- Publisher
- Lars Muller
- Published
- 2007
- Shelf
- design: Thinking
- ISBN
- 9783037781050
Thinking
Designing Design
Kenya Hara
The art director of Muji on emptiness, on the senses beyond sight, and on design as a way of making the ordinary visible again.
Why read it
Hara's idea of emptiness is not minimalism. A empty vessel invites what a full one forbids, and that is why Muji sells an absence rather than a style. The chapters on the Haptic and Senseware exhibitions are the best writing there is on designing for touch, weight and smell instead of for the eye.
Why own it
It is a slow book with an enormous amount of white paper, and it rewards being picked up when you are stuck rather than read in order. Few design books change your standard of what counts as finished; this one does.
Who it is for
Designers whose work has become busy, and anyone drawn to Japanese practice who wants the philosophy underneath the aesthetic.
Reading order
Book 6 of 6 in the graphic design reading order, the last one. See all 6
Read before thisHow to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul
Opens a search on AbeBooks, a network of independent and antiquarian sellers, which is where a good part of this shelf has to be found, because it is out of print.
Read next
Chosen because they argue with this one, not because a machine noticed they share a category.
