By Design: Why There Are No Locks on the Bathroom Doors in the Hotel Louis XIV and Other Object Lessons

by Ralph Caplan

An inspiring resource for design students, professionals or anyone else who could benefit from a fuller appreciation of the design process, By Design vividly shows how design affects our most significant human activities. A network of engrossing stories illuminate the process as it applies to industrial design, interior design, fashion design, graphic design and the design of business and social situations. It is the perfect accompaniment to a broad area of foundation courses for designers-in-training. This new edition of the popular classic features updated examples of timeless ideas, illustrated in full colour. A concluding chapter discusses what has, and has not, changed since the first edition, examining design responses to radical technological development and shifting consumer demands. An elegant foreword by Paola Antonelli of the Museum of Modern Arts Department of Architecture and Design reintroduces the book to a fresh generation of readers.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, History, Art Design, Art

267 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1982

About the author

Ralph Caplan is a contributing editor at Print magazine, a regular contributor to VOICE: The AIGA Online Journal of Graphic Design and has written articles for Design Quarterly, Interior Design, The New York Times, and House and Garden. He began his long and distinguished career in design journalism in the late 1950's as editor-in-chief at I.D. Magazine. His books include By Design: Why There Are No Locks on the Bathroom Doors in the Hotel Louis XIV and Other Object Lessons (Fairchild, 2005) and Cracking the Whip: Essays On Design And Its Side Effects (Fairchild, 2005). Ralph has also written extensively for and about the furniture manufacturer Herman Miller. He is a director emeritus of the International Design Conference in Aspen, Colorado, an honorary member of IDSA, and, in 2005, was a writer-in-residence at Haystack Mountain School of Arts and Crafts.

Reviews

[David Rush · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caplan covers a lot of territory and makes some interesting observations, such as when he takes up what I assume to be a common topic in the design world of how different or alike is design and art.

“Art illuminates experience without asking us to become something other than what we are. The motive of all design is to change lives…even the most prosaic design always aspires to an ideal, while art address itself to actuality” quoting Hilton Kramer on Pg. 121
 
There is a depressing way to account for the current closeness of the industrial and fine arts. If they are more nearly equal than ever before, it is not because industrial designers are better but because painters and sculptors are worse….It is not commercialism that brings painting closer to design, but the impoverishment of vision. Pg 122

And I also like this one...

Enarson observed that “our problem is not the shortage of facts, but our inability to grasp the significance of the facts…and our reluctance to do what needs to be done…All too often [our] new tools and techniques create the illusion of planning and thus distract us from facing issues” Pg 179

AMEN BROTHER!


Interesting, right? But to the purpose of the book, here are two quotes that I think encapsulate Caplan’s view of what life is all about and how design is part of it, which unfortunately includes a quoted endorsement of circuses of which I have a congenital aversion to.

For design is a process for making things right, for shaping what people need. Pg 10

The layout of the circus under canvas is more like the plan of the Acropolis than anything else; it is a beautiful arrangement established by the boss canvas man and the lot boss...The concept of “appropriateness,” this “how-it-should-be-ness” has equal value in the circus, in the making of a work or art, and in science. -Quote of Charles Eames Pg. 203

Although a different tone and a flashier style he seems to be similar to or at least in harmony with the Bill Stumpf book ( https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) and now that I look at my review of that other book the similarities are more apparent. Both tie the design process to the structure of civilization. In fact in By Design Caplan has this nice part that I found particularly insightful.

A chair is the first thing you need when you don’t need anything, and is therefore a peculiarly compelling symbol of civilization. For it is civilization, not survival, that requires design. Pg. 92

I used that to go off on a tangent in my own mind to consider that it is in fact the idea of civilization that separates just surviving from being part of something involving an active and enriching encounter between humans. I suppose that is sort of the definition of civilization so I guess I meant to say...people confuse survival as a species to an actual civilization and "civilization" requires observation, sensitivity and planning. Basically design.

Along these lines Caplan tries to claim that in the history of design the tasks of designers has changed from creating objects to designing “possibilities” which is a much more open process as opposed to an object to worked upon.

The design of possibilities is initiatory rather than reactionary, a departure from the mode of operation in which the client shapes the problem because it is his problem.  Pg 181

and

The framers, ahead of their time in design as in everything else, were concerned with process rather than with end product. Their designs were truly anticipatory, at once describing possibilities and protecting them. Pg. 177

But he still likes his objects...

We still must learn to make the resources of technology yield objects we respect and love, objects designed for use and affection rather than for sales and acceptance. PG.74

But even though this is book about design, I think there is one small section that applies to all areas of life.

They had raised such basic design questions as: What do you want to accomplish? What are the materials you have to work with? Who are the people involved? What do they need and want? If there is a problem, what might a solution look like? What forms might it take? What form can we give it? Pg. 144

This simple condensation on how to approach any design problem would be a godsend to any business meeting or if applied to personal relationships would save us from so much stress if not even save lives. Think about it, at any point of any conflict everybody stopped to examine what materials are involved, who it will affect and what might they need. And if there is a problem what might a solution look like.

THAT is some heavy stuff. Very logical and very mature...so we know that ain’t gonna happen.

