From the first hollow bricks to the complex shapes and building techniques of today, this visually stunning book is a LEGO(R) history like no other--and the first official book for Adult Fans of LEGO bricks.

LEGO(R) bricks are design icons and marvels of engineering. Having remained virtually unchanged for over fifty years, the brick is still the center of the LEGO System in Play, in which each brick connects to every other brick, allowing the construction of almost anything you can imagine. LEGO minifigures may be the friendly smiling faces of the LEGO world, but bricks in all their different shapes and forms are its very foundation.

This book sets out to explore the brick's rich history in unparalleled detail and full color. Granted unprecedented access by the LEGO Group, author Daniel Konstanski reveals for the first time how and why new LEGO bricks are made, speaking to the people involved with each crucial step, from the so-called rock stars, the set designers, through to the element designers, design masters, graphic designers, elements testers and approvers, plastics technicians, and many more.

This book is the one fans have always wanted: a truly behind the scenes look at the story of the beloved LEGO brick and the company which makes it, with a wealth of new visual material from the LEGO Archive in Billund.

LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Minifigure and the Brick and Knob configurations are trademarks and/or copyrights of the LEGO Group. (c)2024 The LEGO Group. All rights reserved.

'Chances are if you've shaved with an electric razor, blow-dried your hair, or sparked up a cigarette in the past 60 years, you owe a debt of gratitude to Dieter Rams.' - New York Times

Made in close collaboration with Rams himself, this catalogue raisonné is the ultimate reference on one of the most influential product designers of all time

Dieter Rams is one of the most influential product designers of the twentieth century, who, for more than sixty years, has been defining the look, feel, and function of some of the world's best-loved consumer items. Using his 'ten principles for good design' as a philosophy and practice for improving the industry in a more holistic, responsible way, Rams has a stellar reputation with global resonance.

This extraordinary book forms a catalogue raisonné of every product that Rams has designed in his lifetime - a true celebration of his seminal contribution to the field of industrial and product design. Including 300 color illustrations, the book is organized chronologically, each product is accompanied by a detailed description and specification breakdown, making this the ultimate reference guide for Rams fans and an ideal complement to Phaidon's global bestseller - Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible.

Discover more than 500 of the most innovative, influential, and enduring products from the last five centuries in this fully revised and expanded edition of Phaidon's much-loved companion to the best of design

Take an extraordinary journey through objects from the last 500 years that have improved our environments and functionality, and shaped society and culture. With an image for each object featured and descriptive text including information about the product itself, its designer, manufacturer, and history, The Design Book includes iconic pieces by such masters as Le Corbusier, Philippe Starck, and the Eames, alongside classic objects such as the paper clip, the hurricane lantern, and the martini glass. This new edition also features 30 new products from the last 15 years, expertly selected and curated to reflect modern-day design breakthroughs.

Praise for the original edition:

Phaidon seems to have pulled off the rare trick of creating something accessible and wide-ranging, but genuinely interesting and informative too. - Design Week

A beyond-cool look at the world of high-end audio design for passionate collectors, obsessive audiophiles, and design fans

At a time when sales of vinyl records have hit a 25-year high, and analog technologies are providing the kind of extraordinary audio experiences that our increasingly digital world has started to remove, Hi-Fi is essential reading. This unique book explores just how, when, and why the world fell in love with the look, feel, and sound of top-of-the-line audio equipment.

Hi-Fi traces this fascinating evolution from the 1950s to today (and tomorrow), taking readers right up to the current renaissance of all things analog and the emergence of cutting-edge designs for die-hard audiophiles.

The Art and Science of Successful Packaging

This comprehensive guide provides designers with a thoughtful packaging primer that covers the challenges of designing packaging for a competitive market in a very hardworking and relevant way. Package Design Workbook addresses all aspects of the creative process including choosing a package format, colors and materials, final finishes, and special considerations such as awkward objects and unique display considerations. This book breaks down the process of design in a much more comprehensive way than most books on the subject, which just analyze the final designs.

