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Design as Art
One of the last surviving members of the futurist generation, Bruno Munari's Design as Art is an illustrated journey into the artistic possibilities of modern design translated by Patrick Creagh published as part of the 'Penguin on Design' series in Penguin Modern Classics.
'The designer of today re-establishes the long-lost contact between art and the public, between living people and art as a living thing'
Bruno Munari was among the most inspirational designers of all time, described by Picasso as 'the new Leonardo'. Munari insisted that design be beautiful, functional and accessible, and this enlightening and highly entertaining book sets out his ideas about visual, graphic and industrial design and the role it plays in the objects we use everyday. Lamps, road signs, typography, posters, children's books, advertising, cars and chairs - these are just some of the subjects to which he turns his illuminating gaze.
How do we see the world around us? The Penguin on Design series includes the works of creative thinkers whose writings on art, design and the media have changed our vision forever.
Bruno Munari (1907-1998), born in Milan, was the enfant terrible of Italian art and design for most of the twentieth century, contributing to many fields of both visual (paint, sculpture, film, industrial design, graphics) and non-visual arts (literature, poetry). He was twice awarded the Compasso d'Oro design prize for excellence in his field.
If you enjoyed Design as Art, you might like John Berger's Ways of Seeing, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.
'One of the most influential designers of the twentieth century ... Munari has encouraged people to go beyond formal conventions and stereotypes by showing them how to widen their perceptual awareness'
International Herald Tribune
'The designer of today re-establishes the long-lost contact between art and the public, between living people and art as a living thing'
Bruno Munari was among the most inspirational designers of all time, described by Picasso as 'the new Leonardo'. Munari insisted that design be beautiful, functional and accessible, and this enlightening and highly entertaining book sets out his ideas about visual, graphic and industrial design and the role it plays in the objects we use everyday. Lamps, road signs, typography, posters, children's books, advertising, cars and chairs - these are just some of the subjects to which he turns his illuminating gaze.
How do we see the world around us? The Penguin on Design series includes the works of creative thinkers whose writings on art, design and the media have changed our vision forever.
Bruno Munari (1907-1998), born in Milan, was the enfant terrible of Italian art and design for most of the twentieth century, contributing to many fields of both visual (paint, sculpture, film, industrial design, graphics) and non-visual arts (literature, poetry). He was twice awarded the Compasso d'Oro design prize for excellence in his field.
If you enjoyed Design as Art, you might like John Berger's Ways of Seeing, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.
'One of the most influential designers of the twentieth century ... Munari has encouraged people to go beyond formal conventions and stereotypes by showing them how to widen their perceptual awareness'
International Herald Tribune
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
About the author
Bruno Munari
168 books275 followersBruno Munari (24 October 1907 - 30 September 1998) was an Italian artist and designer.
Munari contributed fundamentals in many fields of visual arts (paint, sculpture, film, industrial design, graphics) and non visual arts (literature, poetry, didactic) with the research on the game subject, infancy and creativity.
Munari contributed fundamentals in many fields of visual arts (paint, sculpture, film, industrial design, graphics) and non visual arts (literature, poetry, didactic) with the research on the game subject, infancy and creativity.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 419 reviews
March 12, 2020
I started reading this book since I am fascinated by design and this book is considered one of the best on it. But, sadly, I just couldn't get into it. I was bored throughout and had to stop reading midway. The reasons being - most of the concepts which might have been earth shattering 50 years back are now common knowledge and the other being that we have progressed into the realm of computers. The book is not really at fault for not addressing the second point but it just feels so dated.
