Design Culture Now: The National Design Triennial

i like the book because of its overview and mixed / cross polinated approach. I don't think that vernacular design that informs our culture is any more inspiring necessarily to students than a more avant garde approach. Either way, I did find some mainstream design included and yet a lot was on the edge too. I think students, especially will gain from the survey approach here. They do not have enormous opportunities to see whats out there while they are in school and this resources makes a good effort at bringing it to them and the public. The layout is also fine. I do not fault the organization of the pages or thematic titles used throughout. It is a demonstration of cross fertilization in design that is pushing the envelope and thats the message of the book to me. Design is not complacent and not sitting still - it is pushing frontiers and making new relationships between information and communication, materials and process, environmental impact and human life/style, and so much more is happening all around us. I think its a good project.

Design Culture Now is the first survey of American design to blend architecture, product and graphic design under one cover, presenting the latest work in everything from fashion and landscape architecture to posters, film and interactive media. Themes provide the chapter focus for a book profiling projects by new designers and established achievers alike. Black and white and color photos pack the presentation.