Imagine Design Create: How Designers, Architects, and Engineers Are Changing Our World

by Tom Wujec (Editor), Tom Wujec (Editor)

Imagine, Design, Create offers a wide-ranging look at how the creative process and the tools of design are dramatically changing―and where design is headed in the coming years. Bringing together stories of good design happening around the world, the book shows how people are using fresh design approaches and new capabilities to solve problems, create opportunities, and improve the way we live and work.

From the impact of SOM’s Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland to the spark that inspired Thomas Heatherwick’s U.K. Pavilion in Shanghai; from the new processes fueling Zaha Hadid’s extraordinary architecture to the digital tools Ford is using to transform car design, each of these stories explores questions that swirl around the idea of design. How does design change our lives for the better? How is our capacity to produce good design evolving? How will the next generation of designers work? What will they make? What new areas of human experience is design opening for us? Now that designers can do almost anything―what should they do?

Genres: Design

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another read from my makerspace reference collection at work. It's comprised of profiles of interesting design projects and interviews with prominent designers. Overall it was very helpful in developing ways to think about design. I could never quite escape the sense I was being sold something (primarily by Autodesk, the company that edited the book, but also by the companies whose projects featured in the book). A couple of the segments and interviews were so weighed down by jargon as to be gibberish to the layman (or maybe these particular emperors have no clothes). However the good outweighed the bad and I know which sections to go to for inspiration when needed and which sections to flip past with an eyeroll.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book provided perspective on how to think more in terms of design. I was disappointed with the subliminal advertising of Autodesk, but overall found there to be some interesting points of view. I believe this is to be a good book for light reading on design, without getting bogged down into the nitty gritty. If you are after something with a little more substance, then I do not recommend. This book, I found provides an overview of what it is like to think in terms of design through the utilisation of 'short-stories' in a sense.

[Subin Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the iconic and rare books i own and I'm just flattered every time I refer this one because its just so much full of insights on design, architecture and engineering , the level of knowledge one can get on how the industries function in the above fields will leave you in awe... highly recommended.

[karl and mandy brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine Design Create: How Designers Engineers and Architects are Changing Our World came to me by way of a mentor and team member from my robotics team. They acquired it at the FIRST World Championships and gave it to me as a thank you for coaching the team. The book is produced by Autodesk and therefore has an Autodesk spin, but it still provides a decent overview to the world of design.

I liked the format of the book: short, single-topic chapters that presented a design project; heavy on cool pictures; thoughtful infographics; and Q&A sections interviewing leaders in design. Some of the projects are really quite inspiring, and the breadth of topics - from architecture to boats to robots to video games - kept my interest.

The conclusion was thought-provoking as the author pontificated the future of design - infinite computing, digitized reality, democratized design, and amazing complexity. But, it felt a little open-ended, like 'now what?' I'm not sure what it was exactly. Unfortunately. Maybe it felt too open-ended, and my engineering mind wants a box and more tangible conclusions. The other thing I was wished was that the author for each section was better identified. Contributors were listed at the end, but I wish there was more info on who wrote what piece.

In any case, it was a good read. I think I am going to pass it off to my robotics team this year and have each team member read a chapter, Q&A, and infographic a week then report to the team what they read.