May 30, 2020
"Art asks questions,Design practically answers them"
-what I got out of the book
Its really gotten out of hand lately and its vague as it is! but to answer most of the questions In a short informative thingie I always do here at Goodreads! I will say its the bridge between science and everyday life and thats my own philosophy what design is, you may have your own Idea about it! but its more related to having a practical solution rather than have a stylized approach in mind like most of the designers do now!! As a working professional(interaction&industrial design) I would like to give an example: Bruno Munari asked an old Designer namely the chief engineer who designed a scooter- why did he choose the particular color he used for the scooter? His simple answer was 'it was the most suitable and it was the cheapest' and I know its much more complicated than that! but you get what the general approach looks like and what it should be-"effectiveness over stylized accessories", I will leave your thoughts at that! And if you wanna have a chat what it is to you or you disagree! feel free to drop a message
-So long guys!soooooloooonngg
-what I got out of the book
Its really gotten out of hand lately and its vague as it is! but to answer most of the questions In a short informative thingie I always do here at Goodreads! I will say its the bridge between science and everyday life and thats my own philosophy what design is, you may have your own Idea about it! but its more related to having a practical solution rather than have a stylized approach in mind like most of the designers do now!! As a working professional(interaction&industrial design) I would like to give an example: Bruno Munari asked an old Designer namely the chief engineer who designed a scooter- why did he choose the particular color he used for the scooter? His simple answer was 'it was the most suitable and it was the cheapest' and I know its much more complicated than that! but you get what the general approach looks like and what it should be-"effectiveness over stylized accessories", I will leave your thoughts at that! And if you wanna have a chat what it is to you or you disagree! feel free to drop a message
-So long guys!soooooloooonngg
December 19, 2016
This has been my Italian year reading wise. After Elena Ferrante, Umberto Eco, Roberto Calasso, Felice Benuzzi, I'm adding Bruno Munari to my list of the best experiences of 2016. For me, Design as Art might be the definitive book on design, because it's precise, smart, and humorous, and because I've never before read anyone talk about design with such combination of joy and gentle scolding that at times I needed to close the book and laugh to myself. His idea that children are like cats (sit quietly and wait for them to notice you instead of pulling silly faces which will simply make them think you're silly), his descriptions of peas, rose or orange as design objects ("contains a small seed [...], a small free gift offered by the firm to the client in case the latter wishes to start a production of these objects on his own account"), his mediations on when design needs to step back and when it needs to step up, his maddening account on the various types of chairs or knives ("and is there anyone who doesn't know about the knife for making slits in chestnuts?"), his attempt at a poem made entirely out of graphic symbols... What a great read this one is.
June 27, 2020
Video review here
Appealing coffee book material, but conceptually vapid and over-opinionated as an art theory book. Many, many two page essays here explain basic principles that you forgot you already knew. 'The circle represents infinity, the square is home or a house'...
The problem is that he treats readers as his consumers rather than his peers or pupils. This reads like a sales pitch. This is a book convincing the public that 'design is art', but not a book informing future designers what makes design that is art.
As someone learning 3D and 2D visual art and design and who specializes in science illustration there just isn't that much interest here. I'm not sure if this was intended for a Western audience, but some of the cultural issues he has with bamboo just aren't that relevant or generalizable to other aspects of design. None of these essays have principles that can be extracted and applied to other areas, they are basic musings that are as specialized as they are useless to inspiring design. They don't encourage further thought, they question nothing, they simply state observations. The majority of the book is saying 'it is this way *just because* it is'. Being told fast cars are a luxury as if we didn't know this before without critiquing it in any useful way seemed patronizing, pandering and pretentious. Maybe this is the stride of a designer, to simply identify consumer interests and provide a sellable solution, but there's just no self-awareness or detail to this here. It felt like he wanted you to think he knew what design was more than to encourage, inform or instruct readers. He refuses any depth, and so I just drew blanks. All of this said, most of the essays are light and accessible, but not as interesting, brave or complex as say John Berger's or Susan Sontag's essays on art.
It's already too dated to be useful to anyone serious about design. I learned a lot more about art and geometry from a Jungian psychoanalysis essay in Man & His Symbols! I learned so much more passively about vector art design principles from reading the comic books of Chris Ware! These essays were impractical for me, so I'm glad to be done with them.
Appealing coffee book material, but conceptually vapid and over-opinionated as an art theory book. Many, many two page essays here explain basic principles that you forgot you already knew. 'The circle represents infinity, the square is home or a house'...
The problem is that he treats readers as his consumers rather than his peers or pupils. This reads like a sales pitch. This is a book convincing the public that 'design is art', but not a book informing future designers what makes design that is art.
