The Design Observer Twenty





2013 | 50 Covers Selections

2011-2017 Winners
2017 Books
2017 Covers
2016 Books
2016 Covers
2015 Books
2015 Covers
2014 Books
2014 Covers
2013 Books
2013 Covers
2012 Books
2012 Covers
2011 Books
2011 Covers

AIGA Archives
9 Artists
9 Artists
AUTHOR: Bartholomew Ryan
PUBLISHER: Walker Art Center
ART DIRECTOR: Emmet Byrne
DESIGNER: Andrea Hyde
DESIGN FIRM: Walker Art Center design studio


A Guide for the Perplexed
A Guide for the Perplexed
AUTHOR: Dara Horn
PUBLISHER: W.W. Norton & Company
ART DIRECTOR: Ingsu Liu
DESIGNER: Jaya Miceli


A Map of Tulsa
A Map of Tulsa
AUTHOR: Benjamin Lytal
PUBLISHER: Penguin
ART DIRECTOR: Paul Buckley, Roseanne Serra
DESIGNER: Jason Ramirez


Abraham Cruzvillegas: The Autoconstrucción Suites
Abraham Cruzvillegas: The Autoconstrucción Suites
AUTHOR: Clara Kim
PUBLISHER: Walker Art Center
ART DIRECTOR: Emmet Byrne
DESIGNER: Dante Carlos
DESIGN FIRM: Walker Art Center design studio


All Souls
All Souls
AUTHOR: Javier Marías
PUBLISHER: Vintage
ART DIRECTOR: John Gall
DESIGNER: Katya Mezhibovskaya


Ametsuchi
Ametsuchi
AUTHOR: Rinko Kawauchi
PUBLISHER: Aperture
DESIGNER: Hans Gremmen


Apology
Apology
AUTHOR: Jon Pineda
PUBLISHER: Milkweed Editions
ART DIRECTOR: Brad D. Norr
DESIGNER: Brad D. Norr
DESIGN FIRM: Brad Norr Design


Aristotle and Black Drama
Aristotle and Black Drama
AUTHOR: Patrice D. Rankine
PUBLISHER: Baylor University Press
DESIGNER: Tim Green
DESIGN FIRM: Faceout Studio


Beatles VS. Stones
Beatles VS. Stones
AUTHOR: John McMillian
PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster
ART DIRECTOR: Jackie Seow
DESIGNER: Jason Heuer


Berlin Alexanderplatz
Berlin Alexanderplatz
AUTHOR: Alfred Doblin
PUBLISHER: Everest
ART DIRECTOR: Utku Lomlu


Blind Field
Blind Field
AUTHOR: Edited by Tumelo Mosaka and Irene V. Small; with contributions by Luiza Interlenghi, Sérgio Bruno Martins, and Cristiana Tejo
PUBLISHER: Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
ART DIRECTOR: Cheryl Towler Weese
DESIGNER: Silja Hillmann, J. Brad Sturm
DESIGN FIRM: Studio Blue


Brave Genius
Brave Genius
AUTHOR: Sean B. Carroll
PUBLISHER: Crown Publishing Group, Random House
ART DIRECTOR: Christopher Brand
DESIGNER: Elena Giavaldi
DESIGN FIRM: Crown Publishing Group


Buck
Buck
AUTHOR: MK Asante
PUBLISHER: Spiegel and Grau (Random House)
ART DIRECTOR: Greg Mollica
DESIGNER: Kevin Brainard


DOCTOR SLEEP
DOCTOR SLEEP
AUTHOR: KING, STEPHEN
PUBLISHER: Scribner
ART DIRECTOR: Tal Goretsky
DESIGNER: Tal Goretsky


Elders (hardcover)
Elders (hardcover)
AUTHOR: Ryan McIlvain
PUBLISHER: Crown Publishing Group, Random House
ART DIRECTOR: Christopher Brand
DESIGNER: Ben Wiseman
DESIGN FIRM: Crown Publishing Group


F
F
AUTHOR: Franz Wright
PUBLISHER: Alfred A. Knopf
ART DIRECTOR: Peter A. Andersen
DESIGNER: Betty Lew


Fahrenheit 451, 60th Anniversary
Fahrenheit 451, 60th Anniversary
AUTHOR: Ray Bradbury
PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster
ART DIRECTOR: Jackie Seow
DESIGNER: Matt Owen


Interracial Couples, Intimacy, and Therapy
Interracial Couples, Intimacy, and Therapy
AUTHOR: Kyle D. Killian
PUBLISHER: Columbia University Press
ART DIRECTOR: Julia Kushnirsky
DESIGNER: Jordan Wannemacher


Janelle Lynch: Barcelona
Janelle Lynch: Barcelona
AUTHOR: Janelle Lynch
PUBLISHER: Radius Books
ART DIRECTOR: David Chickey
DESIGNER: David Chickey
DESIGN FIRM: Radius Books


