picks for illustration, graphic design and typography. Enjoy!

Kid’s Books

Alphabetics: An Aesthetically Awesome Alliterated Alphabet Anthology
By Patrick and Traci Concepción / Illustrations by Dawid Ryski
Published by Gestalten
64 Pages

C is for cat? D is for dog? Not in this book! Here, Colossal Cornelius captures his companions with his camera and Daisy the diver dares a death-defying dip with dinosaurs. In Alphabetics, each of the alphabet’s twenty-six letters is depicted with an awesome alliteration—not to mention an illuminating illustration—that will captivate and stimulate young minds.

Available at Amazon, Gestalten and your local book shop.

Kiddie Cocktails
By Stuart Sandler / Illustrations by Derek Yaniger /
Published by Korero
112 Pages / Hardcover

Calling all junior mixologists ! Check out the coolest-ever collection of fabulous drink recipes in every flavor and style under the sun – sharp and tangy, smooth and sweet, fizzy but never flat, crisp and fruity, or rich and creamy – all minus the hooch ! Surprise your friends with a Kosmic Kooler, get the party started with a Dream Punch, or cruise to Hawaii with a Little Pink Pearl. You’ll also find tips on setting up your own kiddie cocktail bar – with advice on choosing everything you’ll need to make your cocktails look as amazing as they taste ! The entire book is lavishly illustrated by the internationally renowned artist Derek Yaniger.

Available at Korero Press and Amazon

The Best Book in the World
By Rilla Alexander / Published by Flying Eye Books

If you found the best book in the world, would you stop reading? Could you stop reading? If you had homework to do, or dinner to get through, could you put the book down? On a train to the zoo or on a flight to Kalamazoo, would that break the spell? If in a forest you walked, while scary monsters stalked… would that be enough? If every animal in the land were to be led by a big band, in a grand parade in your honour made… would you put the book down?

Join Rilla Alexander for an unforgettable and magical tale that encourages children to read.

Available at Amazon, Flying Eye Books and your local book shop.

Illustration

Magic, Color, Flair: The World of Mary Blair
By John Canemaker / Published by the Walt Disney Family Foundation
176 pages / Hardcover / 10″ x 12.25″

By John Canemaker, the companion catalog to The Walt Disney Family Museum’s 2014 special exhibition with the same name Magic Color Flair the world of Mary Blair. The authoritative collection of Blair’s lifework, including her precocious early paintings, concept art from her Disney days, and the wildly wonderful artistic innovations of her later life. With an introductory essay by exhibition curator and Academy Award-winning John Canemaker, this indispensable book is a bold, lively look into the work of an equally bold and lively artist, whose invaluable influence and keen eye helped shape some of the world’s favorite Disney experiences.

Available at Amazon and The Walt Disney Family Museum Shop.

 This is the World: A Global Treasury
By Miroslav Sasek / Published by Universe
 234 Pages / 9.1″x12.6″

A compilation of abridged versions of M. Sasek’s most popular children’s travel books. From London to Hong Kong, Sydney to San Francisco, readers will delight in this charming journey through the world’s great cities. With deft strokes of his paintbrush and a witty voice to match, master illustrator and storyteller M. Sasek captured the essence of the world’s major capitals and brought them to life for an entire generation of young readers. Now, more than fifty years later, those same readers are passing these stories down to their children and their children’s children, and Sasek’s This is series has officially reached iconic status. Collected here for the first time in one affordable volume are some of Sasek’s most beloved adventures.

Pre-order at Amazon, Rizzoli and your local book shop.

John Alcorn: Evolution by Design
By Moleskine
288 Pages / “9 x 11.5″

A never-before released overview of one of the most versatile designers of the 20th century, replete with revealing essays and several hundred images spanning over 4 decades, from the artist’s formative years to his untimely death at age 56. Containing an extensive account of Alcorn’s vast creative output, from posters, book illustrations, painting, advertising and design – accompanied by personal anecdotes and critical essays – the intricacy of his illustrations, the magic of his psychedelic imagery and the elegance of his execution unfold with every turn of the page.

Available at Amazon and Moleskine

Worse Things Happen at Sea
By Kellie Strom / Published by Nobrow
20 pages / 5.6″x9.1″

Inspired by tales of mythical sea creatures and the tall stories of doomed voyages passed down from sailor to son, Strøm brings us a rich tapestry of wonderment. Historical ships are attacked, enveloped and engorged by monstrous creatures surfacing from the deepest depths of the darkest oceans. Covering 20 panels each measuring 13.8cm x 23.5cm the image unfolds in front of you like a foreboding fable from the cracked lips of an old sea captain.

Taking over two years to create, the faux engraved colour separation style used for this project has been a departure from his two previous picture books, both illustrated with full colour acrylic paintings. In both techniques Strøm wrestled with creating detailed immersive worlds while also trying to preserve some of the immediacy of the original physical art.

Available at Amazon, Nobrow and your local book shop.

Eventually Everything Connects
By Loris Lora / Published by Nobrow Press
24 Pages

What is the link between Alfred Hitchcock and Charles and Ray Eames, or illustrator Mary Blair and actor Steve McQueen? In Eventually Everything Connects Loris Lora makes all the creative connections so you don’t have to. Explore the movers, shakers, and shapers of the arts in the Californian modernist movement in Nobrow’s hardback Leporello format.

Available at Amazon and Nobrow Press

Ed Emberley
By Todd Oldham and Caleb Neelon / Published by Ammo Books
288 Pages / 12″ x9″

Ed Emberley shies away from calling himself an artist and instead likes to say that “he draws pictures for a living.” Now in his eighties, Ed Emberley is a Caldecott award-winning children’s book illustrator and writer who has been creating original books since the 1960s. He has written and illustrated more than 100 books and is perhaps best known for his beloved how-to-draw books for kids such as: Ed Emberley’s Big Green Drawing Book, Ed Emberley’s Drawing Book of Faces, and Ed Emberley’s Great Thumbprint Drawing Book, and many others.

These simple and straightforward books, first published in the 1970s, have encouraged a generation of kids to take the drawing process step by step. Contemporary working artists today often cite Ed Emberley as a beloved early inspiration in their development as artists. By encouraging kids to draw using just a few simple shapes, Emberley has made drawing and creating accessible to everyone. As Emberley likes to say, “Not everyone needs to be an artist, but everyone needs to feel good about themselves.”

This definitive monograph on the wide repertoire of Emberley’s life’s work has been beautifully put together by Todd Oldham and Caleb Neelon. Highlighting work spanning more than five decades, this gorgeous and comprehensive book celebrates the talented and prolific life of Ed Emberley.

Available at Amazon, Ammo Books and your local book shop

Ed Emberley Signed Limited Edition with Print
Cloth hardcover with slipcase

Available at Amazon and Ammo Books

Illustrative Branding: Smashing illustrations for brands
Published by Victionary
256 Pages 

From delightful packaging, to tongue-in-cheek restaurant setting guarded by outlandish cartoons or serene naturescapes, all contributes to the whole of the brand experience, some even lure consumers into collecting tactile applications of the brand.ILLUSTRATIVE BRANDING takes you on a beguiling journey through nearly 100 stellar projects and in-depth case studies of illustrated identities conceived for eateries, fashion labels, skincare products, enterprises, and many more.

Available at  Victionary and your local book shop.