As someone learning 3D and 2D visual art and design and who specializes in science illustration there just isn't that much interest here. I'm not sure if this was intended for a Western audience, but some of the cultural issues he has with bamboo just aren't that relevant or generalizable to other aspects of design. None of these essays have principles that can be extracted and applied to other areas, they are basic musings that are as specialized as they are useless to inspiring design. They don't encourage further thought, they question nothing, they simply state observations. The majority of the book is saying 'it is this way *just because* it is'. Being told fast cars are a luxury as if we didn't know this before without critiquing it in any useful way seemed patronizing, pandering and pretentious. Maybe this is the stride of a designer, to simply identify consumer interests and provide a sellable solution, but there's just no self-awareness or detail to this here. It felt like he wanted you to think he knew what design was more than to encourage, inform or instruct readers. He refuses any depth, and so I just drew blanks. All of this said, most of the essays are light and accessible, but not as interesting, brave or complex as say John Berger's or Susan Sontag's essays on art.
It's already too dated to be useful to anyone serious about design. I learned a lot more about art and geometry from a Jungian psychoanalysis essay in Man & His Symbols! I learned so much more passively about vector art design principles from reading the comic books of Chris Ware! These essays were impractical for me, so I'm glad to be done with them.
February 14, 2023
Italija ima suficit lepote. Gde god se baci pogled, neka golema lepota štedro laska oku. I sve to u dugom trajanju, odnosno, trajanjima koja žive u preplitanju. Lako je u takvim okolnostima biti razmažen, a još lakše uzimati zdravo za gotovo nešto izuzetno. Bruno Munari dokazuje svojim radom da je negovanje estetskih antena neraskidivo vezano sa podnebljem u kojem je neko stasavao. To nije nikakav neposredni zaključak knjige, već moje dopisivanje, zasnovano na onome što o Italiji možemo misliti u odnosu na svet mode, dizajna, umetnosti. Ali bez tog dodatka možda bi se previdelo da Munarijeva estetika počiva ne samo na idejama Bauhausa, već dodira sa svakodnevicom. A kada predmeti koje koristimo svaki dan, kao i okruženje u kome živimo postanu umetnost, tek tad ćemo moći, veli Munari, da kažemo da smo ostvarili uravnotežen život. Dizajner ne sme da se bavi poezijom, on mora da misli drukčije i da pravu meru svakom segmentu onoga čime se bavi, a najlepše je ono što je najfunkcionalnije. Najbolji učitelj dizajna je priroda i njena rešenja su dragocena svakom ko želi da se dizajnom bavi. Od primene bambusa do preseka orhideje, Munari pokazuje estetsku snagu funkcionalnosti predmeta. Dizajn je i komunikacija i putokaz i moćno sredstvo upravljanja. I bezbroj različitih stolica i ideja stolice. I ambalaža za keks i česma i font i tepih i hemijska olovka. Dizajn je i poziv na estetsku igru prepoznavanja i upoznavanja sa svetom, pravljenje prirode u prirodi. Uzbudljiva posla. Ipak, Munarijev značaj za istoriju dizajna prevazilazi njega kao mislioca.
January 19, 2009
Part social commentary in a world of design, part designerly musing, and part thoughtful criticism at a world filled with abused objects, Munari's new publication by Penguin is a welcoming oasis of short essays (many merely one page long concisely argued and written) to the tyranny of cognitive science and user research tomes dominating design thinking today (think Norman and IDEO combined).
Clearly, Munari was writing in and for another period. That was a period spearheaded by designers-thinkers from the ranks of Nelson, Eames, Maldonado, Rittel, Bill, Aicher and Dreyfuss. These designers offer the insight that acute observation combined with thoughtful reflection of the material world is one of the most powerful forte of a designer.
In this book, I like the Munari's insight of 'wearing' best. He asks us to look at how objects become worn in their everyday use. Should we design objects on the sole merit of personal aesthetics and upon the Platonic plane of Ideal Geometry? Or should we design objects according to a limited sampling of user-needs study? Or as Munari suggests, should we design objects according to how it has been worn across time?
Munari did not answer his question (neither would I!). But it is this pensive quality of his work that merit his presence in the mind of every design thinker--a mind that seeks to ponder the thoughts on design across time.
Clearly, Munari was writing in and for another period. That was a period spearheaded by designers-thinkers from the ranks of Nelson, Eames, Maldonado, Rittel, Bill, Aicher and Dreyfuss. These designers offer the insight that acute observation combined with thoughtful reflection of the material world is one of the most powerful forte of a designer.
In this book, I like the Munari's insight of 'wearing' best. He asks us to look at how objects become worn in their everyday use. Should we design objects on the sole merit of personal aesthetics and upon the Platonic plane of Ideal Geometry? Or should we design objects according to a limited sampling of user-needs study? Or as Munari suggests, should we design objects according to how it has been worn across time?