[Vlad Golovach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and well researched book on design both for designers and non-designers alike. The more you know design and design history, the more you will be appalled by its depth - lots of complex and non-obvious stuff is told in the passing.

[Sarthak Pranit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seriously! Why isn't this book famous yet? It's a brilliant work for the very thing enthusiastic designers look for - What was the problem and how did one solve it?

By Design is a book that practices humility - something that most designers loose their hold on. After a long time, I finally found a book that preached Dieter Ram's philosophy for good design while balancing Christopher Alexander's idea of honest design. And I truly loved the idea of 'handicapped design' that got coined in this book. To all sesigners that have been bogged down by ridiculous 'lets-also-do's from PMs and POs, I assure you fellas that you'll be grinning around your head at that point in the book.

On an uber level, this is a must-have-on-book-rack kinda work because it's a treatise on intent - the driving force behind every problem that has been solved. As a designer(established or upcoming), do give this a read if you have been feeling that lately your ego is getting the better of you quite a lot.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must-read for any designer (print, web, industrial, whatever) that thinks he or she has it all figured out. There's a lot of well deserved smack-down for designers in this book. On one end of the spectrum, we have folks who claim to design things when they are only stylizing them; on the other end, we have folks who shed all style in favor of functionality. Both earn well-deserved smacks from Caplan (even Bauhaus designers are smacked around in this book, and yes, they, too, deserve it).

Everyone, regardless of their status in the design industry, will learn something from this book. It's a wake up call, written by a guy who has made design criticism his business, for folks who don't know jack (and don't care much) about design. It's inspiring, infuriating, and highly educational.

[Ellice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this book to explore my own inclination to find much talk about "design" from "design enthusiasts" as irritating, snobby, and elitist. Isn't everything made by humans designed? If so, what makes an Eames chair any better than any other kind of chair? Aren't all of these things subjective, not objective?

Spoiler: This book did not inspire me to become a design enthusiast, and I still struggle with all of these questions, as well as a few other new ones.

That said, it was a generally interesting read, though I disagree with many of its points. I was a bit frustrated by the fact that in Caplan's meandering style, he would bring up some really intriguing point--and then immediately move on to something else. Clearly he has a lot to offer, but he didn't always seem disciplined enough to focus in on even his own points.

Entertaining, and worth a read, but don't expect any grand unified theory of design here.

[Anton Shanaurin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ещё одна из книг, которые я давно хотел прочитать, как, наверное, это видно, основа этого желания лежит в давнишнем увлечением ЖЖ Артемия Лебедева. Тот случай, когда увлечение прошло, а желание, как и интерес к этой области деятельности, не угасли.
Книга отличная, насыщенная не только точными жизненными наблюдениями, но и перспективой. В конце книги автор говорит о том, что все знают, что делать и главный вопрос для него, на который он не знает ответа, это как. Но дело в том, что мне, читателю, не очень понятен ещё ответ на первый вопрос и часть ответа для меня и была заключена в этой книге, в чём я благодарен этой книге.

[Dmitry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Some stories seemed random to me, I don’t know their context, but scattered here and there are true gems – thoughts about important aspects of design. Not the easiest read for a non-native English speaker. Observations about situational design were enlightening to me.

[Cuiet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Очень специальная книга, сборник статей/эссе на разные темы, попытка понять, что же такое дизайн и где его место в мире.

[Rose Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little more academic and dry than I expected.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and engaging book, one of those rare ones I've read that makes me view the world differently afterward.

In a nutshell, this serves as a great introductory answer to the question "Why does design matter?" I didn't fully grasp why and wasn't that interested in the subject, which is why I especially appreciated the auther's embrace of the idea "a subject important enough to warrant a large book should be introduced by a short one." This is a fairly short book (though that doesn't mean it goes quickly - there's much to chew on).

There are so many engaging ideas visited here it's difficult to absorb them all immediately. Two that struck me were:

1. How often products/solutions are created to overcome design flaws in other products (!). For instance, non-slip pads for bathtubs - if the bathtub was better designed, such a pad would not be needed.

2. The proposition that one way to define being physically disabled is when someone is incapable of compensating for inadequate design. Put another way, the world is full of products and environments that work only because humans can adjust to them (chairs or entranceways, for instance). When someone's body cannot make the necessary adjustments, they are "disabled."

The chapter on Ray and Charles Eames is a pleasure to read by itself. I plan to read more about them, and was delighted to see that their film experiments are available on Netflix.

Highly recommended - right now I can't look at anything in my house without thinking about it from a design perspective.

[Glen Russell Slater · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ralph Caplan can flat out WRITE. I've read articles of his before, and he has a true talent of making the ordinary seem extraordinary. Caplan could write a book about a turd and make it into a "I couldn't put it down" kind of book. I am not in the least interested in "design" and such; in fact, ordinarily, no subject would bore me more. But Caplan is such a gifted writer with such a great dry sense of humor, I absolutely loved the book.

[Gage · Rating 1 out of 5]

I attempted to read this book and stopped because it seemed to filled with incoherent ranting. I may have been distracted when reading it though, so I'll give it another shot in the future. For now though, I have to give it 1 Star.

[Evgenia Pradel · Rating 2 out of 5]

there are some good ideas but a lot of blabla as well

[Niloy Mitra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite interesting. The last third of the book is quite good.