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Designing Media
Mainstream media, often known simply as MSM, have not yet disappeared in a digital takeover of the media landscape. But the long-dominant MSM--television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and books--have had to respond to emergent digital media.
Newspapers have interactive Web sites; television broadcasts over the Internet; books are published in both electronic and print editions. In Designing Media, design guru Bill Moggridge examines connections and conflicts between old and new media, describing how the MSM have changed and how new patterns of media consumption are emerging.
The book features interviews with thirty-seven significant figures in both traditional and new forms of mass communication; interviewees range from the publisher of the New York Times to the founder of Twitter. We learn about innovations in media that rely on contributions from a crowd (or a community), as told by Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales and Craigslist's Craig Newmark; how the band OK Go built a following using YouTube; how real-time connections between dispatchers and couriers inspired Twitter; how a BusinessWeek blog became a quarterly printed supplement to the magazine; and how e-readers have evolved from Rocket eBook to QUE. Ira Glass compares the intimacy of radio to that of the Internet; the producer of PBS's Frontline supports the program's investigative journalism by putting documentation of its findings online; and the developers of Google's Trendalyzer software describe its beginnings as animations that accompanied lectures about social and economic development in rural Africa.
At the end of each chapter, Moggridge comments on the implications for designing media. Designing Media is illustrated with hundreds of images, with color throughout. A DVD accompanying the book includes excerpts from all of the interviews, and the material can be browsed at an accompanying website.
Interviews with Chris Anderson, Rich Archuleta, Blixa Bargeld, Colin Callender, Fred Deakin, Martin Eberhard, David Fanning, Jane Friedman, Mark Gerzon, Ira Glass, Nat Hunter, Chad Hurley, Joel Hyatt, Alex Juhasz, Jorge Just, Alex MacLean, Bob Mason, Roger McNamee, Jeremy Merle, Craig Newmark, Bruce Nussbaum, Alice Rawsthorn, Anna Rosling R?nnlund, Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Paul Saffo, Jesse Scanlon, DJ Spooky, Neil Stevenson, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Shinichi Takemura, James Truman, Jimmy Wales, Tim Westergren, Ev Williams, Erin Zhu, Mark Zuckerberg
Newspapers have interactive Web sites; television broadcasts over the Internet; books are published in both electronic and print editions. In Designing Media, design guru Bill Moggridge examines connections and conflicts between old and new media, describing how the MSM have changed and how new patterns of media consumption are emerging.
The book features interviews with thirty-seven significant figures in both traditional and new forms of mass communication; interviewees range from the publisher of the New York Times to the founder of Twitter. We learn about innovations in media that rely on contributions from a crowd (or a community), as told by Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales and Craigslist's Craig Newmark; how the band OK Go built a following using YouTube; how real-time connections between dispatchers and couriers inspired Twitter; how a BusinessWeek blog became a quarterly printed supplement to the magazine; and how e-readers have evolved from Rocket eBook to QUE. Ira Glass compares the intimacy of radio to that of the Internet; the producer of PBS's Frontline supports the program's investigative journalism by putting documentation of its findings online; and the developers of Google's Trendalyzer software describe its beginnings as animations that accompanied lectures about social and economic development in rural Africa.
At the end of each chapter, Moggridge comments on the implications for designing media. Designing Media is illustrated with hundreds of images, with color throughout. A DVD accompanying the book includes excerpts from all of the interviews, and the material can be browsed at an accompanying website.
Interviews with Chris Anderson, Rich Archuleta, Blixa Bargeld, Colin Callender, Fred Deakin, Martin Eberhard, David Fanning, Jane Friedman, Mark Gerzon, Ira Glass, Nat Hunter, Chad Hurley, Joel Hyatt, Alex Juhasz, Jorge Just, Alex MacLean, Bob Mason, Roger McNamee, Jeremy Merle, Craig Newmark, Bruce Nussbaum, Alice Rawsthorn, Anna Rosling R?nnlund, Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Paul Saffo, Jesse Scanlon, DJ Spooky, Neil Stevenson, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Shinichi Takemura, James Truman, Jimmy Wales, Tim Westergren, Ev Williams, Erin Zhu, Mark Zuckerberg
577 pages, Hardcover
First published October 31, 2010
7 people are currently reading
165 people want to read
About the author
Bill Moggridge
6 books16 followersBill was the director of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, the only museum in the United States devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design. He designed the first laptop computer, the Grid Compass. He describes his career as having three phases, first as a designer with projects for clients in ten countries, second as a co-founder of IDEO where he developed design methods for interdisciplinary design teams, and third as a spokesperson for the value of design in everyday life, writing, presenting and teaching, supported by the historical depth and contemporary reach of the museum.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 16, 2026
Although the book is a bit dated (till ~2010), it gives a wholesome, multi-faceted perspective into the evolution of Main Stream Media (MSM) driven by technology up to that point.
