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Visual Thinking


Rudolf Arnheim - 1969
    In this seminal work, Arnheim, author of The Dynamics of Architectural Form, Film as Art, Toward a Psychology of Art, and Art and Visual Perception, asserts that all thinking (not just thinking related to art) is basically perceptual in nature, and that the ancient dichotomy between seeing and thinking, between perceiving and reasoning, is false and misleading. An indispensable tool for students and for those interested in the arts.

Liartown: The First Four Years 2013-2017


Sean Tejaratchi - 2017
    The collected posts of surreal website LiarTownUSA satirizing weird vintage books, albums, posters, and other printed ephemera of pop culture.

The Sartorialist


Scott Schuman - 2009
    His now-famous and much-loved blog, thesartorialist.com, is his showcase for the wonderful and varied sartorial tastes of real people across the globe. This book is a beautiful anthology of Scott?s favorite images, accompanied by his insightful commentary. It includes photographs of well-known fashion figures alongside people encountered on the street whose personal style and taste demand a closer look. From the streets of New York to the parks of Florence, from Stockholm to Paris, from London to Moscow and Milan, these are the men and women who have inspired Scott and the many diverse and fashionable readers of his blog. After fifteen years in the fashion business, Scott Schuman felt a growing disconnect between what he saw on the runways and in magazines, and what real people were wearing. The Sartorialist was his attempt to redress the balance. Since its beginning, the blog has become hugely admired and influential in the fashion industry and beyond. Thesartorialist.com is consistently named one of the top blogs in the world. A self-taught photographer, Schuman shoots for publications including French Vogue, American GQ, Fantastic Man and Elle, and a growing list of advertising clients. Scott has also shown his work at the New York photo gallery The Danziger Projects and appeared in the GAP Style Icon campaign in the fall of 2008. He has been named the number one fashion photography trend by American Photo magazine, as well as one of Time magazine?s top 100 design influencers.

The Wes Anderson Collection


Matt Zoller Seitz - 2013
    A true auteur, Anderson is known for the visual artistry, inimitable tone, and idiosyncratic characterizations that make each of his films—Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Moonrise Kingdom—instantly recognizable as “Andersonian.”The Wes Anderson Collection is the first in-depth overview of Anderson’s filmography, guiding readers through his life and career. Previously unpublished photos, artwork, and ephemera complement a book-length conversation between Anderson and award-winning critic Matt Zoller Seitz. The interview and images are woven together in a meticulously designed book that captures the spirit of his films: melancholy and playful, wise and childish—and thoroughly original.

The Kinfolk Home: Interiors for Slow Living


Kinfolk Magazine - 2015
    In this much-anticipated follow-up, Kinfolk founder Nathan Williams showcases how embracing that same ethos—of slowing down, simplifying your life, and cultivating community—allows you to create a more considered, beautiful, and intimate living space.  The Kinfolk Home takes readers inside 35 homes around the world, from the United States, Scandinavia, Japan, and beyond. Some have constructed modern urban homes from blueprints, while others nurture their home’s long history. What all of these spaces have in common is that they’ve been put together carefully, slowly, and with great intention. Featuring inviting photographs and insightful profiles, interviews, and essays, each home tour is guaranteed to inspire.

Words Fail Me


Teresa Monachino - 2006
    In this quirky new title designer and typographer Teresa Monachino rounds up and breaks down a variety of unruly words: words lacking in integrity, misleading words that do not mean what they say, words that mean more than they say, words with inconsistent pronunciation or spellings that are just plain cruel! Using striking and witty graphic design the author demands answers to such troublesome questions as, why is abbreviation such a long word, does monosyllabic really need five syllables and why is lisp so hard to say if you have one?

Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills


David Sherwin - 2010
    Exercises range from creating a typeface in an hour to designing a paper robot in an afternoon to designing web pages and other interactive experiences. Each exercise includes compelling visual solutions from other designers and background stories to help you increase your capacity to innovate.Creative Workshop also includes useful brainstorming techniques and wisdom from some of today's top designers. By road-testing these techniques as you attempt each challenge, you'll find new and more effective ways to solve tough design problems and bring your solutions to vibrant life.