Typography

Type Plus
Edited by Adrian Shaughnessy and Tony Brook / Published by Unit Editions
320 Pages / Paperback

Type Plus investigates the practice of combining typography with images to increase effectiveness, potency and visual impact. Today, graphic designers use type in partnership with graphic elements in ways that turbo charge meaning and impact.
By focusing on a host of contemporary practitioners from around the world, Type Plus creates a picture of a new dynamism in typographic expression. The era of type as a passive, semi-invisible holder of meaning is long gone.Book includes interviews with Non-Format, TwoPoints.Net and Erik Brandt.

Available at Unit Editions

Wim Crouwel: New Alphabet
Edited by Paolo Palma. Preface by Wim Crouwel. Text by Kees Broos, Max Bruinsma, Piet Schrueders.
Published by SHS Publishing
144 Pages / 10″x13.5″

Released in 1967, Wim Crouwel’s New Alphabet was a typeface inspired by the limitations of the data displays of the period. Since it uses only horizontal and vertical strokes, with 45-degree corners–Crouwels wanted to adapt typography to the new technologies, rather than vice versa–New Alphabet contains several characters that are impossible to decipher without contextual inference. Consequently, the typeface was widely deemed to be too extreme at the time, and Crouwel himself qualified it as largely a theoretical exercise–”over the top and never meant to be really used.” Despite its initial controversy, which even extended to the newspapers, New Alphabet has since attained the status of a design classic, being perhaps most famously used on the cover of Joy Division’s legendary single “Atmosphere” and the group’s compilation Substance. In this volume, author Paolo Palma examines the history and legacy of Crouwel’s typeface.

Pre-order at Amazon.com, artbooks.com and your local book shop.

Typorama: The Graphic Work of Philippe Apeloig
By Alice Morgaine and Ellen Lupton/ Edited by Tino Grass / Published by Thames and Hudson
384 Pages

This book, published to accompany a major exhibition at the Musée des Art Décoratifs, Paris, surveys and explores the entirety of Apeloig’s graphic design process and philosophy, reproducing posters, logos, visual identities, books and animations, and analysing the influences that fuel his work.

Available at Amazon, Thames and Hudson and your local book shop

Design

100 Years of Swiss Graphic Design
Edited by Christian Brändle, Karin Gimmi, Barbara Junod, Christina Reble, Bettina Richter, and Museum of Design Zurich
384 Pages / 8.7″x 12.9″

100 Years of Swiss Graphic Design takes a fresh look at Swiss typography and photo-graphics, posters, corporate image design, book design, journalism and typefaces over the past hundred years. With illuminating essays by prominent experts in the field and captivating illustrations, this book, designed by the Zürich studio NORM, presents the diversity of contemporary visual design while also tracing the fine lines of tradition that connect the work of different periods. The changes in generations and paradigms as manifested in their different visual languages and convictions are organized along a timeline as well as by theme.

Available at Amazon, Lars Muller, and your local book shop.

Manuals 2 
Edited by Tony Brook, Adrian Shaughnessy  / Published by Unit Editions
432 Pages

Manuals 2 features a mix of 20 outstanding American and European design manuals. Each is photographed in exquisite detail and accompanied by meticulous descriptions of their physical make-up.

Featured manuals include IBM, Westinghouse, Canadian Rail, Bell, Knoll, PTT, Montreal Olympics and Dutch Police. Manuals 2 also comes up to date, incorporating contemporary manuals for RAC and First Direct. Many of the manuals are designed by the masters of 20th-century identity design: Lester Beall, Paul Rand, Allan Fleming, Total Design, Alan Fletcher, Otl Aicher, Studio Dumbar and North.

Available at Unit Editions

Blue Note : Uncompromising Expression
By Richard Haves / Published by Chronicle Books
400 Pages / 8.5″ x 11 7/8

Published for Blue Note’s seventy-fifth anniversary, this landmark volume is the first official illustrated story of the label, from 1939 roots to its renaissance today. Featuring classic album artwork, unseen contact sheets, rare ephemera from the Blue Note Archives, commentary from some of the biggest names in jazz today, and feature reviews of seventy-five key albums, this is the definitive book on the legendary label.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

Thoughts on Design
By Paul Rand / Foreword by Michael Beirut / Published by Chronicle Books
96 Pages /  6 7/20 x 7 3/4 in

One of the seminal texts of graphic design, Paul Rand’s Thoughts on Design is now back in print for the first time since the 1970s. Writing at the height of his career, Rand articulated in his slender volume the pioneering vision that all design should seamlessly integrate form and function. This facsimile edition preserves Rand’s original 1947 essay with the adjustments he made to its text and imagery for a revised printing in 1970, and adds only an informative and inspiring new foreword by design luminary Michael Bierut. As relevant today as it was when first published, this classic treatise is an indispensable addition to the library of every designer.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

Rolf Muller: Stories, Systems, Marks
Edited by Jens Muller  / Published by Lars Muller
128 pages / 5 ¾ x 8 ¼ in

This book is the first monograph dedicated to the designer Rolf Müller who is known above all for his design of the visual identity of the Munich Olympic Games in 1972. Shortly after graduating from the famous Ulm School of Design, his former professor Otl Aicher entrusted him with this work, which set new standards in international design. In parallel, he established his design firm Büro Rolf Müller in Munich. On the basis of selected projects, the book attempts to sketch the mentality and methods of his design

Available at Amazon, Lars Muller and your local book shop.

HfG Ulm: Concise History of the Ulm School of Design
Edited by Jens Muller / Published by Lars Muller
128 Pages / 5 ¾ x 8 ¼ in

The Ulm School of Design (HfG Ulm) ranks among the world’s most important institutions of the 20th century in modernist design. Its founders Inge Aicher-Scholl, Otl Aicher and Max Bill wanted to contribute to the shaping of a new and better world after the terrible experiences of the Nazi regime and the Second World War. The meaning of design today cannot be understood without considering the developments at HfG. That applies not only to the design of appliances and communications, but also to the profession of designer, design education, methodology and design theory—ranging from the relationship between design and science up to the question of what relationship design should adopt with art and crafts, or business and society. This massive impact of the HfG is all the more astounding, considering that it existed for only 15 years, from 1953 to 1968. This book provides a contextual and broadly illustrated history of the HfG Ulm.

Available at Amazon, Lars Muller and your local book shop.

Human Logo
Published by Counter-Print
132 Pages

‘Human Logo’ is a collection of people-based logos categorised in sections such as bodies, hands, hearts, eyes and faces. The book contains over 300 logos from some of the world’s leading design companies such as; Wolff Olins, Pushpin Group, Hey, Chermayeff & Geismar, Berger & Föhr and many more.

Available at Counter-Print

Criterion Designs
By Eric Skillman / Published by Criterion
306 Pages / 10″x13″

The most exciting names in design and illustration today apply their talents to some of the most important and influential films of all time. This volume gathers highlights from designs commissioned by the Criterion Collection, featuring covers, supplemental art, and never-before-seen sketches and concept art plus a gallery of every Criterion cover since the collection’s first laserdisc in 1984. From avant-garde experiments to big-budget blockbusters, cult favorites to the towering classics of world cinema, the depth and breadth of what film can be is on display in these striking images. Whether painstakingly faithful re-creations or bold re-imaginings, the stunningly diverse designs collected here offer new ways for cinephiles and design aficionados alike to engage with the world’s greatest filmmakers.

Available at Amazon, Criterion and your local book shop.

Alex Wollner: Brasil Design Visual
Edited by Klaus Klemp, Julia Koch, Matthias Wagner K. Foreword by Antonio Grassi, Marta Suplicy, Matthias Wagner K. Text by Klaus Klemp, Julia Koch, Malou von Muralt, René Spitz, André Stolarski, Alexandre Wollner.
Published by Wasmuth
324 Pages / 10.5″x10.25″

Alexandre Wollner (born 1928) is one of the most important and successful graphic designers of the second half of the twentieth century. He played a prominent role in the artistic, cultural and economic foundation of postwar Brazilian design and is today one of South America’s most acclaimed figures in graphic design. Upon returning to Brazil from his studies in Europe, together with Geraldo de Barros and others he inaugurated Form-Inform, the first design consultancy in the country. Despite his great influence and popularity in South America, Wollner remains relatively unknown abroad. Alex Wollner: Brasil Design Visual remedies this oversight, presenting an extensive catalogue of the designer’s oeuvre. This handsome book showcases more than 100 works by the artist and focuses on the strong influence of the Ulm School of Design where Wollner studied between 1954 and 1958.

Available at Amazon, Artbooks.com and your local book shop.

Jurriaan Schrofer: Graphic Designer, Pioneer of Photo Books, Art Director, Teacher, Art Manager, Environmental Artist
By Frederike Huygen. Edited by Jaap van Triest, Karel Martens
Published by Valiz
424 Pages

The Dutch designer and polymath Jurriaan Schrofer (1926–1990) was one of the defining figures in European graphic design in the 1950s–70s. Working across all genres, from public relations brochures to interior design, and from magazines to advertising and alphabets, Schrofer is particularly regarded as a pioneer in the field of photo books and experimental typography. During the 1970s, he also became involved with government art policy and environmental art, and was an especially active force at the Association of Graphic Designers. The design historian Frederike Huygen describes his work as “research into perception, visual effects and the optical illusion of perspective: or the interplay of letterform, pattern and meaning.” This monograph tracks Schrofer’s career through a set of thematic chapters: his public relations brochures for various corporations; the photo book designs; his work as a cultural ambassador; advertising design; interior design; art policy and education; typographic experiments; and his art works. This monograph provides a full survey of Schrofer’s career.

Available at Amazon, Artbook.com and your local book shop

Books on Japan 1931-1972
By Yoshiyuki Morioka / Published by BNN
208 Pages

In this book 100 propaganda magazines, published between 1931 to 1972, are introduced. The front cover and middle page of each magazine is introduced by year along with a brief overview. By “propaganda magazines” we mean such magazines promoting political, military and cultural ideas as is represented by the magazines NIPPON (Nihon Kobou) and FRONT (Tohosha). Also included in these 100 magazines is tourist guides, export product catalogues, world fair catalogues and Olympic brochures. In such “propaganda magazines” published by the government or large companies generous budgets were provided for such publications. Accordingly, many persons who have contributed greatly to the history of Japanese photography and graphic design are introduced. (For example in NIPPON such persons as; Yonosuke Natori, Takashi Kono, Fumio Yamana, Yusaku Kamekura, Goro Kumada, Ken Domon and Shihachi Fujimoto. In FRONT such persons as; Tatsuo Hayashi, Hiromu Hara, Seiichi Tagawa, Ihei Kimura, Yoshio Watanabe and Hiroshi Hamaya). As a result, by looking at the graphics in these magazines one can see how the world currents in graphics have been arranged to form a unique Japanese modernism. A look at the news photos and advertisements in these magazines vividly illustrates Japan’s evolution over this time span. The people who lived, the cities that existed and the thoughts that were prevalent at that time are all extensively recorded. Even though time has passed the vitality of these times can still be felt.

Available at Amazon, Stout Books and your local book shop.

Weingart: The Man and the Machine

By Susan Knapp, Michael Eppelheimer, Dorothea Hofmann / Published by Karografik

96 Pages

The Advanced Class (Weiterbildungsklasse) was a post-graduate program for graphic design, first launched in April 1968 at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland. In 1999 the program was removed from the school’s curriculum, as it did not meet the requirements of the new European university system. For over 30 years, more than 420 students from 35 countries refined their skills and developed a network of designers, artists and teachers.

Wolfgang Weingart was one of the reasons why many design students came to study in Basel. He lectured about the program all over the world and his posters became well-known throughout the design community. Allowing his students to unfold in their own way, he proved to be a master in taking so many different individuals and cultures under his wing. Mr. Weingart’s work as a teacher and visiting lecturer has not only strengthened his students as graphic designers, but has also played a decisive role in modern typography and design.

The collection of 77 statements is boldly illustrated with photos of Mr. Weingart, portraits of the individual students and work from his teaching. And for the first time ever published, an essay by Dorothea Hofmann explains how the Advanced Class came into being at the Basel School of Design. The establishment of the program in 1968 was preceded by nearly two decades of continuous refinement of an educational model developed by Armin Hofmann, with support from Emil Ruder and the City of Basel’s Department of Education.

Available at Stout Books and Karografik

Modernism

Cape Cod Modern: Midcentury Architecture and Community on the Outer Cape
By Peter McMahon, Christine Cipriani and forward by Kenneth Frampton
Photos by Raimund Koch / Published by Metropolis Books
272 Pages

Available at Amazon, Artbook.com and your local book shop

Hand-in-Hand: Ceramics, Mosaics, Tapestries, and Woodcarvings by the California Mid-Century Designers Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman

By Dan Chavkin and Lisa Thackaberry / Published by Pointed Leaf Press
240 Pages

Hand-In-Hand: Ceramics, Mosaics, Tapestries, Woodcarvings by the California Mid-Century Designers Evelyn & Jerome Ackerman is the first monograph of the artists whose oeuvre was critically influential and is now seen as the epitome of California mid-century modernism. With a preface by Jonathan Adler, the book tracks the couple’s careers in the decorative arts from their beginnings to the creation of Jenev Design Studio and its eventual shift to ERA Industries, as well as their involvement in every prestigious California Design exhibition from 1954 to 1976.

Available at Amazon, Pointed Leaf Press and your local book shop.

California Moderne and the Mid-Century Dream – The Architecture of Edward H. Fickett
By Richard Rapaport / Published by Rizzoli
272 Pages

A dazzling presentation of the mid-century modern California style, offering a fresh perspective on the work of this influential yet widely unknown figure.

Available at Amazon and Rizzoli

Who Built that? Modern Houses: An introduction to Modern Houses and their Architects
By Didier Cornille / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
84 Pages

Who Built That? Modern Houses takes readers on a fun-filled tour through ten of the most important houses by the greatest architects of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Beginning with a brief biographical sketch of each architect, illustrator Didier Cornille uses a light touch to depict the various stages of construction, paying special attention to key design innovations and signature details.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop.

Business

The Monocle Guide to Good Business
By Monocle / Published by Gestalten
304 Pages

The Monocle Guide to Good Business is a book for would-be business leaders, start-ups, and established companies that feel it’s time for some new ideas. It’s a book made to be used. Write in its margins and turn over the corners of its pages. But don’t expect management speak or miracles for untold riches. This is not a book about staging a revolution. Rather, this is a book about doing things well—from how you run the show to the pens you buy. And even about taking your dog to work.

Available at Amazon, Gestalten and your local book shop

Broken: Navigating the ups and downs of the circus called work
By Nate Burgos and Stephanie Di Biase

This book addresses the challenges of toxic work environments and other barriers to getting things done.

Available at Design Feast

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will add value to our readers.
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We’ve received some wonderful titles this week and i’m excited to share them. Included are entries from Pointed Leaf Press, Moleskine, Kat Ran Press, Buro Destruct, Princeton Architectural Press and Chronicle Books. See all the books and images after the jump.

John Alcorn: Evolution by Design
By Moleskine
288 Pages / “9 x 11.5″

A never-before released overview of one of the most versatile designers of the 20th century, replete with revealing essays and several hundred images spanning over 4 decades, from the artist’s formative years to his untimely death at age 56. Containing an extensive account of Alcorn’s vast creative output, from posters, book illustrations, painting, advertising and design – accompanied by personal anecdotes and critical essays – the intricacy of his illustrations, the magic of his psychedelic imagery and the elegance of his execution unfold with every turn of the page.

Available at Amazon and Moleskine

Blue Note : Uncompromising Expression
By Richard Haves / Published by Chronicle Books
400 Pages / 8.5″ x 11 7/8

Published for Blue Note’s seventy-fifth anniversary, this landmark volume is the first official illustrated story of the label, from 1939 roots to its renaissance today. Featuring classic album artwork, unseen contact sheets, rare ephemera from the Blue Note Archives, commentary from some of the biggest names in jazz today, and feature reviews of seventy-five key albums, this is the definitive book on the legendary label.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

Hand-in-Hand: Ceramics, Mosaics, Tapestries, and Woodcarvings by the California Mid-Century Designers Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman
By Dan Chavkin and Lisa Thackaberry / Published by Pointed Leaf Press
240 Pages

Hand-In-Hand: Ceramics, Mosaics, Tapestries, Woodcarvings by the California Mid-Century Designers Evelyn & Jerome Ackerman is the first monograph of the artists whose oeuvre was critically influential and is now seen as the epitome of California mid-century modernism. With a preface by Jonathan Adler, the book tracks the couple’s careers in the decorative arts from their beginnings to the creation of Jenev Design Studio and its eventual shift to ERA Industries, as well as their involvement in every prestigious California Design exhibition from 1954 to 1976.

Available at Amazon, Pointed Leaf Press and your local book shop.

Mark Mothersbaugh: Myopia
Edited by Adam Lerner, Foreword by Wes Anderson / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
240 Pages / 8.5″ x 10.5″

Mark Mothersbaugh is a legendary figure for fans of both street art and music culture. Cofounder of the seminal New Wave band DEVO, he was a prolific visual artist before the band’s inception moving seamlessly between multiple mediums creating bold, cartoonish, strangely disturbed works of pop surrealism that playfully explore the relationship between technology and individuality. In the most comprehensive presentation of his work to date, Mark Mothersbaugh: Myopia features a lifetime of his creative inventions from the beginning of his artistic career in the 1970s to his most recent work, including early postcards, screen prints, decals, and DEVO ephemera as well as later paintings, photographs (such as the celebrated Beautiful Mutants series), sculpture, and rugs.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop

Why? Stamps by Ivan Chermayeff
Published by Kat Ran Press
12 Pages / 8″x9″

A good graphic designer pays attention to small things, and there are few things smaller than stamps. Ivan Chermayeff has been paying attention. For almost fifty years the acclaimed graphic designer has been making collages—and in those collages stamps and mail have played an important role. Envelopes are heads. Stamps are eyes and lips. However, one could be forgiven for never having noticed this, as the whole in Chermayeff’s collages is greater than the parts.

In Why Stamps? Chermayeff calls attention to the parts with a brief essay on postage stamps and a selection of fourteen collages which use stamps and mail to the best possible effect. Also shown are two of Chermayeff’s smallest cut-paper collages: Stamps for the USPS and Royal Mail.

Available at Kat Ran Press

 Tribler Book
By Buro Destruct / Foreword by Gregor M. Wildermann
96 Pages

The Tribler book characterizes, documents and catalogs twenty mythical creatures, idols and demons of the Tribler clan, based on text and image material. With a generous dose of humour it reflects on the attitude of the Buro Destruct.

The graphic designers from Bern explore their origins and the things that inspired them over the years. According to latest excavations, it seems as if every single Tribler symbolizes a working year of the graphic design collective. This mystery is particularly apparent in the form of artifacts and sources of inspiration on the respective double page after each Tribler characte

Available at Buro Destruct

Experience Passport: 45 Ways to Broaden Your Horizons
By Alex Egner
64 Pages / 4.5″ x 7″

This pocket-sized passport guides users to have more life-enriching experiences with dozens of creative prompts. Take a different path to work or school every day for a week, make two works of art in different media, or subscribe to a new magazine. With space to record observations, the passport becomes a record of these priceless experiences.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will add value to our readers.

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This week’s book picks include entries from Unit Editions, Princeton Architectural Press and Ridinghouse. See all the books and images after the jump.

Type Plus
Edited by Adrian Shaughnessy and Tony Brook / Published by Unit Editions
320 Pages / Paperback

Type Plus investigates the practice of combining typography with images to increase effectiveness, potency and visual impact. Today, graphic designers use type in partnership with graphic elements in ways that turbo charge meaning and impact.

Abbott Miller: Design and Content
By Abbott Miller, Rick Poynor and Ellen Lupton / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
272 Pages / 8.6″x10.9″

Abbott Miller: Design and Content is the first monograph on the award-winning graphic designer known for his innovative work at Pentagram, where as a partner he leads a team designing books, magazines, catalogs, identities, exhibitions, and editorial projects, creating work that is often concerned with the cultural role of design and the public life of the written word. Collaborating with performers, curators, artists, photographers, writers, publishers, corporations, and institutions, Miller has created a unique practice that alternates between the printed page and the physical space of exhibitions. In his work as an editor and writer he pioneered the concept of designer-as-author, both roles he assumes for this beautifully produced and lavishly illustrated edition. Miller presents his work as a catalog of design strategies, emerging from the unique circumstances of form and content. Four categories: Books, Exhibitions, Magazines, and Identity provide insight into Miller’s influences and working process while showcasing his best designs.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop.

Infographic Designers’ Sketchbooks
By Steven Heller and Rick Landers / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
351 Pages / 9.3″x12.1″

Infographic Designers Sketchbooks, more than fifty of the world s leading graphic designers and illustrators open up their private sketchbooks to offer a rare glimpse of their creative processes. Emphasizing idea-generating methods, from doodles and drawings to three-dimensional and digital mock-ups, this revelatory collection is the first to go inside designers studios to reveal the art and craft behind infographic design.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop.

Abstract Vaudeville: The Work of Rose English
By Guy Brett / Designed by Sarah Schrauwen / Published by Ridinghouse
432 Pages

This comprehensive monograph documents Rose English’s 40-year career to date, including legendary ephemeral, site-specific performances and large-scale spectaculars.

Accompanying many rare archival photographs and performance scripts, a major essay by Guy Brett surveys the artist’s work and life alongside a collection of interviews with some of English’s collaborators.

Available at Cornerhouse and your local book shop.

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will add value to our readers.

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2013 Book Gift Guide
Recently Received Books: Sept
Recently Received Books: May

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The mailman has been good to us this week and we’ve received an impressive list of titles. Included are new books from Lars Muller, Princeton Architectural Press, Laurence King, Chronicle Books, Rizzoli, Thames & Hudson and Nobrow. See all the goodies after the jump.

100 Years of Swiss Graphic Design
Edited by Christian Brändle, Karin Gimmi, Barbara Junod, Christina Reble, Bettina Richter, and Museum of Design Zurich
384 Pages / 8.7″x 12.9″

100 Years of Swiss Graphic Design takes a fresh look at Swiss typography and photo-graphics, posters, corporate image design, book design, journalism and typefaces over the past hundred years. With illuminating essays by prominent experts in the field and captivating illustrations, this book, designed by the Zürich studio NORM, presents the diversity of contemporary visual design while also tracing the fine lines of tradition that connect the work of different periods. The changes in generations and paradigms as manifested in their different visual languages and convictions are organized along a timeline as well as by theme.

Available at Amazon, Lars Muller, and your local book shop.

Grafica Della Strada: The Signs of Italy
By Louise Fili / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
264 Pages / 9″ x 6.5″

For more than three decades, renowned graphic designer and self described Italophile Louise Fili has traveled the cities and countryside of Italy cataloging the work of sign craftsmen in whose hands type takes on new life with a tantalizing menu of styles. Classical, eclectic, or Futurist; in gold leaf, marble, brass, wood, wrought iron, enamel, ceramic, or neon; painted, carved, inlaid, etched, tiled, or stenciled, the creative possibilities are endless. Grafica della Strada is Fili’s photographic diary of hundreds of Italy s most inventive restaurant, shop, hotel, street, and advertising signs.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop.

Fifty Years of Illustration
By Lawrence Zeegan / Published by Laurence KIng
384 Pages / 9⅞ x 7¾ ins

This book charts contemporary illustration’s rich history: the rampant idealism of the 1960s, the bleak realism of the 1970s, the over-blown consumerism of the 1980s, the digital explosion of the 1990s, followed by the increasing diversification of illustration in the early twenty-first century.

The book explores the contexts in which the discipline has operated and looks historically, sociologically, politically and culturally at the key factors at play across each decade, whilst artworks by key illustrators bring the decade to life.

Pre-order at Amazon, Laurence King or your local book shop.

Marimekko: In Patterns
By Marimekko / Published by Chronicle Books
248 Pages / 8 11/16 x 11 in

Internationally beloved Finnish design brand Marimekko’s iconic patterns grace home décor, apparel, and accessories, and have informed and influenced tastemakers worldwide for over half a century. Richly illustrated with photographs and prints both classic and new, this vibrant volume offers a behind-the-scenes tour of the brand’s creative process. A colorful legacy is revealed, along with the innovative creators—from 1950s pioneers to twenty-first-century masters—who have shaped the company’s heritage and continue to make visual magic today.

Pre-order at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

The Who, the What, and the When: 65 Artists Illustrate the Secret Sidekicks of History
By Jenny Volvovski, Julia Rothman, and Matt Lamothe / Published by Chronicle Books
168 Pages/ 8″x10″

In the bestselling tradition of The Where, the Why, and the How, this offbeat illustrated history reveals 65 people you’ve probably never heard of, but who helped shape the word as we know it. Muses and neighbors, friends and relatives, accomplices and benefactors—such as Michael and Joy Brown, who gifted Harper Lee a year’s worth of wages to help her write To Kill a Mockingbird. Or John Ordway, the colleague who walked with Lewis and Clark every step of the way. Each eye-opening story of these unsung heroes is written by a notable historian and illustrated by a top indie artist, making The Who, the What, and the When a treasure trove of word and image for history buffs, art lovers, and anyone who rejoices in unexpected discovery.

Pre-order at Amazon, Chronicle books and your local book shop.

Collectors Edition: Innovative Packaging and Graphics
By Stuart Tolley / Published by Thames & Hudson
288 Pages / 8″x 10.1″

This global survey brings together over 170 examples of innovative and inspired packaging from the worlds of music, book publishing and magazines that have been released as a collector’s, limited or deluxe edition.

Organized into four sections – Boxed; Multiples; Hand; and Extras – each example is accompanied by a project description and vital reference information about the format, materials and finishes used in the design, and the client, record label, publisher and designer behind the work. A broad spectrum of formats and genres is included, ranging from editions of albums by international recording artists to ultra-rare and expensive publications.

Available at Amazon, Thames & Hudson and your local book shop.

Ah-Ha to Zig-Zag: 31 Objects from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Written by Maira Kalman
48 Pages / 5.9″x8.3″

Maira Kalman’s exuberant illustrations and humorous commentary bring design history to life in this inspired ABC book that celebrates thirty-one objects from the Cooper Hewitt, in time for its long-awaited reopening. “A. Ah-ha! There you Are.” begins Maira Kalman’s joyfully illustrated romp through the treasures of Cooper Hewitt’s design collection. With her signature wit and warm humor, Kalman’s ABC book introduces children and adults to the myriad ways design touches our lives. Posing the question “If you were starting a museum, what would you put in your collection?”, Kalman encourages the reader to put pen to paper and send in personal letters—an intimate, interactive gesture to top off her unique tour of the world of design.

Pre-order at Amazon, Rizzoli and your local book shop.

(In a Sense) Lost and Found
By Roman Muradov / Published by Nobrow
56 Pages / 5.9″x8.3″

(In a Sense) Lost and Found explores the theme of innocence by treating it as a tangible object – something that can be used, lost, mistreated. Muradov’s crisp, delicate style conjures a world of strange bookstores, absurd conspiracies and wordplay. A surreal tale told in the mould of the best American comics.

Available at Amazon, Nobrow and your local book shop

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will add value to our readers.

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2013 Book Gift Guide
Recently Received Books: April
Recently Received Books: May

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Here’s the latest round of books and goods to hit our shelves. This week’s entries include items from Nobrow, Chronicle Books, Universe, Korero Press, Ryan Gillett and Mid Century Magazine.

 This is the World: A Global Treasury
By Miroslav Sasek / Published by Universe
 234 Pages / 9.1″x12.6″

A compilation of abridged versions of M. Sasek’s most popular children’s travel books. From London to Hong Kong, Sydney to San Francisco, readers will delight in this charming journey through the world’s great cities. With deft strokes of his paintbrush and a witty voice to match, master illustrator and storyteller M. Sasek captured the essence of the world’s major capitals and brought them to life for an entire generation of young readers. Now, more than fifty years later, those same readers are passing these stories down to their children and their children’s children, and Sasek’s This is series has officially reached iconic status. Collected here for the first time in one affordable volume are some of Sasek’s most beloved adventures.

Pre-order at Amazon, Rizzoli and your local book shop.

Thoughts on Design
By Paul Rand / Foreword by Michael Beirut / Published by Chronicle Books
96 Pages /  6 7/20 x 7 3/4 in

One of the seminal texts of graphic design, Paul Rand’s Thoughts on Design is now back in print for the first time since the 1970s. Writing at the height of his career, Rand articulated in his slender volume the pioneering vision that all design should seamlessly integrate form and function. This facsimile edition preserves Rand’s original 1947 essay with the adjustments he made to its text and imagery for a revised printing in 1970, and adds only an informative and inspiring new foreword by design luminary Michael Bierut. As relevant today as it was when first published, this classic treatise is an indispensable addition to the library of every designer.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

Moonhead and the Music Machine
By Andrew Rae / Published by Nobrow
176 Pages / Hardcover

Meet Joey Moonhead. A normal kid in every way.  Except one… He has a moon for a head.