Night Film
Night Film
AUTHOR: Marisha
PUBLISHER: Pessl
ART DIRECTOR: Paolo Pepe
DESIGNER: John Gall
DESIGN FIRM: John Gall Design


Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
AUTHOR: George Orwell
PUBLISHER: Penguin Books
ART DIRECTOR: Jim Stoddart
DESIGNER: David Pearson
DESIGN FIRM: Type as Image


No One Here But All Of Us
No One Here But All Of Us
AUTHOR: Ramona Ausubel
PUBLISHER: Riverhead Books
ART DIRECTOR: Helen Yentus
DESIGNER: Jon Gray
DESIGN FIRM: gray318


Penguin Drop Caps Series
Penguin Drop Caps Series
AUTHOR: Herman Melville; E. Nesbit; John O'Hara
PUBLISHER: Penguin
ART DIRECTOR: Paul Buckley
DESIGNER: Jessica Hische and Paul Buckley


Personae
Personae
AUTHOR: Sergio De La Pava
PUBLISHER: The University of Chicago Press
ART DIRECTOR: Jill Shimabukuro
DESIGNER: Isaac Tobin
DESIGN FIRM: The University of Chicago Press


Powers of time
Powers of time
AUTHOR: David Lapoujade
PUBLISHER: n-1 edições
ART DIRECTOR: Ricardo Muniz Fernandes
DESIGNER: Érico Peretta
DESIGN FIRM: n-1 edições


Psycho-Sexual
Psycho-Sexual
AUTHOR: David Greven
PUBLISHER: University of Texas Press
DESIGNER: Lindsay Starr


Salinger
Salinger
AUTHOR: David Shields and Shane Salerno
PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster
ART DIRECTOR: Jackie Seow
DESIGNER: Christopher Lin


Shady Characters
Shady Characters
AUTHOR: Keith Houston
PUBLISHER: W.W. Norton & Company
ART DIRECTOR: Ingsu Liu
DESIGNER: Jason Booher


Simpler
Simpler
AUTHOR: Cass R. Sunstein
PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster
ART DIRECTOR: Jason Heuer
DESIGNER: Jason Heuer


Solution 247–261: Love
Solution 247–261: Love
AUTHOR: Ingo Niermann, ed.
PUBLISHER: Sternberg Press
DESIGN FIRM: Zak Group


The Aesthetic Brain
The Aesthetic Brain
AUTHOR: Anjan Chatterjee M.D.
PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press
ART DIRECTOR: Brady McNamara
DESIGNER: Thomas Ng
DESIGN FIRM: Thomas Ng, Inc.


The Art of Lying Down
The Art of Lying Down
AUTHOR: Bernd Brunner
PUBLISHER: Melville House
DESIGNER: Christopher King


The Beatles Solo
The Beatles Solo
AUTHOR: Mat Snow
PUBLISHER: Race Point Publishing
ART DIRECTOR: Brad D. Norr
DESIGNER: Brad D. Norr
DESIGN FIRM: Brad Norr Design


The Black Cat
The Black Cat
AUTHOR: J.M. Geever
PUBLISHER: Fiction Advocate
DESIGNER: Matt Tanner
DESIGN FIRM: www.matt-tanner.com


The Book of Heaven
The Book of Heaven
AUTHOR: Patricia Storace
PUBLISHER: Pantheon Books
ART DIRECTOR: Peter Mendelsund
DESIGNER: Linda Huang
DESIGN FIRM: Pantheon Books


The Dinner
The Dinner
AUTHOR: Herman Koch
PUBLISHER: Crown Publishing Group, Random House
ART DIRECTOR: Christopher Brand
DESIGNER: Christopher Brand
DESIGN FIRM: Crown Publishing Group


The Empty Chair
The Empty Chair
AUTHOR: Bruce Wagner
PUBLISHER: Blue Rider Press
DESIGNER: Gregg Kulick


The Feel Good Factor (iyi hisset)
The Feel Good Factor (iyi hisset)
AUTHOR: Patrick Holford
PUBLISHER: Dogan Egmont
DESIGNER: Geray Gencer
DESIGN FIRM: Geray Gencer


The Last Winter of Dani Lancing
The Last Winter of Dani Lancing
AUTHOR: P. D. Viner
PUBLISHER: Crown Publishing Group, Random House
ART DIRECTOR: Christopher Brand
DESIGNER: Oliver Munday
DESIGN FIRM: Crown Publishing Group


The Narrow Circle
The Narrow Circle
AUTHOR: Nathan Hoks
PUBLISHER: Penguin
ART DIRECTOR: Paul Buckley
DESIGNER: Alison Forner


The Return
The Return
AUTHOR: Michael Gruber
PUBLISHER: Henry Holt
ART DIRECTOR: Rick Pracher
DESIGNER: Christopher Sergio
DESIGN FIRM: Christopher Sergio Design