Munari did not answer his question (neither would I!). But it is this pensive quality of his work that merit his presence in the mind of every design thinker--a mind that seeks to ponder the thoughts on design across time.
December 10, 2017
munari diceva: «il sogno dell'artista è quello di arrivare al museo, il sogno del designer è quello di arrivare al mercato rionale». e diceva pure: «l'uovo è una forma perfetta benché sia fatta col culo».
eccoci qui. con un libro in cui c'è tutto: il sublime e il prosaico, il colpo di genio dell'ispirazione e la ripetitività del metodo, il volo pindarico e la pratica. un testo fondamentale. da consultare, da leggere, da tenere lì perché di munari non ci si stanca (io non mi stanco) mai.
eccoci qui. con un libro in cui c'è tutto: il sublime e il prosaico, il colpo di genio dell'ispirazione e la ripetitività del metodo, il volo pindarico e la pratica. un testo fondamentale. da consultare, da leggere, da tenere lì perché di munari non ci si stanca (io non mi stanco) mai.
February 4, 2018
About half of this book is excellent and insightful design theory, which I found compelling and inspiring as a designer myself. However, the rest of the material somewhat detracts from the excellence of these parts with tangential stories about the author's own projects (references to his own work aren't a bad thing as such, they are just too frequent and sometimes too lengthy) and a couple of tedious chapters that spend several pages dramatically emphasising a single point.
March 1, 2018
Autore: italiano (1907-1998). Articoli
Con la penna fu un genio del designer e un ottimo scrittore. Cose che non coesistono obbligatoriamente, insieme a molte altre che attiravano l’eclettismo di Munari.
Ogni tanto dico che non dovrei comperare più nulla e rileggere ciò che ho già, almeno in parte.
La mia libraia sbianca, ma poi si riprende: sa che adesso, ormai, non sarebbe più possibile.
Forse esiste un centro dove, a furia di visioni coatte di Amici, XFactor, Isola dei famosi, C’è posta per te, come il drugo Alex potrei disintossicarmi…. ma solo scriverlo qui mi terrorizza.
Ogni tanto, cercando un po’ di spazio o spolverando, mi cade l’occhio su qualcosa che non posso fare a meno di riprendere in mano.
Questo, ad esempio, che ho aperto alle pagine dedicate ad una casa giapponese.
Tempo fa vidi un bel documentario su Kurosawa con delle bellissime immagini della sua casa.
A parte il perfetto giardino e i vari specchi d’acqua, la casa era la tradizionale (e ormai costosissima) casa giapponese a pareti di carta mobili. La sola differenza era l’assenza di tatami e la presenza di pavimenti in legno. Il futon non era per terra, ma su una rete di legno. Vista l’età degli abitanti erano presenti delle panche e alcune semplicissime sedie. Tutto rigorosamente in legno.
Spazio per un solo vaso di fiori ed un solo quadro o pannello.
Mia madre, che soffriva di horror vacui, non avrebbe mai potuto abitare in Giappone.
lettura del 1967
sbirciata del 28.02.2018
Con la penna fu un genio del designer e un ottimo scrittore. Cose che non coesistono obbligatoriamente, insieme a molte altre che attiravano l’eclettismo di Munari.
Ogni tanto dico che non dovrei comperare più nulla e rileggere ciò che ho già, almeno in parte.
La mia libraia sbianca, ma poi si riprende: sa che adesso, ormai, non sarebbe più possibile.
Forse esiste un centro dove, a furia di visioni coatte di Amici, XFactor, Isola dei famosi, C’è posta per te, come il drugo Alex potrei disintossicarmi…. ma solo scriverlo qui mi terrorizza.
Ogni tanto, cercando un po’ di spazio o spolverando, mi cade l’occhio su qualcosa che non posso fare a meno di riprendere in mano.
Questo, ad esempio, che ho aperto alle pagine dedicate ad una casa giapponese.
Tempo fa vidi un bel documentario su Kurosawa con delle bellissime immagini della sua casa.
A parte il perfetto giardino e i vari specchi d’acqua, la casa era la tradizionale (e ormai costosissima) casa giapponese a pareti di carta mobili. La sola differenza era l’assenza di tatami e la presenza di pavimenti in legno. Il futon non era per terra, ma su una rete di legno. Vista l’età degli abitanti erano presenti delle panche e alcune semplicissime sedie. Tutto rigorosamente in legno.
