Some books to inspire and educate anyone with an interest in product design
C & P Fiell, Industrial Design A-Z, Taschen, 2000, ISBN 3822863106
Bite-size, illustrated chunks of information about seminal designers, design movements and manufacturers. There are good case studies on relevant subject areas, such as the use of colour in product design, which are not normally addressed in other product design books.
C & P Fiell, Designing in the 21st Century, Taschen, 2001, ISBN 3822858838
This book documents how the brightest and best designers see the future of design, and illustrates their work to date.
A Forty, Objects of Desire: Design and society 1750-1980, Thames & Hudson, 1986, ISBN 0500274126
A key text for most design courses, and one of the few that addresses and puts forward strong arguments on the relationship between designers and the commercial context that design needs to work within.
C Grinyer, Smart Design: Products that change our lives, RotoVision, 2001, ISBN 2880465249
This book shows sketches and describes in detail the stories behind recent innovations.
R Lovegrove, The International Design Yearbook 2002 (special materials edition), Laurence King Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1856692981
The structure of the book - divided by material types rather than areas of design - reflects the increasing importance of material differentiation in product design. This book is a great resource on the aesthetic, functional and technological potential of new and familiar materials.
G Marcus, What is design today?, Harry N Abrams, 2002, ISBN 0810990814
This book explores design as a process and how it has changed over the decades. It addresses different design movements from Good Design to modernism, and judges products in the larger context of sociological, environmental and technological issues today. Modern case studies on items such as Adbusters, Baby Bjorn's range of children's products and Martha Stewart Everyday line for K-Mart, analyse how branding messages are conveyed through product design.
C McDermott, The Product Book, Rotovision, 1999, ISBN 2880463947
An insight into the working methods and inspiration behind 32 of the world's leading innovators in product design. It addresses the concerns and challenges facing designers, manufacturers and consumers.
D Norman, The Design of Everyday Things, The MIT Press, 1998, ISBN 0262640376
A classic book which concentrates on the theory of design. It addresses how and why we interact not just physically, but also psychologically with objects, and how many existing products do not address these basic human needs. The examples are rather out of date now, but the principles of the book remain relevant.
D Redhead, Products of our Time, August/Birkhauser, 2000, ISBN 3764362340
A book that accompanied the highly influential Millennium exhibition at the Lighthouse in Glasgow, 1999. The book thoughtfully documents the influence of combinations of products upon society and vice versa. Insightful, zeitgeisty analysis of 1990s design covering the interweaving of the disciplines of architecture, product and fashion design.
Sjarel, Droog and Dutch Design, Centraal Museum Utrecht, 2000, ISBN 9073285690
This book explains the roots of the most influential design movement of recent history, as well as its design philosophies. It documents the early work - including the ideas behind it - of the protagonists, notably Marcel Wanders and Hella Jongerius.
T Conran, Conran on Design, Conran Octopus, 1996, ISBN 1850297711
Brilliantly illustrated and written book which looks at the tactile influence of design in people's everyday lives from fashion to food to the outdoors, rather than taking a technical approach. The examples are mainly from the early 1990s, and include iconic products from that decade - which are currently very hard to find information about.
A Davey, Detail: Exceptional Japanese product design, Laurence King Publishing, 2003, ISBN 185669318X
Another inspiring book, containing beautiful photography of products, which celebrates the manufacturing precision and technical expertise of mass-produced products. It also explains the complexity of these inventions that we, as consumers, only partly understand.
K Ulrich, Product Design and Development, McGraw-Hill Education, 1999, ISBN 007229647X
M Baxter, Product Design: A practical guide to systematic methods of new product design and development, Nelson Thornes, 1995, ISBN 0412632306