A survey of current design publishing

Abstract

In comparison with architectural books, books on design have a relatively recent history, although not as recent as might be thought since many of today’s design books had antecedents in the 1930s. The publishing of design books in the 1930s followed the emergence of design as a profession; the rapid expansion of design publishing in the last two decades has been stimulated by the design boom of the 1980s, by the rise of design history as an academic discipline, and by new varieties of and issues in design such as computer graphics, design education, and “green” design. Publications from this period include some major new bibliographies and reference works, but also a good deal of transient material which will nonetheless possess some documentary or curiosity value in time to come. Writings about design by designers themselves are still in short supply.