Art and the Machine: An Account of Industrial Design in 20th-Century America by Sheldon Cheney and Martha Cheney   One age’s art cannot match the technology of another age. In the 1920’s and 1930’s, when Sheldon and Martha Cheney wrote Art and the Machine, the machine was the dominant technology and modern abstract art was the new creative principle. A new profession ...

Designing for People by Henry Dreyfuss   Henry Dreyfuss designed telephones, war rooms, ship cabins, train interiors, magazines, bank vault doors, dental equipment, tractors, and radar systems. It’s unlikely that any contemporary designer has the opportunity to be involved in such a broad reach of projects. Dreyfuss always put himself in the shoes of the recipients of his designs. He slept ...

Designing for People by Henry Dreyfuss   Henry Dreyfuss wrote Designing for People in 1955 when industrial design was emerging as a discipline distinct from art and engineering. Dreyfus was a leader in human-centered design (literally) through the development of detailed measurements of people for the purpose of designing better products. Much of his description of industrial design (emphasis on all ...

Design Research: Methods and Perspectives edited by Brenda Laurel   Unlike Do You Matter?, which takes a “just do it!” approach to experience design, Design Research, is filled with practical techniques and frameworks to help you understand customers, discover latent needs, validate assumptions, and design your customer experience. With such a large number of tools available, when should they be used? ...

Design requires both expansive, exploratory methods (divergent thinking) as well as prioritization and focus (convergent thinking). Pairing the two approaches increases the chances of finding the most effective solutions. Design Research: Methods and Perspectives by Brenda Laurel   Design Research is a collection of writings on various research tools and techniques available for designers. In addition to covering traditional design research topics like ...

Do You Matter?: How Great Design Will Make People Love Your Company by Robert Brunner   Do You Matter? contains pointers toward a customer experience design approach. Because the goal of this approach is to establish an emotional relationship between products and customers, the road is not well marked. You won’t find techniques, frameworks, metrics, or action plans in this book. The ...

Do You Matter?: How Great Design Will Make People Love Your Company by Robert Brunner Do You Matter? starts with the story of Steve Jobs and Apple. In contrast to the astronomic success of Apple, the authors give the example of Motorola, who was first to market with an innovative new mobile phone, the RAZR, but who were unable to maintain ...

Buildings are not complete and perfect when they are constructed. They change over time, support multiple uses, and host unforeseen tenants. How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built by Stewart Brand Architecture as commonly practiced tends to overlook the dynamic nature of our structures and instead imagines a pure, never-changing aesthetic.  How Buildings Learn is an exploration of how various types ...