This guide also offers case studies in the back half of the book with the text focusing on why specific colors, formats, type treatments, and finishes were chosen, and what the resulting effects were on the consumer and the client.

The first book to document the history of the groundbreaking company Architectural Pottery, tracing its critical influence on midcentury design and its enduring appeal today

Architectural Pottery's strikingly minimalist designs heralded new domestic housewares that could uniquely accent the modern home--inside and out. Formally expressive yet accessible, their refreshingly unembellished, elegant pots and planters were enthusiastically received by the public upon Architectural Pottery's launch in 1950, soon ubiquitous in spaces representing the epitome of modern living. Highly coveted and prized in design circles, they were seen in houses by Richard Neutra, John Lautner, and the historic Case Study Houses, and featured in the first of MoMA's legendary Good Design exhibitions alongside now-iconic designs by Ray and Charles Eames, Alexander Girard, and George Nelson. Over three decades, Architectural Pottery also developed innovations in stoneware production, expanded into fiberglass furniture, and included famed furniture designer Paul McCobb and sculptor David Cressey on its roster of designers.

A midcentury modern design enthusiast's dream, Architectural Pottery: Ceramics for a Modern Landscape is the first full history of this celebrated and influential brand. Richly illustrated with contemporary photography and extensive visual archival material--including the records of the founders Rita and Max Lawrence, and the personal archives of designers, art directors, and photographers associated with the company--it both tells a compelling story and is a valuable resource for collectors and interior designers.

The publication of this new book will coincide with a major exhibition at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, California.

As featured in WSJ Magazine, Fast Company, and Rolling Stone

The definitive monograph on Dieter Rams, one of the most influential product designers of the twentieth century

As head of design at Braun from 1961 to 1995, Dieter Rams created some of the twentieth century's most iconic objects. Rams's life and work are indelibly linked to his thoughts about how people live, and how they can live better.

Products he designed in the 1960s are still produced and sold today, and his ideas on good design continue to inspire designers and consumers. Now available again with a stunning new cover, this comprehensive monograph, with a foreword by Jonathan (Jony) Ive, former chief design officer of Apple, explores not only Rams's life and work, but also his design philosophy.

The book includes detailed text covering Rams's life, the intellectual context in which he worked, his designs for Braun and Vitsoe, and the ideas and lectures he developed as an advocate for good design. Sketches and photographs of finished products and prototypes provide insight into Rams's design process, diverse archival material gives a complete picture of his life and work, and specially commissioned photographs of Dieter Rams's house and the Braun archive provide an exclusive glimpse of the world's most complete collection of Rams's designs.

Known for the hundreds of iconic products he designed for Braun and Vitsoe, this comprehensive and exhaustive monograph also features Rams's only architectural work and the ideas about living sustainably embodied in his 'ten principles'.

A wonderful insight into the work of a truly skilled artist - PaperCrafter

The renowned and influential book artist Hedi Kyle shows you step-by-step how to create her unique designs using folding techniques in The Art of the Fold. Bookbinding and paper craft projects include flag books, blizzard books, the fishbone fold, and nesting boxes.

Written by the doyenne of artists' books, Hedi Kyle, The Art of the Fold is a wonderful insight into the work of a truly skilled artist. Hedi will show you how to bind a book and fold paper to create over 35 of her cut-fold book designs. The book is beautifully illustrated with Hedi's finished works of art.

An excerpt from the book:
'I can still remember the thrill I experienced when my first folded book structure emerged from my fingers - how eager I was to explore its possibilities and to share it with whoever was interested. The Flag Book, as I now call it, is a simple accordion and has interlocking pages oriented in opposite directions. Little did I know that this simple structure would have legs and be the catalyst for the next forty-plus years of thinking about and making books.