Interior Design


John F. Pile - 1988
    Of the more than 750 photographs and diagrams, over 200-most in color-are new to this lavishly produced third edition and reflect the vision of the most creative professionals working today. John Pile's long-awaited revision of his highly regarded text features: * six new detailed case studies of projects by such noted contemporary designers as Adam Tihany, Maya Lin, and Moneo Brock Studio. * exciting coverage of the new "hot" topics in the field, including "green" design, fiber optic and LED lighting, the reconfigurable workplace, boutique hotels, and digital technology. Every chapter has been updated in organization, content, and visual examples to reflect the newest developments in this exciting field.

Advertising for People Who Don't Like Advertising


KesselsKramer - 2012
    Yet, it makes adverts. It has worked with global brands to produce fashion collections and promoted a town with a mass wedding. It creates advertising with more human, truthful communications. The company's name is KesselsKramer. Advertising for People Who Don't Like Advertising is partly a creative handbook and partly an attempt to make the world a very slightly better place. It is intended for anyone who has ever hated a web banner or zapped an ad break.

The Business Side of Creativity: The Complete Guide for Running a Graphic Design or Communications Business


Cameron S. Foote - 1996
    It covers getting launched to running a multi-person shop to retiring comfortably, and is aimed at freelance graphic designers, art directors, illustrators, copywriters.

What Are You Looking At?: 150 Years of Modern Art in a Nutshell


Will Gompertz - 2012
    Rich with extraordinary tales and anecdotes, What Are You Looking At? entertains as it arms readers with the knowledge to truly understand and enjoy what it is they’re looking at.

Graffiti World: Street Art from Five Continents


Nicholas Ganz - 2004
    Offering a unique insight into the very essence of graffiti and its creative explosion over the past thirty-five years, it takes us on an adventure throughout the Americas and Europe to almost every corner of the globe." With over 2,000 pictures of artworks from more than 180 international artists, no other book is remotely so comprehensive or up to date. Nicholas Ganz combines his own first-hand experiences with quotes from the artists themselves to offer a true insider's perspective to the key trends and style developments that have made graffiti what it is today: a global phenomenon.

Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing


Emma Dexter - 2005
    In the following and largest section of the book (over 300 pages and approximately 500 illustrations), the 100 or more artists are presented in an A to Z order. Some artists are presented on 2 pages, some on 4 pages. About 5 selections of work are reproduced for each artist, along a text written by an author who is a specialist on the artist's work. The 500-word texts are brief surveys of the artist's career to date, and aim at introducing the methods and subject matter at issue in their recent works. A selected list of exhibitions and bibliography also complements the reproductions and text on each artist.

Blown Covers: New Yorker Covers You Were Never Meant to See


Françoise Mouly - 2012
    She shows the shocking and hilarious sketches that didn’t make the cut and explains how these are essential stages in the evolution of a cover that stands the test of time but retains its edge. Her book captures contemporary history—from the farce of Monica Lewinsky to the adventures of Michelle and Barack to nuclear meltdown in Japan—in images that are as acute as they are outrageous. More than that, it shows how the magazine that exemplifies journalistic excellence in America also dares to cultivate a sense of humor when grappling with complex moral and political issues.Praise for Blown Covers:“Interesting failures are the driving force behind BLOWN COVERS: New Yorker Covers You Were Never Meant to See (Abrams, $24.95), by Françoise Mouly. Mouly is the art editor of The New Yorker, and paging through this book is like standing in the corner of her office as she pins up rejected covers on the wall. Mouly has dozens of tales about images that failed for one reason or another. Now, presumably with the approval of her bosses at Condé Nast, she has created a tell-all (or tell-most) that even non–illustrators and designers will find enlightening.” —New York Times Book Review “Yes, Blown Covers sometimes offends—and that’s the audacious joy of it.” —NPR.org“[New Yorker] art editor Mouly offers some true delights.” —Sacramento Bee

It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be


Paul Arden - 2003
    If you want to succeed in life or business, this book is a must.