But in so doing it also informs where it is in the present (2026) and where it is headed in the future - personalised consumption, decentralised production and accessibility in different formats, leveraging the unique virtues of each medium of communication.
It is idealistic and optimistic in its overall tone and as a maker myself, I felt positively triggered by this ✨
But in so doing it also informs where it is in the present (2026) and where it is headed in the future - personalised consumption, decentralised production and accessibility in different formats, leveraging the unique virtues of each medium of communication.
It is idealistic and optimistic in its overall tone and as a maker myself, I felt positively triggered by this ✨
August 30, 2013
If you read this collection of interviews with important people in the world of design, technology, and media in 2013 or later, you should realize that the interviews were conducted circa 2008-10, and some of the discussions are dated. For example, there's an interview about an e-reader that never took off and the Current TV network is gushed over as if it's going to change the world (it was recently purchased by Al Jazeera and no longer exists).
Still, the interviews are interesting to read. The questions generally focus on how the interviewees got where they are, where their big ideas came from, their core principles, and how they operate. Some of the big names interviewed here include Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Tim Westergren (Pandora), Craig Newmark (Craig's List), and Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia). But many of the interviews with less famous people--a design columnist for the New York Times/International Herald Tribune, the former CEO of HarperCollins, an HBO executive--are just as interesting. These are all people who have changed the world to different extents.
The interviews are really just enough to pique your interest; they are neither long nor terribly deep. I found the commentary surrounding the interviews somewhat lacking in depth and analysis. Still, I found myself Googling people and concepts to learn more, so the book as a whole was worth reading. It is well suited for reading piecemeal at the coffee table or before going to sleep.
Still, the interviews are interesting to read. The questions generally focus on how the interviewees got where they are, where their big ideas came from, their core principles, and how they operate. Some of the big names interviewed here include Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Tim Westergren (Pandora), Craig Newmark (Craig's List), and Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia). But many of the interviews with less famous people--a design columnist for the New York Times/International Herald Tribune, the former CEO of HarperCollins, an HBO executive--are just as interesting. These are all people who have changed the world to different extents.
The interviews are really just enough to pique your interest; they are neither long nor terribly deep. I found the commentary surrounding the interviews somewhat lacking in depth and analysis. Still, I found myself Googling people and concepts to learn more, so the book as a whole was worth reading. It is well suited for reading piecemeal at the coffee table or before going to sleep.
December 30, 2011
Bill Moggridge has amassed a wonderful collection of interviews and essays on the changing face of media. From DJ Spooky to Chris Anderson to Ira Glass, this book so far has been a wonderful read. I haven't watched the entire DVD that comes with the book yet but so far those I have seen are insightful and thought-provoking.
Moggridge presents the information like the fun textbook that you wish you'd been assigned in college. This book would make a great companion to any digital media course. Likewise, anyone who is in the communications world should get a copy and start examining your future in your industry. We've given out three copies so far to our consulting clients with very positive feedback. Highly recommended!
Moggridge presents the information like the fun textbook that you wish you'd been assigned in college. This book would make a great companion to any digital media course. Likewise, anyone who is in the communications world should get a copy and start examining your future in your industry. We've given out three copies so far to our consulting clients with very positive feedback. Highly recommended!
February 2, 2011
Ehh, okay. I really was looking for a deep tissue examination of how different kinds of media (especially digital) are being designed today. Instead, this book's really more of a collection of magazine style Q&As with a long cast of very interesting personalities: Zuckerberg, Ira Glass, Ev Williams, and a few dozen others. The accompanying DVD is a video record of the author's interviews with the people he profiles; among the ones I watched (about 5) I didn't see anything substantially new in the video that wasn't in the book.
