Design by Nature: Using Universal Forms and Principles in Design (Voices That Matter) [Paperback]

Maggie Macnab (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2011 | Series: Voices That Matter

In Design by Nature: Using Universal Forms and Principles in Design, author Maggie Macnab takes you on an intimate and eclectic journey examining the unending versatility of nature, showing how to uncover nature’s ingenuity and use it to create beautiful and compelling designed communications.

Written for designers and creative thinkers of all types, this book will guide you through a series of unexpected a-ha! moments that describe relationships among nature, art, science, technology, and design. Through explanation and example, you will learn about natural processes, consisting of everyday patterns and shapes that are often taken for granted, but that can be used effectively in visual messaging. Explore the principles all human beings intuitively use to understand the world and learn to incorporate nature’s patterns and shapes into your work for more meaningful design.

By recognizing and appreciating a broad range of relationships, you can create more aesthetic and effective design, building communications that encompass the universal experience of being part of nature, and that are relevant to a worldwide audience.

• Teaches how to understand and integrate the essential processes of nature’s patterns and shapes in design

• Includes key concepts, learning objectives, definitions, and exercises to help you put what you learn into practice

• Features a foreword by Debbie Millman and reviews and discussions of practice and process by some of the world’s leading designers, including Milton Glaser, Stefan Sagmeister, and Ellen Lupton

• Includes profiles of street artist Banksy, creative director and author Kenya Hara, and typographical designer Erik Spiekermann

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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Exclusive Bonus Content

Bob Dylan and Universal Principles (Click photo for excerpt)

Pattern Example in a Logo (Click photo for excerpt)

Shape as an Informational Component (Click photo for excerpt)

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About the Author

Maggie Macnab has been creating iconic logos and graphic design since the early 1980s, fueled by her passion for nature and her love of design and the creative problem-solving process. Maggie’s work has been recognized by Communication Arts, Print magazine, Step-by-Step Graphics, the American Advertising Federation, the New York Art Directors Club, and the AIGA. She speaks at conferences and schools in the United States and abroad, has owned Macnab Design since 1981, and teaches design theory at the University of New Mexico and Santa Fe University of Art and Design. She is the author of Decoding Design: Understanding and Using Symbols in Visual Communication.

Visit www.designbynaturebook.com for additional exercises and information.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: New Riders; 1 edition (October 3, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321747763
• ISBN-13: 978-0321747761
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 0.7 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #424,138 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Maggie Macnab has been recognized as an innovative visual communicator for over three decades. Her work has been published in international and national design industry publications and received honors throughout her career. She teaches design theory at the University of New Mexico, The Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe Community College, and Santa Fe University of Art and Design, and is past president of the Communication Artists of New Mexico. Maggie speaks for conferences (she's a two-time speaker for TEDx), guest lectures and gives workshops for schools and groups, and consults on developing cohesively strategic and creative identities with clients. Her first design theory book "Decoding Design: Understanding and Using Symbols in Visual Communication" (F+W, 2008), won awards and accolades. "Design by Nature" (Peachpit Press, 2012) is the recipient of the 2012 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award for Non-Fiction. "Design by Nature" is available in English, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Korean and Spanish, and will be released in Japanese in 2013.

Visit www.designbynaturebook.com for her speaking schedule and other news. More information is also available on www.decodingdesign.com or www.macnabdesign.com.

Author photo: ABQ the Magazine/Liz Lopez

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn why Nature is our touchstone. December 5, 2011

By Robert L. Peters

Format:Paperback

"My father taught me that nature was beautiful, powerful, and mysterious--and always to be respected," writes author Maggie Macnab. "Nature was the source of all that is and an infinitely creative and patient mentor." A longtime designer and teacher herself, she delivers the theme of her latest book with eager sincerity: "Nature is the one touchstone all human beings relate and respond to... conscious observation is all it takes... the most reliable, available, and truthful mentor is right outside your door. Nature has an answer for any question you ask if you just relearn how to hear its answer."

The title of this remarkably captivating design theory book clearly states its purpose, and the book's structure builds on the author's premise that "You already know nature in your heart because you are nature... most people simply have a case of modern-day amnesia caused by out-of-sync human systems that we are brought up in."

Three sections ("Memory: Remembering What We Know; Matter: Understand and Create; and, Motion: The Experience Enhanced") are broken into nine chapters, each of which clearly lays out key concepts, learning objectives, definitions, and exercises to help put learning into practice (this serves to position the book ideally as an educational primer). Beyond the content of the information-rich 300 pages (a visual feast, with hundreds of intriguing entry-points) innumerable additional resources and external links are provided to further empower the reader.

