Many designs that appear in today's society will circulate and encounter audiences of many different cultures and languages. With communication comes responsibility; are designers aware of the meaning and impact of their work? An image or symbol that is acceptable in one culture can be offensive or even harmful in the next. A typeface or colour in a design might appear to be neutral, but its meaning is always culturally dependent. If designers learn to be aware of global cultural contexts, we...

Type Tricks, the third installment in the collection, focuses on usability in typography and how different typefaces and letter shapes influence the way we read. Distilling advanced typographic knowledge into an accessible medium with beautiful illustration, the book acts as a small and handy guide for those looking to impart a certain message from their chosen text.

From beginners looking to learn more about typography to practitioners seeking an advanced level of knowledge without the nee...

People who cannot draw well usually think that professional sketching is a complex and difficult process. However, with this book you will see that even the most complex sketches are just a structure of very simple, yet confidently drawn segments built on each other. It shows which features make drawings look professional and how you can implement those in your own sketches.

The Exceptionally Simple Theory of Sketching - Extended Edition provides you with a very short course, which does not t...

This book is not just for reading. Design thinking is something you need to actually do. Reading about design thinking will increase your knowledge, but by doing it, you will learn what design thinking can mean for you, in your studies and your work. In this book we encourage you to take action: design thinking by doing.

Since the end of the last millennium, design thinking has received an increasing amount of attention from the business community, social organizations, universities and colle...

SOLAR FUTURES: How to Design a Post-Fossil World with the Sun by solar designer Marjan van Aubel explores the future of solar energy.

Solar energy needs a new narrative – one that says goodbye to old perspectives and only talks about efficiency and the payback time of blue solar panels. This publication illustrates what we need to know to transition from solar technology to solar design using everyday integrated aesthetic solutions.

This publication is divided into three parts: the first pa...

The unique position of design in the political context of postwar Belgium.

In the postwar era, design became important as a marker of modernity and progress at world fairs and international exhibitions and in the global markets. The Belgian state took a special interest in this vanguard phenomenon of 'industrial design' as a vital political and economic strategic tool in the context of the Cold War and the creation of the European community. This book describes the unique position that design...

If your business hasn't already embraced visual thinking, why not?

Visual thinking and drawing are both becoming increasingly important in today's business settings. A picture really can tell a thousand words. Visualization is a crucial part of the journey for companies seeking to boost enterprise agility, break down silos and increase employee and customer engagement. Visualizing thought processes can help break down complex problems. It empowers teams and staff to build on one another's ide...

Design for Sustainability Survival Guide concerns all the details on applying sustainability requirements in design. It is a critical and concise overview of the important facts from all imaginable angles. The book is written and illustrated to inform, support and inspire future designers.

The guide covers everything in sustainability: from personal reader experience to universal guiding principles, from energy use and the flow of materials to the role of time, consumption, use, circularity a...

In the first book to map out what AI brings to graphic design – and to identity design in particular – author Melani De Luca shares the experiences of designers in the field and pinpoints coherent working methods, practical approaches, and ethical structures. Balancing between playful writing, using the voice of AI persona Steve, and rigorous academic inquiry, she offers a replicable conceptual framework that advances methodology and practice in graphic design, integrating AI and machine ...

The ability to imagine different possible futures and the will to influence the course of events are deeply human. These ideas about the future can also determine which of the many possible futures will become reality. Designing futures therefore means that by creating and communicating potential scenarios, you can shape the futures of your fellow human beings and influence the course of events.

Design is becoming more strategic as a discipline, moving away from 'making things beautiful' to '...