Iconic Designs: 50 Stories about 50 Things

(Paperback)

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Description

Iconic Designs is a beautifully designed and illustrated guide to fifty classic things designs that we find in the city, in our homes and offices, on page and screen, and in our everyday lives. In her introduction, Grace Lees-Maffei explores what makes a design iconic, and fifty essays by leading design and cultural critics tell the story of each iconic thing, its innovative and unique qualities, and its journey to classic status. Subjects range from the late 19th century to the present day, and include the Sydney Opera House, the Post-It Note, Coco Chanels classic suit, the Sony Walkman, Hello Kitty, the typeface Helvetica, the Ford Model T, Harry Becks diagrammatic map of the London Underground and the Apple iMac G3. This handsome volume provides a treasure trove of stories that will shed new light on the iconic designs that we use without thinking, aspire to possess, love or hate (or love to hate) and which form part of the fabric of our everyday lives.

Reviews

A lavishly illustrated, treasurable guide. * Choice Magazine *
This book demonstrates the vast and all-encompassing remit of design from Post-It-Notes to the classic Chanel suit. Within its pages acknowledged design classics jostle with other designs that have such a ubiquity we often forget just how iconic they really are. -- Charlotte Fiell, Design Historian and Author, UK
Do you enjoy riding tuk-tuks in South Asia (Italian design, in fact), secretly enjoy visiting MacDonald's, or spend most of your time on Facebook What got you hooked In this book fifty icons of modern design are unpacked for you in a thoroughly imaginative manner, cutting across class, age, regional and temporal boundaries. A must for all students and lovers of design alike. -- Peter McNeil, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Author Bio

Grace Lees-Maffei is Professor of Design History at the University of Hertfordshire, UK.