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Design Dictionary

Out of nowhere I received a new, very serious-looking book called, simply, Design Dictionary. Bam. No questions asked. The book arrived in a box from Amazon.com, despite my lack of orders from the online merchandiser in recent days — but being a design book lover I did not question my lucky arrival and proceeded to puncture the protective inflatables and rummage the box’s contents. The bright yellow cover, sparser than The New Typography and sprinkled with metallic arrows, had just slightly more clues as to where this had come from: BIRD. Or, the Board of International Research in Design, an enclave of design thinkers housed by Berlin-based Birkhäuser, the publisher of this book. Further intrigued, I did an eager flip-through and could not help contain a wicked laugh. This book, aside from arrows, birds, and some thin rules had absolutely no other imagery or visual cues in its 460-plus pages of densely set text. I bellowed in my mind, a la Jack Nicholson, “You want Graphic Design? You can’t handle Graphic Design!”

Design Dictionary cover

Cover of Design Dictionary.

Design Dictionary cover

Detail of the little birdie, a device for BIRD, the Board of International Research in Design.

Design Dictionary cover

Metallic arrows give the spare cover a lovely texture.

Design Dictionary , as its name implies and as its subtitle, Perspectives on Design Terminology, elaborates is a comprehensive tome of more than 250 definitions extracted from the world of design, each written by one of the 110 contributors from around the globe. A truly impressive and unenviable effort, with a result that is nothing short of astounding. Design Dictionary is relentless, covering extremely specific terms like Flyer — “Leaflets that advertise mainly local services and upcoming events. […]” — to inexorably broad subjects like Design Process — “[Designers] are trained to conceptualize the process of design as a series of activities that unfold over time, and to view the completion of each activity as a step toward some predefined goal. […]” which, in contrast to the way brand consultancies explain their design process, is a sobering antacid. I could endlessly keep giving you examples, as Design Dictionary is surprisingly thorough in its inclusion, despite its editors fears: “We gave serious thought to the linguistic categories and terminology that underpin design discourse today. That said, it became clear while working on the book that we had omitted a number of valuable terms. This fact will undoubtedly be the subject of critique by reviewers and readers alike, and we expect that the project will provoke as many questions as it will answers.”

To add a layer of complexity to an already risky book, the editors — Michael Erlhoff, a professor at the Köln International School of Design in Germany, and Tim Marshall, dean at Parsons The New School for Design in New York — published Design Dictionary in both English and German. Without the ability to simply translate most terms, they were cautious to make sure that the linguistic choices of the entries were culturally relevant to each audience and adapt to colloquialisms that would be global enough not to discourage anyone from finding this book useful.

Design Dictionary inside

Design Dictionary inside

Design Dictionary inside

Design Dictionary inside

Sample spread and details from the inside, set in Akkurat and Arnhem, establishing a very pleasant design given the book’s unrepentant sameness.

I guess I must disclaim that I have not read this book cover to cover. I dare anyone to do so in a single swoop and remain a happy person. So I won’t be able to vouch for the entire book, much less for any specific wrongdoings — I will leave that to more heady critics. Nonetheless, even though I had plenty of work to do that afternoon, I could not put the book down, and in the days since receiving that mysterious box I have kept the Design Dictionary on my side table and pick it up anytime I have a lull between exporting InDesign files to PDFs or while talking to someone at customer service of whatever service has most recently stopped servicing, and I leaf randomly to see what term catches my attention. I’m not sure what use I find in this book, but I am continually intrigued by how each entry is defined — each a small battle to wage against an otherwise loosely defined profession that lacks any authoritative definitions on anything. For students and teachers this must be an invaluable book as it serves as one of the most concisely broad documents that explains the wording we communicate with every single day, and it is perhaps the best complement — if not vice versa — to the visual reference books graphic designers turn to continually.

So, whoever sent me this book: Thank you.

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ENTRY DETAILS
ARCHIVE ID 4629 FILED UNDER Book Reviews
PUBLISHED ON Apr.02.2008 BY Armin
WITH COMMENTS
Comments
Kangaroo Deziner’s comment is:

I sometimes wonder what inspires people to write design books. To the best of my knowledge, they don't sell very well (if Hjalti Karlsson and Jan Wilker are to be believed, anyways). I've come to the conclusion that many design books are created and produced for the sole purpose of making people like me wonder why people like them write said books. This is a great example of a book that makes me just go "Why?". Fortunately for them, I love filling my collection with books that make others wonder "Why does he have this?". I'll have to pick this up some day soon.