Life is a peach when you have a moon for a head. Your head can wander out of the atmosphere into galactic reveries, drift blissfully across star specked plains, roll lazily into jungles with undiscovered artefacts or soar closer than Icarus to the sun’s seething glare. Snap! Back to reality – the world of a teenage boy is a much crueler place, the taunt “crater-face” is a very literal insult and the cool kids have an unremitting supply of abuse. And so, as the law of divine providence state, when the school talent contest takes its yearly turn, it is the role of the outcast to take part. Thus, Joey Moonhead begins a stellar mission to create a music machine that rivals all those in existence.

Available at Nobrow, Amazon and your local book shop.

MidCentury Magazine
Issue 07 – Summer / Autumn 2014
148 Pages

Features articles on Pioneers of architectural photography, Orla Kiely on creating a home, a buyers guide to Peter Hvidt and much more.

Available at Midcenturymagazine.com

How Pleasant Postcard Test
By Ryan Gillett

Art inc. - The Essential Guide for Building Your Career as an Artist
By Lisa Congdon, Edited by Meg Mateo Ilasco, Foreword by Jonathan Fields
184 Pages / 5 1/2 x 8 in / Published by Chronicle Books

Artists who dream of turning their passion into a career need only the expert guidance in Art, Inc. Lisa Congdon unveils the multiplicity of ways to make a living from art—including illustration, licensing, fine art sales, print sales, and teaching— and offers practical advice on cultivating a business mindset, selling and promoting work, and more. Trade secrets from art world pros including such luminaries as Paula Scher, Nikki McClure, and Mark Hearld makeArt, Inc. the ultimate resource for aspiring artists ready for success.

Available at Chronicle Books, Amazon and your local book shop.

Kiddie Cocktails
By Stuart Sandler / Illustrations by Derek Yaniger / Published by Korero
112 Pages / Hardcover

Calling all junior mixologists ! Check out the coolest-ever collection of fabulous drink recipes in every flavor and style under the sun – sharp and tangy, smooth and sweet, fizzy but never flat, crisp and fruity, or rich and creamy – all minus the hooch ! Surprise your friends with a Kosmic Kooler, get the party started with a Dream Punch, or cruise to Hawaii with a Little Pink Pearl. You’ll also find tips on setting up your own kiddie cocktail bar – with advice on choosing everything you’ll need to make your cocktails look as amazing as they taste ! The entire book is lavishly illustrated by the internationally renowned artist Derek Yaniger.

Available at Korero Press and Amazon

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Helmo
Timothy Hunt
Tom haugomat

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NAVA is an Italian brand that has strong roots in the design community. Established in 1970, they have a long history of working with the leading designers of the day. Nendo Projects, Massimo Vignelli, Enzo Mari, Naoto Fukasawa and Max Huber are just a few of the designers that NAVA has collaborated with over the years. The success of these partnerships has allowed NAVA to craft a functional yet undeniably stylish product line that supercedes vain fashion.  Many of these products have gone on to become icons that are still displayed in museums and galleries around the world.

We recently received a package from NAVA which contained items from the latest Michel Charlot collaboration as well as a classic notepad/daily planner designed by Max Huber during the early stages of the company. We explore these products in words and pictures after the jump.

Superbag – Vertical Shopper
Designed by Michel Charlot for NAVA
Dimensions - 39 x 41 x 12 cm

The Vertical Shopper is one of five bags designed by Michael Charlor for the Superbag collection. Weighing in at a mere 1.5 LBs it remains lightweight yet durable. The bag features several handles along with a carrying strap and can easily contain a 15″ MacBook Pro. In addition the bag is 100% waterproof for those seeking extra protection against the elements.

Available at Nava

Day By Day Agenda
Designed by Max Huber and Aoi Kono for NAVA
Dimensions - 17×24 cm

Designed in 1972 by Max Huber and his wife, the Day by Day planner presents a simple yet elegant way to capture your thoughts and structure your calendar.  Spared from flashy graphics and superfluous features the minimal and unobtrusive design keeps you focused on the tasks at hand.

Available at NAVA

No Ordinary Notes notepad
By NAVA
Dimensions - 15 x 21 cm

Developed in-house, No Ordinary Notes is a sturdy line of notebooks available in a variety of colors. Each notebook features 160 ruled pages and are available in the A5 and A6 sizes.  In addition it features a waterproof cover and an elastic band to keep it sealed shut.

Available at NAVA

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Chad Michael Studio
Sarp Sozdinler
Tom haugomat

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In 1958, the inaugural issue of the Neue Grafik – The International Review of graphic design and related subjects – was launched by four Zürich-based designers. Led by Josef Müller-Brockmann, Richard Paul Lohse, Hans Neuburg and Carlo Vivarelli (LMNV), the journal became a catalyst for an emerging movement in design known as the Swiss School or International Typographic Style. Marked by its asymmetrical layouts, sans-serif typeface and strong use of grids, the International Typographic Style placed heavy emphasis on clarity and precision. Throughout the journal’s history, this rigid yet versatile approach to design was employed and readily adopted by the design community at large.

Original copies of Neue Grafik are scarce and rarely surface on the open market with single issues fetching three hundred dollars or more. With this in mind, I’m excited to announce the re-release by Lars Muller of this significant and sought-after periodical, with all eighteen issues now available as a facsimile reprint. Contained within a stunning red slipcase, the set also includes a 64 page booklet with commentary by Steven Heller, Lars Muller and Richard Hollis.

Copies are available at Lars Muller.

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Also worth viewing:

Bunker
Timothy Hunt
Tom haugomat

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Supernew Supergraphics by Unit Editions

This week we’re excited to feature titles from Chronicle Books, Nobrow, Flying Eye Books and Occasional Papers. See all the books after the jump.

Supernew Supergraphics
Edited by: Tony Brook, Adrian Shaughnessy and Sarah Schrauwen  / Design by Spin / Published by Unit Editions
320 Pages / Softcover with slipcase

Supernew Supergraphics is a collection of the best architectural, environmental and interior graphic design. This all-new book shows how the current generation of designers and architects are blasting typography and graphic forms across walls – even landscapes. It shows how they are distorting space and warping entire buildings with colour, typographic messages and abstract shapes.

Available at Unit Editions

The Best Book in the World
By Rilla Alexander / Published by Flying Eye Books

If you found the best book in the world, would you stop reading? Could you stop reading? If you had homework to do, or dinner to get through, could you put the book down? On a train to the zoo or on a flight to Kalamazoo, would that break the spell? If in a forest you walked, while scary monsters stalked… would that be enough? If every animal in the land were to be led by a big band, in a grand parade in your honour made… would you put the book down?

Join Rilla Alexander for an unforgettable and magical tale that encourages children to read.

Available at Amazon, Flying Eye Books and your local book shop.

Worse Things Happen at Sea
By Kellie Strom / Published by Nobrow
20 pages / 5.6″x9.1″

Inspired by tales of mythical sea creatures and the tall stories of doomed voyages passed down from sailor to son, Strøm brings us a rich tapestry of wonderment. Historical ships are attacked, enveloped and engorged by monstrous creatures surfacing from the deepest depths of the darkest oceans. Covering 20 panels each measuring 13.8cm x 23.5cm the image unfolds in front of you like a foreboding fable from the cracked lips of an old sea captain.