The common perception of the book today is fairly straightforward: a series of pages organized around a spine and protected on either side by two covers. This format allows for easy access, storage and retrieval of information. Yet what happens when the book is stripped away of centuries of preconceptions and is allowed to reveal something else: playfulness, utility, invention? Expanding the notion of the book is what the structures in the following chapters of The Art of the Fold attempt to do. Exploring its tactile, sculptural form, primarily through folding methods, the book as a structural object is celebrated while content is considered in a new and unconventional way.

My range in this medium has always been broad. In part this is due to my introduction to the world of bookbinding and some chance encounters. In the 1970s in New York City, the art and craft of hand bookbinding and papermaking were experiencing an unprecedented revival. I was fortunate to arrive in the city at just this moment. With an art-school background and an impulse to make things, I was naturally drawn to pursue this new opportunity. The Center for Book Arts, the famous forerunner of so many centers yet to come, was located in a small storefront just down the street from where I lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Under the direction of founder Richard Minsky, it had a radical mission: to push concept, materials, printing and making of artist books in a new direction. When Richard dared me to teach at the Center one evening a week, I was hooked.

My career as a book conservator and a book artist has now spanned over 45 years. As head conservator at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, I've had the opportunity to handle some of the rarest volumes and manuscripts in the world. I have also dealt with decrepit books, torn maps and countless curiosities discovered in stacks and archives. All were endless sources for ideas and provided a springboard for a departure from tradition. Leading book-arts workshops around the world and a 25 year tenure teaching in the graduate program for Book Arts and Printmaking at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia have shown me, in retrospect, that the more I taught, the more it propelled me to experiment and develop my ideas. The many students I have had over the years were always my biggest inspiration, and they continue to be so.' - Hedi Kyle, Pine Hill, NY Sept 2017

As featured in Wall Street Journal

The most innovative, iconic, and influential products ever designed - from 1663 to the present day

Originating from the highly acclaimed and groundbreaking three-volume Phaidon Design Classics, this new book presents 1,000 of the world's greatest objects in one large-format volume - from everyday items by anonymous creators to lauded pieces by the likes of Charles and Ray Eames, Charlotte Perriand, Dieter Rams, Richard Sapper, Hans J. Wegner, and Florence Knoll.

Carefully revised to bring every detail up to date, and with the addition of 100 new items that highlight designers from a diverse variety of backgrounds (including a greater number of female designers) and products from the last 15 years, this collection of the world's greatest product design is more comprehensive, compelling - and relevant - than ever before.

The book showcases celebrated names alongside the new stars of modern design, including Le Corbusier, Alvar and Aino Aalto, Isamu Noguchi, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Lani Adeoye, Faye Toogood, and Lindsey Adelman. Each entry is accompanied by beautiful imagery and a detailed description that offers a rich insight into the product, its history, and its maker, from the renowned Tulip Chair by Eero Saarinen to the much-loved Bird Zero e-scooter.

This handsome book is the perfect reference guide for design enthusiasts, industry professionals, and all those interested in the creative process.

How to use the Design Thinking Tools

A practical guide to make innovation happen

The Design Thinking Toolbox explains the most important tools and methods to put Design Thinking into action. Based on the largest international survey on the use of design thinking, the most popular methods are described in four pages each by an expert from the global Design Thinking community. If you are involved in innovation, leadership, or design, these are tools you need. Simple instructions, expert tips, templates, and images help you implement each tool or method.

• Quickly and comprehensively familiarize yourself with the best design thinking tools
• Select the appropriate warm-ups, tools, and methods
• Explore new avenues of thinking
• Plan the agenda for different design thinking workshops
• Get practical application tips

The Design Thinking Toolbox help innovators master the early stages of the innovation process. It's the perfect complement to the international bestseller The Design Thinking Playbook.