June 5, 2012
A respectable achievement that suffers from subject matter than has quickly dated since the book was released. Still, there are some interesting insights from the many design / technology glitterati interviewed here that make the 500+ page slog fairly worthwhile. More annoying are the prosaically written personal vignettes describing each person Moggridge interviews, and the unnecessary summaries ending each chapter that seem to imply we readers are not smart enough to glean the insights buried within.
May 12, 2011
It's hard to write a book on technology that is still current by the time it is published. Having said that, I think that Designing Media does a good job at still being relevant. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the insights of those chosen to be interviewed for this book. This was the textbook for one of my classes, and I think it was good at introducing us to new media & thoughts on design.
October 3, 2014
Not quite as good as Designing Interactions, perhaps because this viewpoint of "media" and new media in particular is more common and much more examined. I think the interviews would have been more successful had they focused on fewer things and gone deeper. Still, a master set of interviews by a master interviewer.
May 3, 2015
Great collection of point of views and surveys of digital creators and thinkers. Thank you Bill Moggridge. Your spirit is still with us.
November 19, 2017
I feel I should explain giving such a low rating to this book.
The content has not aged well at all. A lot of the companies or services described no longer exist and media has naturally continued to evolve rapidly in the space of 10 years.
However the age of the interviews shows most in the optimistic tone and hope of a bright and progressive American future. The book is full of references to diminishing racial tensions and hope in the election of Obama. None of the conclusions made based on those feelings seem particularly wise or insightful today.
The above, in itself, is not enough for such a low review. The content is still of interest, as a capture of a slice of time. It was not able to engage me enough to read it as voraciously as I would like to for reasons stemming from the writing style also.
A lot of emphasis was placed on presenting the interviewees as shining examples of the wealthy upper middle class media elite, and it felt like a ploy to promote a mostly American capitalistic worldview. There were many mentions of big mansions by the sea, design clothes, expensively designed buildings, etc., when the interviewees were introduced. "You want to be like these successful people", the author seems to be saying. This despite a tone in the book that implies that the ideal in media is to present, not manipulate.
Worst of all, the author is constantly namedropping and self-inserting. Talks of his jetset lifestyle, of how he knew the people in the book and wrangled interviews from them and plugging his company and work. It probably would not be an issue for other readers, but it irritated me.
The final chapter of the book, on truth, seems to sum all of this up: It began with the quote by Marshal McLuhan "All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary value." It then tries to refute this. Sadly, in a reality where countries are buying advertising in order to influence elections, it is hard to agree with the conclusion the book came to in 2008. The chapter ends, sadly, with an interview of Hans Rosling, who, like much of the optimism and hope in the book, is no longer with us.
The world is a different place nearly a decade on from this book.
The content has not aged well at all. A lot of the companies or services described no longer exist and media has naturally continued to evolve rapidly in the space of 10 years.
However the age of the interviews shows most in the optimistic tone and hope of a bright and progressive American future. The book is full of references to diminishing racial tensions and hope in the election of Obama. None of the conclusions made based on those feelings seem particularly wise or insightful today.
The above, in itself, is not enough for such a low review. The content is still of interest, as a capture of a slice of time. It was not able to engage me enough to read it as voraciously as I would like to for reasons stemming from the writing style also.
A lot of emphasis was placed on presenting the interviewees as shining examples of the wealthy upper middle class media elite, and it felt like a ploy to promote a mostly American capitalistic worldview. There were many mentions of big mansions by the sea, design clothes, expensively designed buildings, etc., when the interviewees were introduced. "You want to be like these successful people", the author seems to be saying. This despite a tone in the book that implies that the ideal in media is to present, not manipulate.
Worst of all, the author is constantly namedropping and self-inserting. Talks of his jetset lifestyle, of how he knew the people in the book and wrangled interviews from them and plugging his company and work. It probably would not be an issue for other readers, but it irritated me.
The final chapter of the book, on truth, seems to sum all of this up: It began with the quote by Marshal McLuhan "All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary value." It then tries to refute this. Sadly, in a reality where countries are buying advertising in order to influence elections, it is hard to agree with the conclusion the book came to in 2008. The chapter ends, sadly, with an interview of Hans Rosling, who, like much of the optimism and hope in the book, is no longer with us.
The world is a different place nearly a decade on from this book.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews