The Industrial Design Reader

This book has a lot of good content, much about design in general, and product design, but it is NOT all about industrial design (ID)—the title is a misnomer. It seems industrial design media folks like to take credit for just about everything in design as related to ID as far back as the cave people and the first tools. ID started in the US in the 1920s, not at the Big Bang! It started in Europe a bit later. The book has some great works, but more about general design, architecture, psychology, and, yes, some industrial design too in the last third of the book. It also leaves out some crucial history about product design as well. By the way, product design and industrial design are NOT the same thing!

I purchased this book for a design class and I was actually very surprised at how much I enjoyed it. We were assigned to read a few of the excerpts for each class and I really came to understand more about how design and the values of life have changed over time. Really interesting read.

Elemental to your design education and great quotes. I used it for my class at SIU and found it extremely valuable. When I couldn't find my copy I was terribly upset. Downloading a copy at a great price was fantastic!

This book surprised me. Not only does it give you a glimpse at what designers have debated since the dawn of time, it also gives a very interesting view of how politics, design and manufacturing are so closely tied and how views have evolved over time. I love this book.

It was a cheap alternative to buying the actual book and it is easy to read on the Kindle app on my Mac and my Asus Tablet. I could also read this on both of my computers with all the highlights and what not. It is simply wonderful.

It's an interesting read, it has different excerpts from other journals and books. Ordered for class and using this semester.

Not that broad compilation, but fun to read and the provided sources are well chosen. Unfortunately, interesting part ends with Memphis.

There's nothing better than reading the canonical writings of some of the most brilliant minds in design. Gorman has successfully curated a collection which is both informative and relevant; all this despite the age of some of the writings.

Der Inhalt des Buches ist sehr zu empfehlen. Die Auswahl der einzelnen Texte ist gut getroffen. Die Papier- und Druckqualität des Buches ist jedoch mehr als enttäuschend. Jeder Groschenroman vom Bahnhofskiosk ist besser produziert… Schade…