GENIUS OF DESIGN

This landmark book takes a unique, original and engrossing approach todesign. Whether or not we are consciously interested in it, design isomnipresent; it affects and influences us all in every aspect of our lives.The Genius of Design illuminates what design is, how it works, and how ithas shaped the world we live in. Taking a broadly chronological approach,the book shows how the story of design has developed and explores majorthemes, with chapters including the birth of mass-produced design, domesticdesign and the contemporary home and the legacy of wartime design. The bookshows how design reflects the political, cultural and economic themes ofour times, how it connects both to the macro forces of history(industrialisation, consumerism, technology) and the micro forces (taste,money, desire) and how it manifests itself everywhere, from battlefield andboardroom to supermarket and schoolroom. More than anything, though, thebook tells the stories that lie behind the iconic designs of our times. Ittells how the first fitted kitchen was based on the principles behind theFord production line, how wartime research ultimately led to the biro,latex condoms and aviator sunglasses. It celebrates the heroes of designand the lesser know people responsible for some of the everyday objects wetake for granted. And it examines the role of the consumer and the issuesof taste - what really is good or bad design? Provocative, absorbing andpacked with images, this enthralling book reveals what design means to us -the trivial and the mundane, the life-saving and the world-changing.