Taking over two years to create, the faux engraved colour separation style used for this project has been a departure from his two previous picture books, both illustrated with full colour acrylic paintings. In both techniques Strøm wrestled with creating detailed immersive worlds while also trying to preserve some of the immediacy of the original physical art.

Available at Amazon, Nobrow and your local book shop.

Please Come to the Show
Edited by David Senior / Published by Occasional Papers
160 pages

David Senior, bibliographer at the Museum of Modern Art Library in New York, selected a wide range of exhibition-related ephemera – invitations, flyers and posters from the 1960s to the present – and presents them here as an historically overlooked but integral aspect of exhibitions. Often the first point of contact between the audience and artist, such items form part of an essential lexicon for graphic designers, curators, art historians and anyone interested in the event-based nature of showing art. Filled with full-colour reproductions of numerous examples from the MoMA collection, the book includes new essays by Gustavo Grandal Montero, Will Holder, Antony Hudek, Angie Keefer, Clive Phillpot, David Senior and Suzanne Stanton.

Available at Occasional Papers

Design School Wisdom: Make First, Stay Awake, and Other Essential Lessons for Work and Life
Edited by Brooke Johnson and Jennifer Tolo Pierce / Published by Chronicle Books
128 pages / 7 1/4″ x 10″

This treasure trove of pithy aphorisms, longer-form essays, and first-person interviews compiles years of design school education into one comprehensive yet compact book. Here are lessons in life and work, learned both in the classroom and on the job, from design teachers, students, and gurus, covering everything from practical know-how to big-picture brilliance.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will add value to our readers.

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Also worth viewing…
2013 Book Gift Guide
Recently Received Books: April
Recently Received Books: May

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Here’s the latest round of books and goods to hit our shelves. This week’s entries include items from Nobrow, Chronicle Books, Lars Muller, The Walt Disney Family Foundation Press and Princeton Architectural Press.

Magic, Color, Flair: The World of Mary Blair
By John Canemaker / Published by the Walt Disney Family Foundation
176 pages / Hardcover / 10″ x 12.25″

By John Canemaker, the companion catalog to The Walt Disney Family Museum’s 2014 special exhibition with the same name Magic Color Flair the world of Mary Blair. The authoritative collection of Blair’s lifework, including her precocious early paintings, concept art from her Disney days, and the wildly wonderful artistic innovations of her later life. With an introductory essay by exhibition curator and Academy Award-winning John Canemaker, this indispensable book is a bold, lively look into the work of an equally bold and lively artist, whose invaluable influence and keen eye helped shape some of the world’s favorite Disney experiences.

Available at Amazon and The Walt Disney Family Museum Shop.

Also be sure to visit the exhibition on view now through Sept.7th 2014.

Rolf Muller: Stories, Systems, Marks
Edited by Jens Muller  / Published by Lars Muller
128 pages / 5 ¾ x 8 ¼ in

This book is the first monograph dedicated to the designer Rolf Müller who is known above all for his design of the visual identity of the Munich Olympic Games in 1972. Shortly after graduating from the famous Ulm School of Design, his former professor Otl Aicher entrusted him with this work, which set new standards in international design. In parallel, he established his design firm Büro Rolf Müller in Munich. On the basis of selected projects, the book attempts to sketch the mentality and methods of his design

Available at Amazon, Lars Muller and your local book shop.

HfG Ulm: Concise History of the Ulm School of Design
Edited by Jens Muller / Published by Lars Muller
128 Pages / 5 ¾ x 8 ¼ in

The Ulm School of Design (HfG Ulm) ranks among the world’s most important institutions of the 20th century in modernist design. Its founders Inge Aicher-Scholl, Otl Aicher and Max Bill wanted to contribute to the shaping of a new and better world after the terrible experiences of the Nazi regime and the Second World War. The meaning of design today cannot be understood without considering the developments at HfG. That applies not only to the design of appliances and communications, but also to the profession of designer, design education, methodology and design theory—ranging from the relationship between design and science up to the question of what relationship design should adopt with art and crafts, or business and society. This massive impact of the HfG is all the more astounding, considering that it existed for only 15 years, from 1953 to 1968. This book provides a contextual and broadly illustrated history of the HfG Ulm.

Available at Amazon, Lars Muller and your local book shop.

 Nobrow 9: It’s oh so Quiet
Published by Nobrow
128 pages 

This year’s Nobrow magazine, Nobrow 9: It’s Oh So Quiet, deals with the concept of silence. How is silence expressed? Can it be visual?

As we hurtle along at breakneck speed accompanied by the great cacophony of modern life, we rarely experience a moment of silence. Silence, with its implication of stillness and absolute purity, becomes an impossibility. So how does an artist approach such a theme? World-renowned creators turn their hand to unifying the senses in this unique, international showcase containing 60 pages of illustration and 60 pages of ground-breaking comics in unique four spot colour.

Within the stack of these weighty pages is work by artists such as Bianca Bagnarelli, Will Morris,  Joe Todd Stanton, Lisa Perrin, Jim Stoten, Jamie Coe, Ella Bailey, Joseph Lambert, Natalie Andrewsen and many, many more.

Available at Amazon, Nobrow and your local book shop.

Big Meals for Little Hands
By Sebastien Guenard, Aladjidi Virginie, Caroline Pelissier and Marion Billet
Published by Flying Eye Books
56 pages

Big Meals for Little Hands is filled with super-delicious, easy-to-make French recipes!  This gorgeous new cook-book teaches all about seasonal cooking, for a healthy and more environmentally conscious cuisine.

Charming illustrations of animal characters by illustrator Marion Billet will attract kids to the healthy recipes of Michelin starred chef Sébastien Guénard. This book is just the tool for parents looking for fun projects to do with their kids while teaching them how to cook and eat healthily and sustainably.

Available at Amazon, Flying Eye Books and your local book shop.

Type on Screen: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Developers, and Students
By Ellen Lupton / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
208 pages / 7″ x 8.5″

Type on Screen is the definitive guide to using classic typographic concepts of form and structure to make dynamic compositions for screen-based applications. Covering a broad range of technologies, from electronic publications and websites to videos and mobile devices, this hands-on primer presents the latest information available to help designers make critical creative decisions, including how to choose typefaces for the screen, how to style beautiful, functional text and navigation, how to apply principles of animation to text, and how to generate new forms and experiences with code-based operations.

Available at Amazon, PA Press, and your local book shop.

Artists, Writers, Thinkers, Dreamers: Portraits of 50 Famous Folks & All Their Weird Stuff
By James Gulliver Hancock / Published by Chronicle Books
112 pages / 7 1/4″  x 9 1/4″

This cultural who’s-who illuminates 50 famous figures, from Leonardo da Vinci to Coco Chanel, through the fascinating trivia of their lives. Artist James Gulliver Hancock depicts historical icons in quirky annotated portraits surrounded by their associated possessions, baggage, and foibles. Hemingway’s hobbies, Amelia Earhart’s preferred dessert, Martin Luther King Jr.’s favorite TV show—each portrait reveals the ordinary quirks of these extraordinary people and captures their personalities in the process.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

 Hand-Lettering Ledger: A Practical Guide to Creating Serif, Script, Illustrated, Ornate, and Other Totally Original Hand-Drawn Styles
By Mary Kate McDevitt / Published by Chronicle books
192 pages / 8 3/4″ x 8″

This workbook features step-by-step lessons on a range of styles plus more than 120 practice pages, making it the ideal place to learn and perfect this in-demand design skill.