The Story of My Purity
The Story of My Purity
AUTHOR: Francesco Pacifico
PUBLISHER: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ART DIRECTOR: Charlotte Strick
DESIGNER: Jason Ramirez
DESIGN FIRM: That and This


The United States of Paranoia
The United States of Paranoia
AUTHOR: Jesse Walker
PUBLISHER: Harper Collins
DESIGNER: Jarrod Taylor


The Waste Land
The Waste Land
AUTHOR: T. S. Eliot
PUBLISHER: Liveright Publishing Company
ART DIRECTOR: Albert Tang
DESIGNER: Jamie Keenan


This and Other Plays
This and Other Plays
AUTHOR: Melissa Gibson
PUBLISHER: Theatre Communications Group
DESIGNER: Helen Yentus and Jason Booher
DESIGN FIRM: Yentus & Booher


This Close
This Close
AUTHOR: Jessica Francis Kane
PUBLISHER: Graywolf Press
ART DIRECTOR: Katie Dublinski
DESIGNER: Kyle G. Hunter


Truman Capote Series: In Cold Blood, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Complete Stories, Portraits and Observations
Truman Capote Series: In Cold Blood, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Complete Stories, Portraits and Observations
AUTHOR: Truman Capote
PUBLISHER: Modern Library (Random House)
ART DIRECTOR: Greg Mollica
DESIGNER: Eric White


Unknown Pleasures
Unknown Pleasures
AUTHOR: Peter Hook
PUBLISHER: It Books / HarperCollins Publishers
ART DIRECTOR: Richard Ljoenes
DESIGN FIRM: HarperCollins Publishers


What The Family Needed
What The Family Needed
AUTHOR: Steven Amsterdam
PUBLISHER: Riverhead Books
ART DIRECTOR: Lynn Buckley and Helen Yentus
DESIGNER: Jennifer Heuer
DESIGN FIRM: Studio Jennifer Heuer


Word-Gate
Word-Gate
AUTHOR: Poems by Edwin Thumboo
PUBLISHER: Self-published (500+ copies)
ART DIRECTOR: Mark D'Oliveira
DESIGNER: Mark D'Oliveira
DESIGN FIRM: Mark D'Oliveira





Observed


Is the future of refugee housing permanence?

It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby,” explores Picasso‘s legacy through a feminist lens, asking if, when, and how modern audiences can separate the artist’s work from his infamously misogynistic behavior.

Quite possibly the most fascinating job opportunity in design right now.

Jessica Helfand on using AI as a tool to reverse-engineer a historical narrative.

Rethinking the city.

Rethinking the planet.

The problems of the user interface, one streaming service at a time. More here.

Urban design, with safety in mind. And that includes parks.

Think design thinking is over? Think again.

A museum renames a vegetable still life by Van Gogh that identified the wrong kind of allium.

Graphic design and typography obsessives—look no further!

“The challenge isn’t just that our systems default to keeping the “unlike” out,” notes Jens Martin Skibsted, “but we are, rather, in need of an interconnected worldview that appreciates the existence of other realities and contexts.”

Neville Brody’s new monograph (his THIRD)—covering his work for Nike, Coca-Cola, Tate Modern and Channel 4, as well as various informational graphics and magazine editorials—will be published next month by Thames&Hudson.

Milan Design Week wants to know your most memorable experience. Ours is easily Shaped by Water, an immersive experience exploring water as a source of inspiration for design. Co-created by Ivy Ross and her design team in collaboration with the water, light, and sound artist, Lachlan Turczan. Vote for your favorite here.

Non-profit design advocacy agency Where are the Black Designers? (WATBD?) has announced a year-long partnership with digital product studio Ustwo.

“He was mulling a career in graphic design when, at 17, he saw a searing image that would change the course of his life.” The American photographer Kwame Brathwaite has died. Considered the catalyst fo the “black is beautiful” movement in the 1960s, Braithwaite’s career spanned art, music, and more. He was 85.

The subtley, simplicity, and curious symbolism of the humble serif.

After a career of looking at pictures, she is now making them. George Gendron talks to Kathy Ryan, longtime director of photography at The New York Times Magazine.

COLLINS co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Brian Collins and co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Leland Maschmeyer will speak on branding and creativity at OFFF Barcelona this weekend.

“I can’t imagine any person with a background in graphic design made that thing without a committee of bland politicians sanding away its edges until they felt safe enough to unveil that to the public.” Behold: Logogate!

Black designers, curators, and more.

How do you stop deep-sea trawlers from harming ecosystems? Commission 10-ton marble sculptures and place them on the ocean floor, of course.

For ten years, Matt Needle has reimagined every best picture award nominee by redesigning their posters.

Coca-Cola...and art?



Jobs | June 08