On Apr.02.2008 at 10:16 PM
Tselentis’s comment is:

Looks quite beautiful. I envy you, Armin, for having a book-sugar-daddy/momma.

On Apr.03.2008 at 11:34 AM
Deezignee’s comment is:

The book sounds intriguing, and I wonder what differences there are between the English and German versions. I would have liked to see a bilingual edition.

On Apr.03.2008 at 02:36 PM
Randy J. Hunt’s comment is:

Armin, I'm jealous (and out $47.00).

This promises to be a mighty-fine book.

On Apr.03.2008 at 09:02 PM
Alex Charchar’s comment is:

What an interesting looking book! Looks like the kind of book you don't go rushing out to get, but always have in the back of your mind as one worth picking up when wanting to pad out your collection of reference books.

Kangaroo -- I would say the reason the book was written was because of the same reason we read a review on it, and why Armin posted it - those contributing and reading it love what they do. And also, this kind of thing helps define our profession as one that is a lot more complex than 'paste this here, crop that there', wouldn't you say?

On Apr.04.2008 at 03:27 AM
Kangaroo Deziner’s comment is:

Alex -- I agree that this helps define our profession, but the only people picking this book up are us designers, and we already know our profession entails more than "cut and paste". "Preaching to the choir" would be accurate here, in my opinion. The people with misconceptions (like clients and a few bosses/coworkers) aren't going to pick this up, so they aren't actually going to be informed. This is an informational book written for the already informed.

On Apr.04.2008 at 04:34 PM
Alex Charchar’s comment is:

You know, I actually thought of that after I posted my response, but it lead me to think that even though clients aren't going to be picking this up, there is still a decent chance it'll be in their peripheral vision.. ie, they'll see it on our bookshelves or desks or in bookstores, and while it might be a slow moving shift in thought, a whole heap of little changes add up, dont they?

maybe people will start to go 'wow, if there is a need for a book of this size and detail relating to design, maybe there's more to it than I thought?'

I don't pick up books on engineering or biology of chemistry, but I've seen others who have them on their shelves, in their bookstores and on their desks, which leads me to see that there is a lot going on there, not just think there is.

what do you think?

On Apr.04.2008 at 08:01 PM
marko savic’s comment is:

The book fairy (like me) seems to know the best way to free publicity is through Armin Vit! I just realized that sentence could be read two ways, I am not the book fairy.

This seems like a much needed step up from "The Designer's Lexicon," though I'll miss the CMYK colour scheme when I upgrade.

On Apr.05.2008 at 12:16 AM
Amy Fidler’s comment is:

Many design books are written to support the field (reference based books) others are there to celebrate the field (monographs, design annuals, etc) and others are there to analyze the field (critical writing). Motives aside, as designers we make up a large pool of people who love to create. I don't imagine many are in it for the money, but the other rewards such as contributing to the field, notoriety, the challenge...

On Apr.06.2008 at 08:54 AM
Armin’s comment is:

Questioning the need for this book is valid. Same for design books. But then again, the same could be questioned about all books. Do we really need that many?

While this book may seem overly specific and narrow, or targeted to the already preaching choir, I would argue that many of those singing don't quite know all the lyrics or can carry a tune -- if we wanted to extend the metaphor. But metaphors aside, this book has a lot to offer that no other book has. Even as someone that reads way more than needed about design, I found the content quite delightful and original.

And, for the right client, I would certainly give this as a gift to share how much goes into our profession, beyond making good typeface choices.

On Apr.07.2008 at 02:27 PM
lain’s comment is:

even tho most professional designers might not have need for this kind of book, it still seems useful for, uh, "lesser designers", such as myself.

i do graphic design work for different organizations at my university, but i have no formal training whatsoever and often find myself scrounging the internet for guidance. i always feel like the work i produce isn't really up to par, altho the people i work for don't seem to notice. it's good to them, in their context, but i'm afraid that if my work is held in comparison to other designers... epic fail.

so design books are helpful, at least for self-taught designers. i have yet to find one which i can consider my 'bible' of sorts, but i'm going to keep looking. while they will never be as good as having the guidance of a real teacher, they area fair substitute, considering that i don't have access to, nor the money for, formal training in the area i live.

On Sep.09.2008 at 10:38 AM