Spazio per un solo vaso di fiori ed un solo quadro o pannello.
Mia madre, che soffriva di horror vacui, non avrebbe mai potuto abitare in Giappone.
lettura del 1967
sbirciata del 28.02.2018
February 7, 2020
طراحی در معنای هنر
برگردان آزاده بیات،شادی عظیمی و گروه علمی چهارباغ
کتاب از لحاظ تئوری چیزی به دانسته هاتون اضافه نمیکنه
فقط ادعای تصحیح نوع نگاه هنرمند رو داره و این ادعا رو تا حدودی عملی میکنه
در هر صورت خوندنش خالی از لطف نیست،خصوصا برای هنرجویان و هنرآموزانی که ابتدای راه هستن
برگردان آزاده بیات،شادی عظیمی و گروه علمی چهارباغ
کتاب از لحاظ تئوری چیزی به دانسته هاتون اضافه نمیکنه
فقط ادعای تصحیح نوع نگاه هنرمند رو داره و این ادعا رو تا حدودی عملی میکنه
در هر صورت خوندنش خالی از لطف نیست،خصوصا برای هنرجویان و هنرآموزانی که ابتدای راه هستن
April 9, 2017
‘Copying nature’ is one thing and understanding nature is another. Copying nature can be simply a form of manual dexterity that does not help us to understand, for it shows us things just as we are accustomed to seeing them. But studying the structures of nature, observing the evolution of forms, can give everyone a better understanding of the world we live in.
It's a gem!
December 2, 2021
3.5 Stars!
Penguin published many handy and interesting little books like this around the 1970s which are really insightful and informative, by the likes of John Berger and Susan Sontag, and many others, covering many fields of art and culture in new (for the time at least) and refreshing ways.
Munari makes for good company as he chats away about his various ideas on beauty, design and taste and although some of what he says may fall under the obvious to many, he still makes for worthwhile and engaging reading and overall I enjoyed this.
March 21, 2020
I enjoyed all of these essays, and there were a few that particularly stood out. I wish good reads had half star allocations because this would be 3.5. I liked it.
January 28, 2024
This was maybe the worst book to read after Gombrich's "The Story of Art." Where the latter encourages flexibility of mind and humility in the face of art, Munari storms in with opinions he seems to consider set in stone but which to me did little beyond feeling arrogant. I didn't unfortunately find his essays amusing or revelatory, instead they felt like an exercise in self-indulgence or self-promotion, coupled with a slight obsession with Japan. It's possible this was genius in the 1960s when the world was defining modernity - now, I felt, there was little to learn and little to enjoy.
January 28, 2024
I always hope writings on art and design will be comprehensive and increase the reader's understanding of the field and I always come out disappointed. The book is filled with useless jargon and unnecessary similes and when it is not doing that the author is shoving his own point of view down your throat. Reading the book only taught me one thing. Self proclaimed artists and designers can't write even though they seem to think so.
August 2, 2023
Honestly, I am a bit disappointed. Half of this book is just plain outdated - concepts aren't new or are difficult to believe in today's world. Book print (Penguin) is difficult to read too - the book format is difficult to handle, hold, flip pages.
I expected something better.
I expected something better.
November 10, 2010
Maxim Gorky: "An artist is a man who digests his own subjective impressions and knows how to find a general objective meaning in them, and how to express them in a convincing form."
