In Chasing the Perfect writer/designer Natalia Ilyin delivers her astute, incisive, and humorous observations on design and the world it has molded. According to Ilyin, "Modern design is based on deeply idealist notions, and its inherent perfectionism has dovetailed beautifully with our commodity-based economy's need to keep people itching so that they will buy things and keep the society chugging along. I began Chasing the Perfect because I started to become aware of this collusion, this silent pressure that a language of design based in perfectionism had brought to bear on how I developed as a person." Chasing the Perfect is especially relevant in our times as interest in graphic, industrial, and architectural design moves more and more into mainstream culture. Each of the 10 chapters features Ilyin's accessible and often hilarious writing, which is highlighted with a broad range of images--some quite unexpected--from the designed world around us. An excerpt: "The choices that designers and architects have made in the last hundred years silently mold us, silently direct us through the tunnels of Penn Station or up to the fifty-third floor of the Sears Tower. But they direct more than our movements. They direct us to notice one thing and not another, to value one thing over another, to identify with one thing rather than with another. Modernism, the guts of it, the strength of it, the egotistic beauty of it, carries with it effects we did not expect and fosters attitudes about ourselves and others that may have been dandy in a utopia, but do little good in our world. Why have we not changed this idea, moved on with our thinking? For even after the disbanding of the Bauhaus, the disintegration of the International Style, the exhausting of postmodernism, we're all still chasing the perfect."
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"A bracing look at the upsides and shortcomings of the designer's urge to create perfection in...post 9-11 America." -- Glen Helfand, CMYK
"An exciting gem of a book full of existential insights." -- Kalle Lasn, author of Culture Jam and Design Anarchy
"Those who would think that design writing and poetry have little in common have not yet read Natalia Ilyin." -- Michael Bierut, Pentagram
Ilyin’s design commentaries will pique the interest of anyone who is serious about design ideology and theology. -- Steven Heller, Eye Magazine, Spring, 2006
"An exciting gem of a book full of existential insights." -- Kalle Lasn, author of Culture Jam and Design Anarchy
"Those who would think that design writing and poetry have little in common have not yet read Natalia Ilyin." -- Michael Bierut, Pentagram
Ilyin’s design commentaries will pique the interest of anyone who is serious about design ideology and theology. -- Steven Heller, Eye Magazine, Spring, 2006
From the Publisher
From Communication Arts:
This book is not what you think. Yes, graphic designer Natalia Ilyin is erudite and keenly insightful. Yes, she waxes eloquently about the state of design in the twenty-first century (and she goes back a bit too). But she is also vulnerable, which is really why this autobiographical book is so worth reading. The book is her story, not a lecture. She trips and falls but realizes amazing things about the world of design in the process, and she confides with honesty and humor what it is she now knows. Written designer to designer, Ilyin understands what touches our hearts and our minds. Chasing the Perfect is about our failure to embrace our whole selves. It's about obsessing on unattainable purity, while denying the value--and reality--of the messiness of life. Ilyin seamlessly weaves often ironic and hilarious tales into powerful metaphors. Her highly creative identical twin Russian aunts have identical fingerprints but are polar opposite personalities; one is a modernist, the other is an eclectic, yet together they make a whole. We see them in ourselves. Ilyin, an ex-New Yorker who now lives on an island near Seattle, drives her beat-up ancient van (shaggy dog in tow) to Redmond, Washington to give a lecture on The Home to engineers at "a huge software company" (guess which one) and sees the irony of being chosen to talk on a subject she has yet to fully consider. While touring their soulless Home of the Future (where everything is automated), she channels Ernest Becker: "The great tragedy of our lives is that the major question of our existence is never put by us--it is put by personal and social impulsions for us..." An epiphany for Ilyin on what makes a home--design-wise. I will not say more because I would not want to spoil this for you. If you are a thinking designer, and an empathetic person, you must read this book. That's all there is to it.--DK Holland
From One Plus One Equals Three:
This book is a first for me: a humorous book about design. In fact let's say that again: a humorous book about design. A very rare commodity indeed. I enjoyed this book so much I read it in one sitting (it's also not a large book at 128 pages) and it's a thoroughly delightful read. Ilyin has a graceful and terribly witty way of writing. Chasing the Perfect is a personal reflection on Modernism's influence on the teaching of design and its practice....Chasing the Perfect is really a tragi-comedy. But as any comic knows,much comedy is rooted in personal tragedy - so stand by for the occasional hearty laugh, quite a few chuckles and a constant 'smile on the mind' whilst reading Ilyin's graceful ode... The book is also much more than merely a 'funny read' - it's quite a solid critique of Modernist principles and their influence on Western culture. Just try to stop smiling when you read Chasing the Perfect - I couldn't.(Especially the bit about the glowing Modernist box house).
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a brilliantly witty and deeply personal guide to life,
This review is from: Chasing The Perfect: Thoughts On Modernist Design In Our Time (Hardcover)
I recommend this book wholeheartedly. I am a theoretical physicist and a writer, so what do I know about design theory and ironic distance? Nothing. But this book is not for designers alone. Rather, it is nothing short of a brilliantly witty and deeply personal guide to life, a heartfelt beacon on the darkling plain "where ignorant armies clash by night" showing us the way to a more joyous and messier life. I came to this book because I'm a fan of Natalia Ilyin's earlier book "Blonde Like Me," which just like this book, is also chock full of fabulous writing and heart-warming insights.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Book report,
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This review is from: Chasing The Perfect: Thoughts On Modernist Design In Our Time (Hardcover)
I'm finishing up with "Chasing The Perfect" by Natalia Ilyin and when I'm done, I'm going to read it over again.
In my periodic browsing of the Graphic Arts section at B&N I became a statistic and fell for the cover. Bauhaus period minimalism...always gets me. Hmmmm, words on Modernist design from a nutty professor at RSD? Cool. Went home, logged on, pressed a button and waited... She's talking about the influence of the "Modernist" aesthetic on our design sense, on our basic human qualities and the effect on society. The unspoken idiom: the crafty subliminal itching that keeps us moving, to desire the next best thing...the perfect. Here's a hint: "Moo". Scholarly, eloquent, silly and self deprecating. Heady subjects made tangible, this is my kind of read! So many levels of satisfaction, all feeding the creative spirit. This book is an epiphany for delinquent designers who are questioning conformity...that would be me. Besides the stated subject of examining why we strive towards ever elusive perfection and the resulting mess...Ilyn uses personal example and anecdote, much of which serendipitously occurs in locales I currently inhabit (NY), as well as the landscapes of mind I travel. Anxiety, doubt, depression, hunger, bewilderment, excitement, joy, anger, nincompoopery. Ilyn wrote about herself, but she wrote for ME! The insights are piled high, personal and potent. Plus there are pictures! I have been improved for having read: "Chasing The Perfect". I would recommend for anyone with a brain.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellence All the Way Around,
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This review is from: Chasing The Perfect: Thoughts On Modernist Design In Our Time (Hardcover)
In ordinary hands, modernist design theory might be a dry and dusty topic, but Natalia Ilyin brings it to life and makes it fascinating. She draws you in with beautiful writing, humor, and razor-sharp perceptions; and along the way, she delves deeply into art -- and into life itself. It took courage to stand up to the current mode of design education. As a writer, Ilyin chased the perfect, and she caught it. And she did it with insight and grace.
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