Book reviews

Author: Jennifer Rittner (Editor) Lesley-Ann Noel (Editor) Kelly Walters (Editor) Anne H Berry (Editor) Kareem Collie (Editor) Penina Acayo Laker (Editor)

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 profession for decades. However, given the national focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the aftermath of the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, educators, practitioners, and students now have the opportunity–as well as the social and political momentum–to make long-term, systemic changes in design education, research, and practice, reclaiming the contributions of Black designers in the process.

The Black Experience in Design, an anthology centering a range of perspectives, spotlights teaching practices, research, stories, and conversations from a Black/African diasporic lens. Through the voices represented, this text exemplifies the inherently collaborative and multidisciplinary nature of design, providing access to ideas and topics for a variety of audiences, meeting people as they are and wherever they are in their knowledge about design. Ultimately, The Black Experience in Design serves as both inspiration and a catalyst for the next generation of creative minds tasked with imagining, shaping, and designing our future.

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Author: Prem Krishnamurthy

What’s the appeal of letters—both as crafted objects with a specific history, and as a mode of communicating, relating, and thinking? And in what way can critical writing learn something from this type of address?

This debut book by designer and curator Prem Krishnamurthy is a series of epistolary essays from Krishnamurthy addressed to the Japanese conceptual artist On Kawara. Kawara is best known for his “Today” series, a nearly lifelong series of paintings where the artist painted each day’s date in geometric-looking lettering. Krishnamurthy begins his letters by noting his frustration, as a graphic designer, with Kawara’s lettering. But as the essays progress, he explores the history of typography, graphic design, mathematics, politics, community, and race. The structural conceit (the title’s clever double meaning quickly becomes clear that it’s a book on letters but also a book of letters to On) creates a strange intimacy, making for a soft, personal, and stunning text of both memoir and art and design criticism.

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Author: Ellen MacArthur Foundation

The book tackles common myths and sets out the fundamental principles of circular design, which go beyond designing single products and services and instead focus on how to reshape the whole system. It explores how creatives can implement circular economy principles and demonstrates that by viewing waste and pollution as design flaws, circular design can become the new norm.

Through examples of circular design in practice and with insights from luxury brands including Gucci and Vivienne Westwood, independent labels such as Kevin Germanier and Marine Serre, high-street giants including Gap Inc, H&M Group and PVH Corp., pioneers of the virtual fashion experience – Alvanon and The Fabricant, and clothing resale and rental specialists such as thredUP and Vestiaire Collective, the book shows how creatives can transform the future of fashion, from being a major cause of global challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss, to being part of the solution.

Find out more about Circular Design for Fashion →