Borrowed Design: Use and Abuse of Historical Form [Hardcover]

Steven Heller (Author), Julie Lasky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0471284408 | ISBN-13: 978-0471284406 | Edition: 1

This book addresses the issues of inspiration, influence and plagiarism in today's graphic design practice. Discussing concepts such as nostalgia, cliche, parody, and revival, the authors help designers determine whether they are "borrowing" or "stealing" and ultimately aid them in establishing a legitimate and meaningful relationship with the past. Case studies with accompanying illustrations highlight both good and bad examples of borrowed design. This book should be of interest to graphic designers.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (December 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471284408
• ISBN-13: 978-0471284406
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,590,968 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steven Heller, author and editor of over 130 books on graphic design, satiric art and popular culture, is the co-founder and co-chair of the MFA Designer as Author program at the School of Visual Arts, New York. He is also co-founder of the MFA in Design Criticism, MFA in Interaction Design, MFA Social Documentary Film and MPS Branding programs. Although he does not hold an undergraduate or graduate degree he has devoted much of his career to fostering design education venues, opportunities and environments.

On the editorial side, for over 40 years he has been an art director for various underground and mainstream periodicals. For 33 years he was an art director at the New York Times (28 of them as senior art director New York Times Book Review). He currently writes the "Visuals" column for the Book Review and "Graphic Content" for the T-Style/The Moment blog (http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/author/steven-heller/). He is editor of AIGA VOICE: Online Journal of Design, a contributing editor to Print, EYE, and Baseline, and a frequent contributor to Metropolis and ID magazines. He contributes regularly to Design Observer and writes the DAILY HELLER blog for Print Magazine (http://blog.printmag.com/dailyheller/). His 135 books include "Design Literacy, " "Paul Rand," "Graphic Style" (with Seymour Chwast), "Stylepedia" (with Louise Fili), "The Design Entrepreneur" and "Design School Confidential" (both with Lita Talarico), "Iron Fists: Branding the Twentieth Century Totalitarian State", and the most recent, "Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig."

He is the recipient of the 1999 AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement. His website is www.hellerbooks.com and his blog, The Daily Heller sponsored by Print magazine is http://imprint.printmag.com/daily-heller/

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars very useful!, June 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Borrowed Design: Use and Abuse of Historical Form (Hardcover)

i have found this book to be a very useful resource. as a second-year design student myself, i have been able to obtain much information which has helped me in the do's-and-don'ts in terms of appropriation of styles and originality of ideas for projects.

there are numerous pictures shown where possible, to accompany the many examples of design plagiarism, nostalgia and styles discussed in the book.

all in all, an easy and helpful read, as the chapters break up the text, and examples, nicely into their subject matter. And even though the book is *very* informative and concise, providing many 'case studies', I found that i never lost interest in the style of writing, or subject matter.

highly recommended, for anyone who is a (aspiring) designer.

designers might also want to check out 'Design History and the History of Design' by J.A. Walker - also an interesting read, more focusing on the field of design history, and its (mis)interpretations of the past.