Available at Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

Schema Notebook Collection
Published by Chronicle Books
6″ x 8″

Each center-sewn, foil-stamped notebook in this stunning trio features brand new cover artwork by James Jean and a dotted grid interior.

Available at  Amazon, Chronicle Books and your local book shop.

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Also worth viewing…
2013 Book Gift Guide
Recently Recived Books: March
Recently Received Books: April

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Bernd Kuchenbeiser’s 61 books with black type on white cover lovingly pays homage to the printed word in all it’s glory. Created for a recent event at Vitsoe’s Reading Room, the book also serves as an analog companion to his impressive blog. Contained within is a cohesive collection of titles bound initially by the color (or lack of) of their cover. Accompanying each entry is a brief paragraph that details the qualities whether physical or conceptual that have attracted Bernd’s attention. Available at select Vitsoe shops, the book is free while supplies last.

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Lotta Nieminen
Recently Received Books
Maija Louekari

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This week we’re excited to feature titles from Princeton Architectural Press, Laurence King and Sing Statistics. See all the books after the jump.

The Book of Trees: Visualizing Branches of Knowledge
By Manuel Lima / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
208 Pages / 7.5″x10″

In this new companion volume, The Book of Trees, data viz expert Manuel Lima examines the more than eight hundred year history of the tree diagram, from its roots in the illuminated manuscripts of medieval monasteries to its current resurgence as an elegant means of visualization. Lima presents two hundred intricately detailed tree diagram illustrations on a remarkable variety of subjects, from some of the earliest known examples from ancient Mesopotamia to the manuscripts of medieval monasteries to contributions by leading contemporary designers.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop.

A Love Letter to the City
By Stephen Powers / Published by Princeton Architectural Press
180 Pages / 7.25″x8.25″

Combining community activism and public art, StephenPowers and his team of sign mechanics collaborate with a neighborhood’s residents to create visual jingles, sincere and often poignant affirmations and confessions that reflect the collective hopes and dreams of the host community. A Love Letter to the City gathers the artist’s powerful public art project for the first time, including murals on the walls and rooftops of Brooklyn and Syracuse, New York; Philadelphia; Dublin and Belfast, Ireland; S.o Paolo, Brazil, and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Available at Amazon, PA Press and your local book shop.

Typewriter Art: A Modern Anthology
By Barrie Tullett / Published by Laurence King
176 Pages 

This beautiful book brings together some of the best examples by typewriter artists around the world. As well as key historical work from the Bauhaus, H. N. Werkman, and the concrete poets, there is art by contemporary practitioners, both typewriter artists who use the keyboard as a “palette” to create artworks, and artists/typographers using the form as a compositional device.

Available at Amazon, Laurence King and your local book shop

You Are the Friction
Published by Sing Statistics
216 Pages / 5″ x 7.5″

You Are The Friction is an anthology of collaborative short fiction and illustration. It’s a small, bright red record of what happens when you introduce twelve writers to twelve illustrators, light a match, and run in the opposite direction. Twelve short stories inspired by illustrations, twelve illustrations inspired by short stories, all collected in a handsome paperback edition published by Sing Statistics.

Pick up a copy at Sing Statistics.

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Also worth viewing…
2013 Book Gift Guide
Recently Recived Books: March
Recently Received Books

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This week we’re excited to feature titles from Laurence King, Chronicle Books and Baron Fig.  See all the books after the jump.

Adventures in Letterpress
By Brandon Mise / Published by Laurence King
240 pages / 8⅝ x 6⅞ ins

In recent years, the nearly obsolete craft of letterpress has been resurrected by artists and designers who have rescued cast-iron presses from basements and scrap yards. Adventures in Letterpress features over 200 examples of the resulting work: elegant cards, edgy broadsheets, and everything in between. Beautiful, humorous and sometimes just plain weird, the projects featured in the book perfectly illustrate the vibrant future of this once-endangered medium.

Pick up a copy at Amazon, Laurence King or your local book shop

The Confidant: a Notebook by Baron Fig
192 pages / 5.4″ X 7.7″

These simple yet elegant notebooks easily lie flat when opened and feature high quality paper and perforated pages (in the back). Select from dot gridded, blank or ruled paper. Highly recommended!

Pick up a copy in the Baron Fig Shop.

Creative Block:  Get Unstuck, Discover New Ideas: Advice and Projects from 50 Successful Artists
By Danielle Krysa / Published by Chronicle Books 
288 Pages / 8″x8″

Creative block presents the most crippling—and unfortunately universal—challenge for artists. No longer! This chunky blockbuster of a book is chock-full of solutions for overcoming all manner of artistic impediment. The blogger behind The Jealous Curator interviews 50 successful international artists working in different mediums and mines their insights on how to conquer self-doubt, stay motivated, and get new ideas to flow.

Pick up a copy at Amazon, Chronicle Books or your local book shop.

The Book of Hearts
By Francesca Gavin / Published by Laurence King
160 Pages / 7⅛ x 5⅝ ins

This collection of heart imagery highlights how a universal symbol can be creatively interpreted and constantly reinvented. It captures the breadth of art and design imagery exploring the meaning and representation of hearts.

Although the focus is on the contemporary, it also touches on the history of the symbol—from the Sacred Heart cult to the invention of the Valentine, from heart tattoos to pictograms.

Pick up a copy at Amazon, Laurence King or your local book shop.

Hello NY” An Illustrated Love Letter to the Five Boroughs
By Julia Rothman / Published by Chronicle Books
144 pages / 6″x8″

Anyone who hearts New York will love this illustrated homage to the city. Artist, author, and New Yorker Julia Rothman brings humor and tenderness to an eclectic assortment of historical tidbits (how the New York Public Library lion sculptures got their names), idiosyncratic places to visit (where to find the tennis courts at Grand Central Station), interviews with locals (thoughts on love from a Hasidic Jewish landlord), and personal recollections from growing up in the Bronx (fried fish at Johnny’s Reef)—all illuminated in her beloved signature style.

Pick up a copy at Amazon, Chronicle Books or your local book shop.

Meanwhile in San Francisco: The City in it’s own Words
By Wendy MacNaughton / Published by Chronicle Books
176 pages / 6″x8″

Take a stroll through the City by the Bay with renowned artist Wendy MacNaughton in this illustrated collection of everyday observations. With her beloved city as a backdrop, a sketchbook in hand, and a natural sense of curiosity, MacNaughton set out to capture locals in their own words.

Pick up a copy at Amazon, Chronicle Books or your local book shop.

Klas Fahlen Letterpressed Notecards
By Klas Fahlen / Published by Chronicle Books
includes 10 cards

Pick up a box at Amazon, Chronicle Books or your local book shop.

Masako Kubo Letterpressed Notebooks
By Masako Kubo / Published by Chronicle Books
Includes 2 Notebooks

Masako Kubo, who studied illustration in England and is now based in Tokyo, Japan, draws elegant pieces inspired by nature. These feminine, botanical-driven designs—at once classic and uniquely contemporary—are as one-of-a-kind as their lucky recipients.

Pick up a copy at Amazon, Chronicle books or your local book shop.

Klas Fahlen Letterpressed Notebooks
By Klas Fahlen / Published Chronicle Books
Includes 2 Notebooks