Design - History & Criticism

Take a deep dive into preppy culture with this stunning lookbook and history of the iconic style. Preppy is a look, a vibe, and a lifestyle. From its inception as the fashion of Ivy League students to Japanese hipsters to Black jazz musicians, up...

The first-ever illustrated history of the iconic designs, symbols, and graphic art representing more than 5 decades of LGBTQ pride and activism.Beginning with pre-liberation and the years before the Stonewall uprising, spanning across the 1970s and 1980s and through to the new millennium, Queer...

This ambitious survey chronicles text and typography in 20th-century artists' films and experimental cinemaFrom credits to subtitles to title cards and beyond, texts play a critical part in the structure of a film. Yet, away from the world of mainstream cinema, where the work...

This important new book argues that at the root of the contemporary crisis of climate, energy, food, inequality, and meaning is a certain core presupposition that structures the ways in which we live, think, act and design: the assumption of dualism, or the fundamental...

Since when did certain hand gestures become offensive? And why are scales a symbol of justice? For thousands of years, humans have communicated through a language of signs and symbols. From uniforms to body adornment and corporate logos, symbols are everywhere, and this book...

Celebrating NASA's trailblazing journeys, Space: The Mission Patches uncovers the story of the space administration through the striking artwork of their historic insignias Embark on another cosmic adventure and discover the striking artistry of NASA's mission patches and logos. This beautifully illustrated book offers...

In California's Central Valley, two thousand miles away from country music's hit machine, the hard edge of the Bakersfield Sound transformed American music in the latter half of the twentieth century. It turned displaced Oklahomans like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard into household names,...

The Japanese philosopher and aesthete's definitive, hugely influential exposition of his philosophy of folkcrafts, setting out the hallmarks of Japanese design as we know it today: anonymity, quality, simplicity and honesty--and, of course, wabi-sabi, the beauty of imperfection A Penguin Classic Our lives are...

The Black Experience in Design spotlights teaching practices, research, stories, and conversations from a Black/African diasporic lens. Excluded from traditional design history and educational canons that heavily favor European modernist influences, the work and experiences of Black designers have been systematically overlooked in the...

In The Book, Keith Houston reveals that the paper, ink, thread, glue, and board from which a book is made tell as rich a story as the words on its pages. In an invitingly tactile history of this 2,000-year-old medium, Houston follows the development...

A revelatory, beautifully produced compendium of the influential Japanese commercial design journal, with posters, billboards, shop window displays and moreFrom 1928 to 1930, Tokyo publisher Ars issued The Complete Commercial Artist: a fully illustrated journal of commercial design for both commercial retail spaces and...

One of the world's most revered costume suppliers and creators, Cosprop was founded by John Bright, an Oscar-and BAFTA-winning costume designer, collector, and philanthropist. The Costume House explores some of the most celebrated film and television series in history, from Merchant Ivory to Downton...

Discover the key ideas, innovations, and breakthroughs in the history of design. This book is the perfect introduction to the subject. It explores and explains the big ideas and key principles behind more than 90 celebrated design concepts and movements, placing each in its...

**From the Winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in Criticism ** Now Updated with New Material**"[Lange] might be the most influential design critic writing now." -The Los Angeles Review of Books From building blocks to city blocks, an eye-opening exploration of the ways children's...

In this lively and entertaining work, Witold Rybczynski--hailed as "one of the best writers on design working today" by Publishers Weekly--tells the story of the most distinctive cars in history and the artists, engineers, dreamers, and gearheads who created them. Delving into more than...

WELCOME, FOOLISH MORTALS, to the Haunted Mansion, one of the most popular attractions in the history of Disney theme parks. The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic explores how the attraction's "999 happy haunts" were brought to life. Rare early concept sketches, detailed architectural...

From a brilliant cultural historian, "a secret history of the twentieth century" (Louis Menand) told through the story of design and its utopian promises Design has penetrated every dimension of contemporary society, from classrooms to statehouses to corporate boardrooms. It's seen as a kind...

A New York Times Best Art Book of 2019 "A riveting book . . . few stones are left unturned."--Roberta Smith's "Top Art Books of 2019," The New York Times This fascinating and enlightening study of the tie-on pocket combines materiality and gender to...

A close look at the creative production of the United States Shaker communities and their influence on designers and artists past and presentEstablished in the 18th century, the Shakers were a Christian community that embraced principles of social equality, communal property and pacifism, viewing...

Create a better life by creating better design. Did you know that. . . . . . the arrangement of your living room could improve your relationship with your partner?. . . the layout of your child's classroom affects their grades and test scores?....