Products are in every area of our lives, but just what product designers do and how they think is a mystery to most. Product design is not art, engineering, or craft, even as it calls for skills and understandings in each of these areas--along with psychology, history, cultural anthropology, physics, ergonomics, materials technology, marketing, and manufacturing. This accessible guide provides an entry point into this vast field through 101 brief, illustrated lessons exploring such areas as

- why all design is performed in relation to the body
- why every product is part of a system
- the difference between being clever and being gimmicky
- why notions of beauty are universal across cultures
- how to use both storytelling and argument to effectively persuade

Written by three experienced design instructors and professionals, 101 Things I Learned(R) in Product Design School provides concise, thoughtful touch points for beginning design students, experienced professionals, and anyone else wishing to better understand this complex field that shapes our lives every day.

- Each page offers a beloved quote from Austen and its source.
- Give yourself the gift of Austen's wit and wisdom or share your favorite insights with friends and fellow Jane-ites.
- Beautifully bound and decorated with a ribbon bookmark to keep your place and mark your favorites.

Learn use the skills you already have to overcome the people and systems that hold you back. In this potent, humorous, real-world-based book by design-industry veterans Scott Berkun and Bryan Zug, you'll learn how to make design easy. From managing egos, to rediscovering your powers to using organizational systems to your advantage, you'll quickly see better ways to think about your work and yourself.

We want to believe that our ideas will be adored and we will be asked to influence big decisions. But this is not how the real world works. What we call designing is mostly advising. We make suggestions to powerful people and they often ignore our expertise. Denying this reality makes design hard. If you want to find a better way, this book is for you.

'Thoroughly international in scope, [Woman Made] is a compendium of disarming surprises.' - Wall Street Journal

The most comprehensive, fully illustrated book on women designers ever published - a celebration of more than 200 women product designers from the early twentieth century to the present day

This glorious visual celebration of the most incredible and impactful design ever produced by women designers flips the script on what is historically considered a man's world. Featuring more than 200 designers from more than 50 countries, including icons and trailblazers past and present such as Ray Eames, Eileen Gray, Florence Knoll, Ilse Crawford, Faye Toogood, Nathalie du Pasquier, it records and illuminates the fascinating and overlooked history of women preeminent in the field.

With each designer represented by a key product and short text, this fascinating A-Z survey shines a vital spotlight on the most extraordinary objects made by women designers but, more importantly, offers a compelling primer on the best in the field of design demonstrating that design is not - and never has been - a man's world.

Scandinavia is world famous for its inimitable, democratic designs which bridge the gap between craftsmanship and industrial production, organic forms and everyday functionality. This all-you-need guide includes a detailed look at Scandinavian furniture, glass, ceramics, textiles, jewelry, metalware, and product design from 1900 to the present day, with in-depth entries on 125 designers and design-led companies.

Featured designers and designer-led companies include Verner Panton, Arne Jacobsen, Alvar Aalto, Timo Sarpaneva, Hans Wegner, Tapio Wirkkala, Stig Lindberg, Finn Juhl, Märta Måås-Fjetterström, Arnold Madsen, Barbro Nilsson, Fritz Hansen, Artek, Le Klint, Gustavsberg, Iittala, Fiskars, Orrefors, Royal Copenhagen, Holmegaard, Arabia, Marimekko, and Georg Jensen.

Life-centred design aligns responsible businesses and designers with global goals to design physical and digital products and services that re-nourish the planet and foster fair and diverse ways of being.

Life-centred design is still emerging, however, so awareness of it is low, those who practise it are few, how it is practised varies, and hybridisation of physical and digital product design strategies is nascent.

The Life-Centred Design Guide introduces a collection of today's life-centred design approaches and speculates a 'Future Snapshot' of what the framework might become if the variations merged.

The Guide also includes introductions to 11 key design practices that combine in life-centred design:

• Circular design
• Inclusive design
• Pluriversal design
• Systems thinking
• Distributed design
• Sustainable digital design
• Behavioural design
• Interspecies design
• Biomimicry
• Foresight
• Human-centred design

Accompanied by the online toolkit at lifecentred.design, readers can expand their experience by accessing learning exercises, tools, strategies, and resources.

