Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design

This book provides great insight into design thinking. The hopping movement between stories creates a great motion in learning about typical situations in design. There is more than meets the eye here and I recommend the book to anyone looking for a great coffee table piece.

Love the humor. Theres a lot of content, I love how the subjects of essays vary. I must say that when I bought this book a year ago (senior year in high school) I will say I have learned a lot from this book and recommend it to everyone.

I have read just a few of the stories so far in this book and have loved each one of them so far. The design of this book can easily be appreciated by any designer - they compliment the story to which they are printed for.

Michael Beirut has collected many of the essays he has written for the Design Observer, a blog he founded with other designers with a focus on graphic design practice and process. Michael's seasoned perspective on the education of young designers, the events and experiences he turned to his advantage as a young person are enlightening and entertaining. He all but pleads to get young designers to recognize that design revolves around life, rather than the other way around. This book may present a challenge for someone not familiar with the personalities, and particularities of graphic design's inner workings. It is a fascinating and well written perspective on the professional's life, which is notable in that Michael is highly successful designer and a partner in the estimable multinatiional design firm, Pentagram.