Customer Reviews

Design: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I read a few books from the Very Short Introduction (VSI) series such as Law, Economics and Logic, and found them to be clear, systematic, packed with information, and fitting of their titles.
That and curiosity led me to read this book on design. Instead of being interesting and enlightening, I found this book to be boring, poorly written, and confusing.

I'm not very a good writer and that really ought to stop me from making any criticism. But then I thought it is important that others gets a preview of this book before they buy it. The problem with the writing is that it uses many long and big words that carry little meaning, words that are abstract and can mean a number of things, and when crammed together along with five six other abstract words, can mean nothing and everything, e.g. "`Communications' is here used as a shorthand term to cover the vast array of two-dimensional material that plays such an extensive role in modern life."
Then there are those strange metaphors, that I suppose make sense but are really forced, e.g. "design should be the crucial anvil on which the human environment, in all its detail, is shaped and constructed for the betterment and delight of all." of all things, why an anvil, why a monolithic piece of metal that is the antithesis of design. And this is irony.
As you slowly go through the paragraphs, you glean an occasional insight, a fitting example, a powerful well phrased argument, and you wonder if you cut out all the crap in between, all the redundancies and tautologies, all the fluff, whether this wouldn't be a decent book.

At the end of the book however, you realize the answer is no. Of the important, useful information, such as the fundamentals of good design, a list of factors most important to good design, a monographs on some interesting topics such as object design, ergonomics, typography, the use of materials in design, design as related to the visual, auditory and haptic, and so much so much more, are all absent or lacking in this book.

A good question to ask yourself at the end of reading a book is what have I learned. For this one, I doubt anything.

Yeah, disappointing. Some interesting thoughts here and there but nothing well developed. An illustrations and photographs -- seeming pretty important in a book on design -- are haphazard and poorly done. Too bad, I was erally looking forward to this.

What's not to love about a college text which is VERY short?! Actually this was one of my daughter's college textbooks, not mine. Since her prof required it, I assume it is a good book on design.