Maggie writes with a bold confidence born of experience, a deep understanding of her subject matter, and a passion for sharing the "why" behind nature-inspired form. As in her previous book, 'Decoding Design', she draws from a remarkably wide and unexpectedly varied array of sources--from biomimicry to Jungian analysis, Gestalt psychology, Euclidian geometry, ancient petroglyphs, tessellations, Fibonacci sequences, Wabi-sabi, the grunge movement, and street art--to name but a sampling. Case studies and graphic examples include contributions by the likes of Andy Goldsworthy, Banksy, Erik Spiekerman, Kenya Hara, Milton Glaser, Marian Bantjes, and many, many more. Through it all, she weaves together a persuasive narrative to support the premise that "The appreciation of beauty is universal" and that in almost all instances, human design ingenuity can be traced to "natural" roots.

In her Foreword to the book, Debbie Millman writes "`Design by Nature' is a revelation. It is both a book and a bible of sorts: It investigates and illuminates the symbiotic relationships in nature, art, science, economics, philosophy, technology, and design." It would be difficult for me to improve on this summary--in my view, this book will appeal to anyone interested in understanding our species' deep connections to nature, and specifically the relationships between nature and designed form-giving of every kind. A must-buy for design students, clearly even the most senior and established of design practitioners (of every ilk) will advance their knowledge by reading it.

My advice: buy this book today at your local bookseller (or here on Amazon.com :-).

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye Opening Book That Changed Me As A Designer December 21, 2011

By Jacob Van Ness

Format:Paperback

As designers we tend to be very aware of the environment around us. Unfortunately sometimes that environment becomes much more of a man made one. We tend to forget to look out the window, step out the door and notice where design really all started... in nature. Design by Nature does a wonderful job of opening our eyes as designers to what nature truly has to offer in the realm of design.

Author of Design by Nature, Maggie Macnab is a well recognized designer who started in the early 1980s using her love of nature and design to create some iconic logo designs. Recognized by some of the biggest publications in the industry, Communications Arts, Print, Step by Step Graphics and the New York Art Directors Club, Maggie has a very keen sense of the world around her, especially nature. She wrote Design by Nature to help designers and creative thinkers see what they have been missing, hoping they would have a few "a-ha" moments.

Nature is full of patterns. These patterns have been there for millions and millions of years. They are part of us, even if we have forgotten they are. Design by Nature helps us remember and shows us how these patterns from nature can make use better communicators and designers. From the pattern of how cells form to protect an embryo to the spiral pattern of our universe itself, it is all part of our life and all ties to how we design. Maggie does an amazing job of reawakening us as designers with easy to understand examples and great exercises at the end of each section. You don't just read about it, you have the chance to apply it right away with these exercises. Making it even more clear just how much is around us and how we really need to look towards it for inspiration.

Maggie includes a wonderful look at a variety of different designers in the industry and how they find inspiration, think projects through and create compelling designs. Each one felt like a chance to get to know these designers a little more. From Von Glitschka and his Samurai Guppy design to Mark Brooks and his Biopolitan poster designs. There are many others that are just as inspiring to read about. It was also great to have the chance to see Maggie's own design process with the inclusion of her projects such as the identity design for ISTEC (Ibero-American Science and Technology Education Consortium). All of these elements in the books show real world application to give strength to Design by Nature.

Design by Nature is not light reading and it is not meant to be. It is meant to really reach down and grab a hold of you as a designer. Shake you a little and wake you up about the importance of nature around you. This book will make you think and in turn it will make you a better designer. After reading this book, you will see the world a little bit different the next time you look out the window or the next time you walk out the door. To me that is a wonderful thing, as nature is so important to us as human beings and it is there to teach us every day. It has a lot to offer and Design by Nature by Maggie Macnab reminds us that.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The unending versatility of nature December 7, 2011

By David Airey

Format:Paperback

If you liked Maggie's previous book, Decoding Design, you'll love this. Design by Nature includes plenty of exercises to get your creative juices flowing, and features guest designer studies from Stefan Sagmeister, Von Glitschka, Erik Spiekermann, Debbie Millman, Ellen Lupton, and many more. It takes an in-depth look at relationships between nature, design, economics, geometry, and art.

In Maggie's own words, "This book is a reminder that there is no system more powerful, more creative, or more truthful than nature. Acknowledge it. Appreciate it. Use it. It belongs to you, and you belong to it."

Well-worth a read for designers and creatives of all types.