We’re back with a new book tip, Anatomy of Design, it’s a very visual book that explains how famous graphics are composed. The different elements are professionally analyzed and examples of similar work is given, the book functions as a historical documentation tool for any visual orientated artists, by showing how each design derives from a variety of sources. From now on we also list our favourite design books in our sidebar, so it’s easy to find good books to improve your skills.

Studio469 - Resources, Tips & Tools

We are proud to introduce our new Asian reporter, based in Singapore. She will keep you posted on the happenings in and around the Asian design scene, specialized in design books, and interesting artists.

A very capable Taiwanese industrial designer who has worked in a top design firms in the US, ‘Astro Design Studios’. Carl Liu has created an industrial design book, that speaks to all starting industrial designers, and is a rich guide to explore sketching, rendering and the design process in general. Some of the topics in his book are: real life design processes, design sketches, product sketches, concepts generation and ideations and story boards.

This book has been selling realy well in Asia, but is quite unknown in Europe and the US. Its rich content about real life design process study and his impressive sketching ability can enable you to pick up many tips about drawing and design communication through 2D illustration. Reading his biodata will encourage you further towards learning design. Check out more about Carl Liu on his portfolio.

Studio469 - Your Global Design Vision

‘How creative people think, work and find inspiration’

Taking a closer look at creative people; what inspires them, how do they think and work, how do they create an environment where they can easily generate ideas, doesn’t that sound like an interesting book? That’s what we thought, and therefore this is our 7th book tip of this year. In this book 40 European creatives from many different disciplines, art directors, fashion designers, architects and photographers, are interviewed and their work environment, scrapbooks, notebooks, doodles, sources of inspiration are photographically documented into a beautiful inspiration book.With inside information from Paul Smith, The Stone Twins, Dick Bruna, Andy Bird, Thomas Sandell, Mark Denton, Fernando Gutierrez, Erwin Olaf and many others!

Can you draw, sketch and visualize everything that you can think off? Didn’t think so.
But the aid is near, “Basisvaardigheden voor de productvormgever”, a must have for the product designer & creative artist. It helps you make simple correct drawings, basic tricks and things you need to know. It’s an easy book, with little (dutch) text, and a lot of images. Even if you can’t read the Dutch you can still use the book fairly well.

Tired of brainstorming for new products, and constantly sticking to the same solutions? Update your material knowledge with Transmaterial.

“Curious about transparent ceramics, self-cleaning paint, or tiles that illuminate shadows without electricity? Published by Princeton Architectural Press, Transmaterial features nearly 200 of the most cutting-edge new products not included on this website, complete with manufacturer info, environmental data, applications, types/sizes, limitations, etc.”

Though a good designer may be a trend-spotter, philosopher, comedian, (or all of the above), at its core the job requires the practical basics—not the least of which is an intimate knowledge of the latest materials. With an understanding of the multi-faceted skill set of designers, the new book Industrial Design Techniques and Materials, traces the history of design materials from the shifts brought by the mass production of the Industrial Revolution to the more recent developments brought by technology and ecological consciousness. The upshot is an intellectual survey of the field that’s chock full of inspiration as well as full of inspiring finds like Nature Touch’s eco-friendly exotic bullfrog, cow belly, and Tilapia skins.

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Title: Industrial Design Techniques and Materials
Edited by: Raymond Guidot, Contribution by Jean-Baptiste Toulard, Jean Grenier and Jean-Jacques Salomon

Price: aprox. 40.00 $
Available: September 2006
Pre-order: Amazon

A sumptuously extravagant book which examines design that appeals to the senses through luxury, profusion and excess.

After a decade in which minimalism has held sway over the design industry, many designers are now rejecting the limitations of pared-down modernism in favour of a more rich and vibrant “maximal” aesthetic.
This book celebrates the qualities of maximalism, or “enriched modernism” - its role in creating fantasy, a sense of luxury, the multi-sensory appeal - and teaches designers how to apply it by bringing together a selection of projects from around the world that typify maximalism in graphic design - whether through use of materials, print processes, layout and composition or sheer extravagance of purpose.
The book is not just about expensive projects for luxury brands (although of course these feature): it is about examples of print that appeal to any one of the senses in a powerful and unusual way. These include packaging, magazines, brochures, books, identity jobs and other forms of print work.
An essential resource for designers, delivering the newest trend and the means to create the style.

Studio469 - Bringing you the inspiration

The Other Office: Creative Workplace Design
A global overview of prevailing trends in office design. Full of images, ideas and inspiration, this publication looks at international trends in creative workplace design. At the heart of the book are case studies of 34 pioneering design projects drawn from practices all over the world, each extensively illustrated with plans and photographs. Featured projects include ad agencies, media outfits and law firms, as well as a police station and the headquarters of a political party. An essay examines current trends in office design.

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The Other Office: Creative Workplace Design
Author: Matthew Stewart / graphic design by The Stone Twins / 240 pages / 200 colour illustrations / 23 x 29,7 cm / hardcover / published in 2004

Material World 2: Innovative Materials for Architecture and Design

A new 400-page thick encyclopaedic survey of 150 materials. Featuring over 150 materials, Material World 2: Innovative Materials for Architecture and Design , sequel to the highly successful Material World, will be an even more comprehensive catalogue of resources, thanks to a global arsenal of information-crammed data banks available to Frame magazine.

What the original volume quickly revealed is the enormous demand among architects and designers for product information, as well as for the names and addresses of suppliers of fascinating materials and finishes for use in interior design and architecture. Material World 2 promises to satisfy this demand: the reader will find not only a virtually encyclopaedic survey of materials, but also addresses, phone numbers, websites - all the information you need to track down every item featured is listed at the back of the book.

The materials featured in this book are grouped into eight sections: Air / Earth / Elastic / Extreme / Industrial / Know-How / Light / Optical / Smart / Surface / Sustainable / Temperature / Water. Along with an index and an extensive glossary, these features add up to an indispensable source of information for professionals

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Author: materiÓ / graphic design by Thomas Buxó / 400 pages / 200 colour illustrations / 17 x 23 cm / soft cover / published in 2005