"[Design] is planning: the planning as objectively as possible of everything that goes to make up the surroundings and atmosphere in which men live today." (35)
"A poem only communicates if read slowly: only then does it have time to create a state of mind in which the images can form and be transformed." (68)
"Any knowledge of the world we live in is useful, and enables us to understand things that previously we did not know existed." (82)
Tao Te-ching: "Concern yourself with things before they come into existence." (160)
"Naturally, this puts an end to the already tarnished image of the work of art as a rare and even unique thing, independent of what it expresses." (167)
Paul Valery: "The greatest freedom comes from the greatest strictness." (172)
Goethe: "To understand means to be capable of doing." (185)
"According to an ancient Chinese saying, infinity is a square without corners." (195)
"If the idea is there, the brush can spare itself the work. (Ancient rule of Chinese painting." (200)
"[Design] is planning: the planning as objectively as possible of everything that goes to make up the surroundings and atmosphere in which men live today." (35)
"A poem only communicates if read slowly: only then does it have time to create a state of mind in which the images can form and be transformed." (68)
"Any knowledge of the world we live in is useful, and enables us to understand things that previously we did not know existed." (82)
Tao Te-ching: "Concern yourself with things before they come into existence." (160)
"Naturally, this puts an end to the already tarnished image of the work of art as a rare and even unique thing, independent of what it expresses." (167)
Paul Valery: "The greatest freedom comes from the greatest strictness." (172)
Goethe: "To understand means to be capable of doing." (185)
"According to an ancient Chinese saying, infinity is a square without corners." (195)
"If the idea is there, the brush can spare itself the work. (Ancient rule of Chinese painting." (200)
January 7, 2020
This book is a collection of short informal essays, many of which are not worthy of publication and seem to stand solely in the shadow of Munari's reputation as a designer. They read as notes to self and are not nearly as informative as I expected them to be, not to mention that they are not very cohesive as a whole (especially towards the end of the book), which makes it hard to gain any reading momentum. I concede that there are bits and pieces of insightful information here and there, such as the main idea that the form of a piece of design should organically follow from its function. However, if you want more than a "toilet read," to quote another review I remember reading when first coming across this book, you'd be better off with a different title.
January 12, 2024
i love an illustrated book and i liked his funny writing, didn’t expect such a lovely sentimental appendix
September 26, 2024
In the beginning i was so enthralled in this. Up until about page 126. Then imo he was Bruno was just yapping about nothing. But before that was very solid. He really got me thinking more complexly about what art means in the modern world and how things are meant to blend together and form a soul. Whether this be a project you’re working on, your home, or anything else. Art snd aesthetic are even more important today in our hyper consumerist society. He was definitely right in stating art reflects lived culture, not culture studies of 200+ years ago but of following trends and artistic waves of the present.
August 4, 2025
davvero incredibile
L'individualismo porta alla valorizzazione del genio in tutti i campi, mentre il senso della specie porta alle grandi realizzazioni collettive. Il genio produce opere singolari e crea negli altri individui un complesso di inferiorità, una frustrazione che impedisce loro di realizzare le proprie aspirazioni. Il senso della specie porta a lavorare per gli altri, ad aiutare il prossimo (che siamo sempre noi stessi) a risolvere collettivamente piccoli e grandi problemi.
L'individualismo porta alla valorizzazione del genio in tutti i campi, mentre il senso della specie porta alle grandi realizzazioni collettive. Il genio produce opere singolari e crea negli altri individui un complesso di inferiorità, una frustrazione che impedisce loro di realizzare le proprie aspirazioni. Il senso della specie porta a lavorare per gli altri, ad aiutare il prossimo (che siamo sempre noi stessi) a risolvere collettivamente piccoli e grandi problemi.
October 28, 2026
finished in one sitting whilst in the countryside of algeria, very fitting place to read a book like this as I’m surrounded by mountains and trees full of fruit whilst i stay in my newly constructed family home. this juxtaposition of contemporary architecture and the natural world really put me in a meditative mood, very lucky to see design in all forms and it was like I was living the theory in this book.
- ”All oranges should have an identical round shape. But in reality one grows in the shade, another in the sun, another in a narrow space between two branches, and they all turn out to be different. This diversity is a sign of life as it is actually lived… all of the same family but different.” - we all some oranges fr
- ”All oranges should have an identical round shape. But in reality one grows in the shade, another in the sun, another in a narrow space between two branches, and they all turn out to be different. This diversity is a sign of life as it is actually lived… all of the same family but different.” - we all some oranges fr
April 13, 2017
Så tacksam att få ta del av Munaris humoristiska, erfarenhetsbaserade tankar om design.
Fann den via en 'staff pick' i museishoppen på National Portrait Gallery.
Fann den via en 'staff pick' i museishoppen på National Portrait Gallery.
May 24, 2023
I think this was an enjoyable and sometimes with some pretty profound ideas about Design and our role as Designers. The last chapter took me multiple months to finish, because unfortunately, that part was quite boring to me.. Other than that, definitely recommended if you can look through the last chapter!
December 4, 2017
I haven’t done a proper book review in the past few months, but since Scupp seems to be keeping up, I suppose I’m OBLIGATED to.