Life-centred design gives designers the skills and mindsets to respond to today's wicked problems in tangible, practical, and measurable ways.

AMAZON BEST BOOKS OF 2019 PICK

FORTUNE WRITERS AND EDITORS' RECOMMENDED BOOKS OF 2019 PICK

User Friendly is a tour de force, an engrossing fusion of scholarly research, professional experience and revelations from intrepid firsthand reporting.
--EDWARD TENNER, The New York Times Book Review

In User Friendly, Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant reveal the untold story of a paradigm that quietly rules our modern lives: the assumption that machines should anticipate what we need. Spanning over a century of sweeping changes, from women's rights to the Great Depression to World War II to the rise of the digital era, this book unpacks the ways in which the world has been--and continues to be--remade according to the principles of the once-obscure discipline of user-experience design.

In this essential text, Kuang and Fabricant map the hidden rules of the designed world and shed light on how those rules have caused our world to change--an underappreciated but essential history that's pieced together for the first time. Combining the expertise and insight of a leading journalist and a pioneering designer, User Friendly provides a definitive, thoughtful, and practical perspective on a topic that has rapidly gone from arcane to urgent to inescapable. In User Friendly, Kuang and Fabricant tell the whole story for the first time--and you'll never interact with technology the same way again.

Product management is a big role, and this a big book.

From the authors of the best-selling Cracking the PM Interview comes the comprehensive guide to the skills, frameworks, and practices to become a great product manager. It will help you level-up your skills and career from your first product management role through product leadership, addressing questions like:

• What does it take to become a great product manager and great leader?
• How can you reliably ship products that make a difference in the world?
• How do you build your product intuition, hone your execution, strengthen your leadership, and develop your strategic skills?
• What does it take to lead and inspire teams?
• When is people management the right career move?
• How does excellence in those skills translate into career success?

This book will teach you the reliable frameworks and best practices that improve your chances of shipping a successful product. The frameworks won't transform you into a great product manager overnight or guarantee that your products never fail, but they'll help you avoid the most common problems and give you the structure to start experimenting, reflecting, and improving.

You'll learn how to:

• Design high-quality products that delight users and solve people's needs.
• Run and deliver your projects quickly, smoothly, and effectively.
• Create product visions and strategies to set direction and optimize for long-term impact.
• Lead people and influence without authority.
• Manage people, develop great PMs, build great teams, and create great product organizations.
• Manage your career so you can translate your efforts into the recognition you deserve.

Topics include:

• Getting Started: the product life cycle; the first 90 days
• Product Skills: user research; A/B tests; problem solving frameworks; systems thinking; product discovery; design sprints; ethical product design; technical terms and concepts; product documentation (specs and PRDs)
• Execution Skills: agile project management; minimum viable products (MVPs); incremental development; product launches; time management; overcoming obstacles
• Strategic Skills: product vision; strategy; roadmaps; goals and OKRs
• Leadership Skills: growth mindset; ownership mentality; influencing without authority; stakeholder management; collaboration; communication; inspiring a team; mentoring; working with designers, engineers, and executives
• People Management Skills: becoming a people manager; being a member of the leadership team; reviewing work; holding people accountable; coaching and development; recruiting and interviewing; product processes; organizational structures
• Careers: career ladders; career goals; partnering with your manager; picking the right team; negotiations; networking; handling bad situations; career options beyond PM
• Product Leader Q&A: in-depth career interviews with eleven successful product leaders who have chosen career paths including CPO, head of product, CEO, social impact work, venture capital, angel investing, coaching, and starting their own companies.

These days, consumers have real power: they can research companies, compare ratings, and find alternatives with a simple tap. Focusing on customer needs isn't a nice-to-have, it's a strategic imperative.

The Jobs To Be Done Playbook (JTBD) helps organizations turn market insight into action. This book shows you techniques to make offerings people want, as well as make people want your offering.