The Industrial Design Reader (Paperback)

~ Carma Gorman (Editor) "To come to causes nearer at hand which produced the International Exhibition, and placed in this country that first of the long series of Exhibitions,..." (more)
Key Phrases: consumer engineering, black designers, product semantics, New York, United States, William Morris (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

With input from a diverse range of industry experts/designers, theorists, critics, historians, and curators, this anthology is the first to focus exclusively on the history of industrial design. This pioneering guide traces the entire history of industrial design, industrialization, and mass production from 1850 until today. Sixty comprehensive essays written by designers, theorists, advertisers, historians, and curators detail the most crucial movements, issues, and accomplishments of industrial design. They combine news reports on the very first design workshops, aesthetic manifestos, lectures, and more from the biggest names in the field: William Morris, Henry Dreyfuss, and Victor Papanek, to name only a few. The Industrial Design Reader is an excellent resource for educators, students, and practicing designers.

From the Publisher

A Time Machine for Industrial Design

Carma R. Gorman Brings Back to Life Familiar Voices in New Anthology on Industrial Design History

Remember Richard Nixon’s address to the nation during the energy crisis of 1973? Industrial design history is chock-full of speeches and statements that couldn’t feel timelier in light of today’s issues. Yet to get to these sources, readers often have to shuffle through dimly lit library floors or dusty newspaper archives. THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN READER, a new book edited by Carma R. Gorman, promises relief to designers and historians who want to connect with their field’s rich past. Gorman has assembled sixty primary-source essays from 150 years of industrial design history— providing access to some of the most memorable and hard-to-find documents of this fascinating field. THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN READER is co-published by Allworth Press and the Design Management Institute.

While many objects of industrial design have become icons, until now, a systematic attempt has never been made to feature the speeches, articles, and comments that have fueled (and often critiqued) these creations. THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN READER is the first anthology to focus exclusively on the last 150 years of industrial design history, including the infrequently covered time period from World War II to the present. The selections not only include writings by designers, but also essays by the politicians, home economists, advertisers, social critics, manufacturers, and artists who influenced their work. Selections also include hard-to-find documents such as Henry Cole’s "On the International Results of the Exhibition of 1851," The Program of the Ulm Hochschule für Gestaltung, and Marcy Babbitt’s 1935 interview with designer Belle Kogan.

Many of the essays in the book deal with timely issues such as environmentalism, gender, race, and global design, including: * Victor Papanek’s "Design for the Real World" * R. Buckminster Fuller’s "Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth" * David H. Rice’s "What Color is Design?" * Kenichi Ohmae’s "Global Products"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Allworth Press; illustrated edition edition (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581153104
• ISBN-13: 978-1581153101
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #334,947 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Provides a fine selection of writings, February 3, 2004

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This anthology is the first to focus on the history of industrial design, providing essays written by designers, policy makers, critics and historians on the topic. From the introduction of industrial design in the 1850s to its present mass production, this provides a fine selection of writings by Nader, Fuller, Wright and other leaders in the field.

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ye Olde English for today's American reader, October 11, 2005

By	A. G. "AG" (NC) - See all my reviews

Even though the information in this book is valuable, you will first need to take a crash course on 19th century British English the way it was used back then. The book is hard to read for someone who speaks American English. I had to re-read articles, especially the oldest ones. Trying to figure out what the point was.
I would recommend someone to completely rewrite the articles, preserving the message and translating it for the modern man.