Anywho, I had originally read Design as Art a while back because it was recommended to me by someone at the Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin, and about a year or two later by a Danish guy at a clothing store in NYC when we were talking Naoto Fukasawa. I had no idea what to expect upon going in.
What I found was one of the most brilliant explanations of the merit of industrial, graphic, and architectural design I have cole across yet. Munari’s very mid-century Italian humour pairs well with his immense knowledge of the tradition of commercial design as an art form. In many ways, Design as Art helped me learn to engage with everyday objects as not just objects of utility, but expressions of culture and aesthetic value.
Either way, Munari basically said everything Dieter Rams wanted to say about design in a much more round-about way, so kudos to him for that.
Anywho, I had originally read Design as Art a while back because it was recommended to me by someone at the Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin, and about a year or two later by a Danish guy at a clothing store in NYC when we were talking Naoto Fukasawa. I had no idea what to expect upon going in.
What I found was one of the most brilliant explanations of the merit of industrial, graphic, and architectural design I have cole across yet. Munari’s very mid-century Italian humour pairs well with his immense knowledge of the tradition of commercial design as an art form. In many ways, Design as Art helped me learn to engage with everyday objects as not just objects of utility, but expressions of culture and aesthetic value.
Either way, Munari basically said everything Dieter Rams wanted to say about design in a much more round-about way, so kudos to him for that.
September 10, 2024
Do you know these footnotes in old academic literature, which go along the line of "this information was revealed to me in a dream"?
Yea, that's my overall feeling when reading academic books from the 20th century. What are references? What is peer reviewing? Why should I underline my assumptions with empirical studies? All these questions were definitely not asked by Munari.
However it was still kind of a nice read. It's easy to understand what he's trying to say, although a little bit too focused on his own, very contemporary and very useless art projects (I'm not mean here, he even has some art called "useless machine" I think).
Still, Munari shows us, how design is incorporated into nearly every aspect of our live. From architecture to our spoons and knifes. And that is indeed quite interesting.
Yea, that's my overall feeling when reading academic books from the 20th century. What are references? What is peer reviewing? Why should I underline my assumptions with empirical studies? All these questions were definitely not asked by Munari.
However it was still kind of a nice read. It's easy to understand what he's trying to say, although a little bit too focused on his own, very contemporary and very useless art projects (I'm not mean here, he even has some art called "useless machine" I think).
Still, Munari shows us, how design is incorporated into nearly every aspect of our live. From architecture to our spoons and knifes. And that is indeed quite interesting.
July 24, 2024
A romp through design fundamentals that aims to be self-insistent on its own self-actualising statements.
The first half does a good job to introduce its reader to the aims of this essay, while the second fails on the delivery.
It hails upon its own entry-level opinions too much, for how much it claims to achieve.
What I expected was a philosophical approach similar to Mill's utilitarianism essays, or at least perhaps a Jungian analysis of the way we inherently perceive some designs as relevant in an archetypal way, but what I got instead were coffee shop tier prances through worldwide designs. It mistakes detailed enumeration for deep thought, as it speaks in droves of circles, and why circles "just make sense" to be the chosen design for a plate.
The first half does a good job to introduce its reader to the aims of this essay, while the second fails on the delivery.
It hails upon its own entry-level opinions too much, for how much it claims to achieve.
What I expected was a philosophical approach similar to Mill's utilitarianism essays, or at least perhaps a Jungian analysis of the way we inherently perceive some designs as relevant in an archetypal way, but what I got instead were coffee shop tier prances through worldwide designs. It mistakes detailed enumeration for deep thought, as it speaks in droves of circles, and why circles "just make sense" to be the chosen design for a plate.
August 10, 2024
unbelievably boring. i bought this book at a museum in spain and was really excited to learn more about design, especially after the introduction, which promised the importance of design in modern society. the book is a collection of essays, reiterating points like 'life imitates art' or 'form follows function' or some other other banal statement that quite literally everybody knows. by the time i finished half of the book i didn't even know what i learned. i'm not quite sure how this book earns the high rating it has, but its disconnected structure kept me consistently uninterested. cool illustrations. nothing particularly insightful.
March 29, 2014
Like listening to a wise elder ramble on an on about varying topics only to find that at the end of all of it, the specifics of the monologue have all melted together. An easy mindless but enjoyable & wise read.
January 28, 2021
A beautiful little book.
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