Name: Looking Closer 4: Critical Writings on Graphic Design
Author: Michael Beirut (Editor), William Drenttel (Editor), Steven Heller (Editor)
ISBN: 9781581152357

Looking Closer 4: Critical Writings on Graphic Design book cover

Looking Closer 4: Critical Writings on Graphic Design

Author(s): Michael Beirut (Editor), William Drenttel (Editor), Steven Heller (Editor)

Publisher: Allworth
Publication Date: August 1, 2002
Edition: First Edition
Language: English
Print length: 304 pages
ISBN-10: 1581152353
ISBN-13: 9781581152357

Book Description

The most stimulating installment yet in the acclaimed Looking Closer series! This enthralling collection of essays assembles some of the most intriguing critical commentary published in professional and general interest design magazines from 1997 to 2000. Over thirty contributors, including Rick Poynor, Kathy McCoy, Lorraine Wild, Veronique Vienne, Jessica Helfand, and others discuss such important contemporary themes as the rise and fall of the dot.coms and its influence on salary expectations, the ongoing controversy over the First Things First Manifesto, the call for greater responsibility in the design profession, and the antibranding protests that ignited demonstrations during recent World Trade Organization meetings. From current events to design principles, and aesthetics to ethics, graphic designers everywhere will savor this anthology of fresh perspective.

Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Since the acclaimed Looking Closer series began, the design industry has faced some of its biggest controversies and challenges. Hot-button topics such as branding and the role of designers as possible agents of corporate greed have brought about calls for greater responsibility in the profession. Meanwhile, our culture has become increasingly visual and the profile of graphic design has skyrocketed. This increased awareness has helped shape the critical vocabulary of the profession and provoked incisive essays in professional and general interest magazines in recent years. Now some of the most significant critical commentary published from 1997 to 2000 is available in a single volume, Looking Closer 4, edited by Michael Bierut, William Drenttel, and Steven Heller.

From the Author

The design issues addressed today have changed as much as the industry itself. "After a period of charged professional and academic acticity from the early to mid-nineties, now comes the inevitable cooling off period," Heller observes. "Now that postmodernism, deconstruction, and grunge are history, the next new thing has yet to emerge, and graphic design's evolution has resulted in a new sobriety."