Modern Dog: 20 Years of Poster Art

Seattle-based design studio Modern Dog's heady mix of cheeky humor and punk rock aesthetics makes them unique among design firms and a hell of a lot of fun. Gathered here for the first time is their groundbreaking work in poster design over the past two decades. Posters for theater, events, music, social issues, and self-promotion run the gamut of approaches and attitudes, but always reflects founders Mike Strassbuger and Robynne Raye's distinctive eye. What's more and unusual in a design monograph their text is laugh-out-loud funny on nearly every page. Interviews with Mike and Robynne by design luminaries James Victore and Rick Valicenti and an essay by critic Steven Heller illuminate the working methods of these creators of iconic and irreverent fin-de-si cle design.

About the Author

Seattle-based designers Michael Strassburger and Robynne Raye are cofounders of Modern Dog. Their work has been exhibited internationally, is in the archives of major libraries, and is collected by museums worldwide.

Seattle-based designers Michael Strassburger and Robynne Raye are cofounders of Modern Dog. Their work has been exhibited internationally, is in the archives of major libraries, and is collected by museums worldwide.

Design Art Deco Quilts

In olden days a glimpse of stocking Was looked on as something shocking, But now, God knows, Anything goes. Cole Porter This verse aptly describes the general attitude of most people during the twenties and thirties, according to Don Linn in Design Art Deco Quilts. During that time, between the two world wars, designers worked in two diverse schools of thought. One area of design was in the use of florals; nearly all of these designs were highly stylized or abstract. The other school concentrated on making designs clean and uncluttered as a way of divorcing themselves from the preceding art nouveau era. Mass production was becoming commonplace. Some referred to these designs as machine arts. Other designs attempted to capture the futuristic streamlined look of what was yet to come. Here one would see more flowing lines as the designers tried to capture the feeling of flowing motion in their work. Now readers can make a bold artistic statement with their own one-of-a-kind Art Deco quilt. Linn shows readers how to create masterpieces in Design Art Deco Quilts, from choosing the right fabrics for an authentic look, to estimating yardage, cutting fabric and planning their piecing. Linn is an award-winning professional machine quilter, affectionately known in the business as Mr. Quilt for his magnificent heirloom machine quilting. Readers learn to mix and match simple shapes into bold, stylized quilts. They learn to design striking, stylized quilts inspired by 1930s Art Deco style. Simple geometric shapes mix and match into original, one-of-a-kind designs. Complete instructions for a sample quilt take readers step by step through planning, designing, and piecing their quilt. The book includes a photo gallery of 11 stunning quilts created by student quilters, plus a visual history of Art Deco style and architecture. Chapters of Design Art Deco Quilts include: 1. Art Deco Design Concepts 2. Tools, Supplies, and Fabric Selection. Many of which readers probably have on hand. 3. Design Steps. Explains the process. 4. Piecing Sequence Gallery. Breaks it down to make it easier. 5. Curved and Inset Seam Piecing. Lots of tips to take the anxiety out of it. 6. Quilting Ideas and Tips. Tips on choosing designs in relation to goals. 7. Design Components. Provides tools to spark readers imaginations in designing. Linn says he first became interested in art deco designs when he was working with fused glass while taking a break from quilting. The simple geometric designs readily lent themselves to cutting and fusing glass. It occurred to him that these simple geometric designs might lend themselves to some new and unusual quilt designs, and that inspired this book. Design Art Deco Quilts has a lovely gallery of Linns students art deco quilts. His design technique encourages readers to try something new and create their own works of art. (Sirreadalot.org, April 1, 2010 )

A career in drafting has no doubt heavily influenced Don Linn's approach to designing quilts. This is very much a technique book, not a project book. It's likely to appeal to quiltmakers who enjoy the arithmetic and the technical challenges that arise from starting with graph paper and pencil, sketching a design, then working out how to piece it together. Don regularly uses curved and inset seams in his work, so these techniques are explained in detail. He also covers quilting ideas and includes a gallery of his students' art deco quilts and some geometric motifs in the art deco style to inspire you. (Australian Homespun, August 1, 2010 )

Product Description

Make a bold artistic statement with your own one-of-a-kind Art Deco quilt. Mr. Quilt shows you how to create a masterpiece, from choosing the right fabrics for an authentic Art Deco look to estimating yardage, cutting fabric and planning your piecing.

About the Author

Don Linn is an award-winning professional machine quilter. He is affectionately known in the business as "Mr. Quilt" for his magnificent heirloom machine quilting.

500 Plastic Jewelry Designs: A Groundbreaking Survey of A Modern Material (500 Series)

The popular 500 series takes its hippest, most fun approach yet, with an intoxicatingly vibrant and technically diverse collection of contemporary jewelry. Juror Susan Kasson Sloan has put together a groundbreaking survey of the best work being done with this thoroughly modern material.

Every page offers some delightful eye candy, with pieces that stretch from the subtle and sublime to the fantastically humorous. There’s jewelry that tells a story, and jewelry that cleverly incorporates recycled materials—including sunglass lenses and knitting needles. In true 21st century style, much of the work is being designed and produced with cutting-edge CAD CAM technologies.

The extremely talented artists include Jantje Fleischhut; Lisa and Scott Cylinder; Adam Paxon; Felieke van der Leest; Ted Noten; Svenja John; Pavel Herynek; Karin Seufert; and Margaux Lange.


About the Author

Juror SUSAN KASSON SLOAN is a self-taught jeweler with a background in fine arts. She began working with epoxy resin in the 1980s, first employing its possibilities as a vehicle for color. Currently a studio artist and educator, she teaches at the 92nd Street Y in New York City and the Art School in Demarest, New Jersey. Susan has also taught at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine, The Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, Pratt Institute in New York, and many other institutions. Her work is exhibited at the Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC; Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York; the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New York; and the Gregg Museum of Art & Design, North Carolina.

Design humor: the art of graphic wit

From the first satiric cave drawings to the quirky humor of Push Pin studios, Design Humor explores what makes wit and humor such important tools in graphic design. Compiling some of the most clever, ironic, and acerbic pieces from annuals, exhibitions, and designer’s drawers, this entertaining sourcebook demonstrates how to communicate effectively through visual puns, type play, and ironic images. It features dozens of classic examples of comical type creations such as Goudy Stout as well as the exuberant playfulness of postmodern design. Full of captivating historical and philosophical references from such "humor experts" as Groucho Marx, Max Eastman, and Mark Twain, Design Humor is an invaluable resource for designers and design students, as well as a treasured collection of design wit for the enthusiast!
About the Author
Steven Heller is the art director of The New York Times Book Review and cochair of the MFA/Design department of the School of Visual Arts. Author or editor of more then 80 books on graphic design, he lives in New York City.

What Designers Know

Each chapter deals with a different technique from which we can best represent and make explicit the forms of knowledge used by designers. The book explores whether design knowledge is special, and attempts to get to the root of where design knowledge comes from. Crucially, it focuses on how designers use drawings in communicating their ideas and how they 'converse' with them as their designs develop. It also shows how experienced designers use knowledge differently to novices suggesting that design 'expertise' can be developed. Overall, this book builds a layout of the kinds of skill, knowledge and understanding that make up what we call designing.

1. Provides an exploration of research techniques giving an insight into the source of design knowledge
2. Illustrates how designers interact with their drawings and with computers in developing their knowledge
3. Provides the latest debates on the nature of design knowledge

From the Back Cover

What is the knowledge that designers work with and how do they use this knowledge? These are the questions that Bryan Lawson explores in his new title 'What Designers Know'.

About the Author

Bryan Lawson is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Sheffield. He is however both an architect and a psychologist, which has enabled him to study the nature of the design process.

How Designers Think, Fourth Edition: The Design Process Demystified

'An extremely readable book, due in part to the soundbite-sized chapters'
Architects Journal, 19.01.06

Reviews of previous editions:
'It has a great virtue of being thorough and readable... excellent bibliography.'
Built Environment
'This book makes a valuable, if individualistic contribution to the literature of design theory.'
Science and Technology Press
'The author succeeds in demystifying his subject for the lay reader.'
New Scientist
'The chapters are well written in a readable form and packed full of data undeniably valuable to students.'
ASI Journal
'Its success is well deserved, because it is clearly written, the arguments are logically presented, and the design process is indeed demystified.'
Architectural Science Review
Book Description
Gain insight into a designer's thought process...
Product Description
How Designers Think is based on Bryan Lawson's many observations of designers at work, interviews with designers and their clients and collaborators. This extended work is the culmination of forty years' research and shows the belief that we all can, and do, design, and that we can learn to design better. The creative mind continues to have the power to surprise and this book aims to nurture and extend this creativity. Neither the earlier editions, nor this book, are intended as authoritative prescriptions of how designers should think but provide helpful advice on how to develop an understanding of design.

In this fourth edition, Bryan Lawson continues to try and understand how designers think, to explore how they might be better educated and to develop techniques to assist them in their task. Some chapters have been revised and three completely new chapters added. The book is now intended to be read in conjunction with What Designers Know which is a companion volume. Some of the ideas previously discussed in the third edition of How Designers Think are now explored more thoroughly in What Designers Know. For the first time this fourth edition works towards a model of designing and the skills that collectively constitute the design process.

* A unique look at the psychology of the designer that provides a greater insight to the process of design
* 'Demystifies' the complexity of the subject and uncovers new ways that design can be done
* Conclusions are drawn from years of research and provide the very latest debate on the subject
From the Publisher
How Designers Think is based on Bryan Lawson's many observations of designers at work, interviews with designers and their clients and collaborators. This extended work is the culmination of twenty-five years' research and shows the author's belief that we all can learn to design better. The creative mind continues to have power to surprise and this book aims to nurture and extend this creativity. This book is not intended as an authoritative description of how designers should think but to provide helpful advice on how to develop an understanding of design. 'How Designers Think' will be of great interest, not only to designers seeking a greater insight into their own thought processes, but also to students of design in general from undergraduate level upward. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
About the Author
Bryan Lawson is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Sheffield. He is however both an architect and a psychologist, which has enabled him to study the nature of the design process.

Discovering Design: Explorations in Design Studies

Discovering Design reflects the growing recognition that the design of the everyday world deserves attention not only as a professional practice but as a subject of social, cultural, and philosophic investigation. Victor Margolin, cofounder and an editor of the journal Design Issues, and Richard Buchanan, also an editor of the journal, bring together eleven essays by scholars in fields ranging from psychology, sociology, and political theory to technology studies, rhetoric, and philosophy. The essayists share the editors' concern, first made clear in Margolin's Design Discourse: History, Theory, Criticism, with the the development of design studies as a field of interdisciplinary research.

The contributors (Gianfranco Zaccai, Albert Borgmann, Richard Buchanan, Augusto Morello, Tufan Orel, Nigel Cross, Victor Margolin, Langdon Winner, Carl Mitcham, Tony Fry, and Ezio Manzini) focus on three broad themes that form a sequence of fundamental issues: how to shape design as a subject matter, how to distinguish the activity of designing in the complex world of action, and how to address the basic questions of value and responsibility that persistently arise in the discussion and practice of design. The editors' introduction provides a useful overview of these questions and offers a multidisciplinary framework for design studies. The essays discuss such topics as the relation of aesthetics to technology, the place of design in social action, the role of the consumer in design decisions, and the need for ethical practice in contemporary design. Manzini's concluding essay shows how the issue of ethics should connect responsible behavior to decisions made every day in the manufacture of objects.

The idea of design

The Idea of Design is an anthology of essays that addresses the nature and practice of product design and graphic design in the contemporary world. The essays, selected from volumes 4-9 of the international journal Design Issues, focus on three themes: reflection on the nature of design, the meaning of products, and the place of design in world culture. The authors are distinguished scholars, historians, designers, and design educators. The diversity of their work illustrates the pluralistic and interdisciplinary dimensions of the idea of design in contemporary culture. Contributors: Rudolf Arnheim. S. Balaram. Richard Buchanan. A. Cheng. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Yves Deforge. Clive Dilnot. Alain Findeli. Jorge Frascara. Tony Fry. Rajeswari Ghose. Takuo Hirano. Martin Krampen. Laus Krippendorf. Tomas Maldonado. Victor Margolin. Abraham Moles. Victor Papanek. Gert Selle. Ann Tyler. Barbara Usherwood. A Design Issues Reader
About the Author
Victor Margolin is Associate Professor of Design History at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Richard Buchanan is Professor of Design and head of the Department of Design at Carnegie-Mellon University.

The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Layers Book: Harnessing Photoshop's Most Powerful Tool

MasterPhotoshop CS4 with this visual, hands-on guide to using layers, under the expert guidance of digital imaging specialist Richard Lynch. Layers, Photoshop's most powerful feature, is the core of a nondestructive image-editing workflow.

Step-by-step instructions and practical examples illustrate how to.

* Polish: correct and enhance color, fix composition problems, and repair damage or flaws
* Manipulate: isolate image areas for changes, adjustments and experimental concepts
* Understand: use all forms of layer blending, including transparency, clipping masks, opacity/fill, layer masks, layer modes, channel targeting, Blend If, and Effects/Styles

The accompanying DVD comes complete with a generous library of practical actions based on techniques from the book that add functional power to Photoshop, along with practice images for all the exercises in the book.

This focused, highly accurate, comprehensive, and practical guide offers invaluable advice for all users of Adobe Photoshop CS4.

* Unleash the full power of Layers in Photoshop for limitless non-destructive creative image editing
* Step-by-step real-life projects take you through every aspect of the layers tool, including masking, blending, and modes, all in the context of a practical photoshop workflow
* Ancillary CD contains all the practice images used in the book
From the Back Cover

Master Photoshop CS4 with this visual, hands-on guide to using Layers, under the expert guidance of digital imaging specialist Richard Lynch. Layers, Photoshop's most powerful feature, is the core of a nondestructive image-editing work flow.

Step-by-step instructions and practical examples illustrate how to .

* Polish: correct and enhance color, fix composition problems, and repair damage or flaws * Manipulate: isolate image areas for changes, adjustments, and experimental concepts * Understand: use all forms of layer blending, including transparency, clipping masks, opacity/fill, layer masks, layer modes, channel targeting, Blend If, and effects/styles

The accompanying CD comes complete with a generous library of practical actions based on techniques from the book that add functional power to Photoshop, along with practice images for all the exercises in the book.This focused, highly accurate, comprehensive, and practical guide offers invaluable advice for all users of Adobe Photoshop CS4. Also visit the dedicated web site and forum for the book online at photoshopcs.com

Photoshop CS4 Down & Dirty Tricks

UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF THE HOTTEST TRICKS, AND MOST REQUESTED PHOTOSHOP EFFECTS IN ONE AMAZING BOOK!

Scott Kelby, co-host of Photoshop User TV and the world’s #1 bestselling Photoshop author, is back to unlock the secrets of an amazing new collection of the latest eye-popping, jaw-dropping, Photoshop special effects—the same kind that made Scott’s previous editions of this book one of the top selling Photoshop books in history.

You’ll learn some of the most closely guarded Photoshop CS4 special effects—the same ones you see on TV, in magazines, and on the Web. Using Scott’s simple step-by-step method, with hundreds of full-color images, you’ll see exactly how it’s all done. The book is written so clearly, and it is so easy to follow, you’ll immediately be able to create all of these effects yourself. You’ll learn:

• The latest photographic special effects
• How to fake studio shots (you’ll be amazed at how it’s done)
• The latest cutting-edge type effects
• The most popular effects used by big movie studios
• The most-requested advertising effects
• Commercial effects that clients go crazy over!
• The most asked-for current Web effects
• Amazing 3D effects using Photoshop Extended
• Plus loads of effects that look hard, but are easy once you know the secrets

And not only that, but the whole book is packed with creative ideas, layouts, and design techniques that will help you unleash your own creativity. It’s all here, in the only Photoshop book of its kind. You're gonna love it!

From the Back Cover
UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF THE HOTTEST TRICKS, AND MOST REQUESTED PHOTOSHOP EFFECTS IN ONE AMAZING BOOK!

Scott Kelby, co-host of Photoshop User TV and the world’s #1 bestselling Photoshop author, is back to unlock the secrets of an amazing new collection of the latest eye-popping, jaw-dropping, Photoshop special effects—the same kind that made Scott’s previous editions of this book one of the top selling Photoshop books in history.

You’ll learn some of the most closely guarded Photoshop CS4 special effects—the same ones you see on TV, in magazines, and on the Web. Using Scott’s simple step-by-step method, with hundreds of full-color images, you’ll see exactly how it’s all done. The book is written so clearly, and it is so easy to follow, you’ll immediately be able to create all of these effects yourself. You’ll learn:

• The latest photographic special effects
• How to fake studio shots (you’ll be amazed at how it’s done)
• The latest cutting-edge type effects
• The most popular effects used by big movie studios
• The most-requested advertising effects
• Commercial effects that clients go crazy over!
• The most asked-for current Web effects
• Amazing 3D effects using Photoshop Extended
• Plus loads of effects that look hard, but are easy once you know the secrets

And not only that, but the whole book is packed with creative ideas, layouts, and design techniques that will help you unleash your own creativity. It’s all here, in the only Photoshop book of its kind. You're gonna love it!

About the Author
Scott Kelby is president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), the trade organization for Adobe Photoshop users, which has 70,000 members worldwide. Scott is also Editor and Publisher of Photoshop User magazine. He's the co-host of the highly acclaimed Photoshop User TV, and teaches photography and imaging workshops around the world. Scott serves as training director for the Adobe Photoshop Seminar Tour and is the technical chair of the largest Photoshop gathering, Photoshop World.