Design Criticism Resources
Rick Poynor, design critic and founder of Eye magazine, stopped by our studio recently to talk about design criticism and writing. The part that inspired me most as someone interested in writing was something simple he said towards the end, that we read writing because we want someone to open the world to us. Below are some books, magazines/journals, and websites he cited which we'd like to share with our readers. If you're looking for Poynor's own writing, we recommend starting with a Google search, visiting Eye, and reading Obey the Giant: Life in the Image World. Enjoy.
Books
General Knowledge (Bayley)
Screen: Essays on Graphic Design, New Media, and Visual Culture (Helfand)
Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design (Heller)
Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility (Heller and Vienne)
Unjustified Texts: Perspectives on Typography (Kinross)
Design Writing Research (Lupton)
The Politics of the Artificial: Essays on Design and Design Studies (Margolin)
Also worth reading:
Ways of Seeing (Berger)
Chris Ware (Raeburn)
Magazines and Journals
Emigre (All of them, but check out issue 68, with David Barringer's 35,000 word essay)
Dot dot dot
Design Issues
George Hanson Critical Forum: Eight Round-Table Discussions from the Department of Communication Art and Design at The Royal College of Art, London
Websites
Design Observer
Speak Up
Limited Language
1+1=3
Voice: AIGA Journal of Design
DesignWritingResearch.org
Design Your Life
Also worth reading:
Arts & Letters Daily
It's delightful. It's delicious.
Posted by: Randy J. Hunt | Monday, March 20, 2006 at 10:50 AM