Tibor Kalman: Perverse Optimist (Hardcover)

by Michael Bierut (Editor), Peter Hall (Editor) "for my children who have made me change my mind about everything..." (more)
Key Phrases: jive modernism, tibor kalman, design history, New York, Emily Oberman, Carol Bokuniewicz (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
From his introductory notes explaining the book's subtitle, Kalman demonstrates a clear contrariness to the common understanding of the role of graphic design. From window dresser and shopping bag designer of the nascent Barnes & Noble in the 1970s to founder and leader of the award-winning M & Co. design firm in the 1980s to his revolutionary anti-selling aesthetic as founding editor-in-chief at Benetton's Colors magazine, Kalman has sought out roles unfamiliar to him and done them in his own way. This hasn't stopped him from developing one of the best-known and most influential bodies of work in the field. If all this monograph did were to convey this complex personality?as it does in the more than a dozen essays by and interviews with former clients and co-workers?it would be a grand success. But, more than that, it surveys important work from his entire career in more than 600 illustrations, all thoughtfully captioned. Essential for all academic libraries, this addictively browseable tribute is also recommended for larger public libraries.?Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From The New Yorker
"A witty, eclectic tome of images and writings-half catalogue, half manifesto- spanning the career of thc graphic designer Tibor Kahlman, the man behind Benetton's Colors magazine; a Communist-theme apartment building called Red Square that hastened gentrification on the Lower East Side while seeming to subvert it; and the new Forty-Second Street, for which he claims full responsibility. Kalman creates powerful, unprecedented, sometimes haphazard imagery (Ronald Reagan with AIDS, a saint having an orgasm), but always for commercial purposes (to sell sweaters)."

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 420 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press (November 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568981503
• ISBN-13: 978-1568981505
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #910,669 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even better when you re-read it!, February 13, 2001

By	Ahmad Jordan "Ahmad Jordan" (Bufalo, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Tibor Kalman, Perverse Optimist (Paperback)

I left a review of the hardcover a long time ago. I'm reviewing the paperback because I actually bought a 2nd copy of the book (one to keep untouched and the other to read several times). And now that I've gone through the book for the umpteenth time, I want to add more thoughts to my last review...

I'm begining to realize that the true magic behind the work of Tibor is that it's very personal. Tibor's work searches for some human quality inside us that it can appeal to. It relates to us as imperfect, informal human beings. Unlike most design today that is either self-indulgent or polished off and buttoned up, the work in this book seems to have a "come as you are" invitation to it. This was Tibor's gift. This was his major contribution to the work done in this book. As you surf through all 400+ pages you'll see that in the beginning his work was design "having something to sell". But suddenly his work detours and becomes design "having something to say."

The best part about this book is that it brings us inside the minds of all the people Tibor worked with, worked for (clients) and worked against. The eye opener is that their was a lot of pain that went into the production of this work. You learn that Tibor's passion became a blessing and curse for those he colloborated with. But you begin to learn that these "mistakes, misunderstandings and mis-comprehensions" are often an unexpected ingredient in producing fresh and interesting work.

I encourage this book to anyone who wants to see a new perspective on graphic design and the industry. But more importantly, it's a motivation for us to re-evaluate our own perspective on the industry.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most inspiring book in my library, May 28, 1999

By	Ahmad Jordan "Ahmad Jordan" (Bufalo, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have tons of design books! Too many books! Of all the books this one travels with me everywhere I go just in case I need a little inspiration. Tibor and his pack of designers I believe have defined what design and communication is all about. They have pushed ideas to the point of rare novelty. With many of the designs in this book I can see that M&Co never stops asking the greatest of all creative questions: "What if?" There is only one thing I hate about the book - It makes me second guess everything that I do. Is it orginal? Is it "What if" enough? Am I following the creative line that is widely walked or have I grown enough spine to stray off the beaten path?

...Or am I just full of s**t?

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If a man smiles at you..., April 6, 2004

By	Ana Ramos (Lisbon, Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tibor Kalman, Perverse Optimist (Paperback)

I first heard of Tibor Kalman while browsing a copy of "Interview", just to learn that it was a tribute. Sometime later, I found a smiling bookcover looking at me. I bought it. I was waiting for the bus and started to read it... I could not put it down again. I read textes, subtitles, infos, even the small characters of the work reproduced. It was not enough. It made me regain the somehow lost faith in design, showing me how humour, money and a cause could be combined together with surprising results.
Do not be fooled: this book goes beyond the cult of the author's personality; it shows brief, concept and ways of thinking which are useful to everyone, not only designers and students.
Although I knew it from the beginning, in the end I had tears in my eyes, because this man was gone and could no longer make our world a better place.