This page lists assigned texts and many other relevant articles, including PDFs and links for many key texts. Updates will be posted regularly throughout the semester.
Abrams, Janet and Peter Hall, eds. Else/Where: Mapping New Cartographies of Networks and Territories.Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Design Institute, 2006.
Adams, Hazard and Searle, Leroy, eds. Critical Theory Since 1965. Tallahassee: Florida State University Press, 1986.
Armstrong, Helen, ed. Graphic Design Theory: Readings from the Field. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2009.
*Helen Armstrong, Introduction to Graphic Design Theory: Writings from the Field: ArmstrongIntro
*Rudolf Arnheim, Gestalt and Art, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 2, No. 8, Autumn, 1943: Arnheim_GestaltandArt
Arp, Hans, and El Lissitzky, eds. The Isms of Art. Zurich: Eugen Rentsch, 1925.
*Arnold M. Barban, The Dilemma of “Integrated” Advertising, The Journal of Business, Vol. 42, No. 4, Oct. 1969: Barban_DilemmaOfIntegratedAdvertising
Barnbrook, Jonathon, et al. “First Things First Manifesto 2000.” First published in Eye no. 33 vol. 9, 1999
Barthes, Roland and Stephen Heath. Image-Music-Text. New York: Hill and Wang, 1977.
Barthes, Roland and Annette Lavers. Mythologies. New York: Hill and Wang, 1972.
*Barthes, Roland. Rhetoric of the Image, 1977: Barthes-Rhetoric-of-the-image
Baudrillard, Jean. For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign. Translated by Charles Levin. St. Louis.: Telos Press, 1981.
*Herbert Bayer, On Typography, 1967: Bayer_OnTypography
Bennett, Audrey. Design Studies : Theory and Research in Graphic Design, Princeton Architectural Press, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central [City Tech Library Card Required]
Bierut, Michael. 79 Short Essays on Design, Princeton Architectural Press, 2007. ProQuest Ebook Central [City Tech Library Card Required]
Bourdieu, Pierre. Language and Symbolic Power.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991.
*Denise Scott Brown, Steven Izenour & Robert Venturi, Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form (1972): Venturi_LasVegas
Buchanan, Richard and Margolin, Victor. Design: Explorations in Design Studies, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Davis, Meredith. Graphic Design in Context: Graphic Design Theory. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2012.
Derrida, Jacques. Of Grammatology. Translated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976.
Drucker, Johanna and Emily McVarish. Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2008.
Eskilson, Stephen J. Graphic Design: A New History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.
Fiell, Charlotte and Peter Fiell, eds. Graphic Design for the 21st Century: 100 of the World’s Best Designers.Cologne: Taschen, 2003.
Foucault, Michel. “What Is an Author?” In Josué Harari, ed. Textual Strategies: Perspectives in Post-Structuralist Criticism. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1979, 142–160.
Galloway, Alexander R. and Eugene Thacker. The Exploit: A Theory of Networks. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 2007.
*Karl Gerstner, Designing Programmes, (1964): Gerstner_DesigningProgrammes
*Walter Gropius, The Theory and Organization of the Bauhaus (excerpts), 1923: Gropius_Bauhaus
Hall, Sean. This Means This, This Means That : A User’s Guide to Semiotics, Laurence King Publishing, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central [City Tech Library Card Required]
Hara, Kenya. Designing Design. Translated by Maggie Kinser Hohle and Yukiko Naito. Baden: Lars Müller, 2007.
*Jessica Helfand, Dematerialization of Screen Space (2001): Helfand_ScreenSpace
Helfand, Jessica. Screen: Essays on Graphic Design, New Media, and Visual Culture. Princetone Architectural Press (2001).
Heller, Steven. “The Cult of the Ugly.” Eye No. 9, Vol. 3, 1993. http://www.graphicdesigntheory.net
*Steven Heller , Underground Mainstream, 2008: Heller_UndergroundMainstream2008
Heller, Steven, ed., I Heart Design : Remarkable Graphic Design Selected by Designers, Illustrators, and Critics, Quarto Publishing Group USA, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central. [City Tech Library Card Required]
Heller, Steven, and Greg D’Onofrio. The Moderns : Midcentury American Graphic Design, Abrams, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central. [City Tech Library Card Required]
Heller, Steven, and Mirko Ilic. Stop, Think, Go, Do : How Typography and Graphic Design Influence Behavior, Quarto Publishing Group USA, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central [City Tech Library Card Required]
Heller, Steven and Veronique Vienne, eds. Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility. New York: Allworth Press, 2003.
Hollis, Richard. Graphic Design: A Concise History (World of Art). London: Thames & Hudson, 1994.
Hollis, Richard. Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Growth of an International Style, 1920–1965. London: Laurence King, 2006.
Ilyin, Natalia. Chasing the Perfect: Thoughts on Modernist Design in Our Time. New York: Metropolis, 2006.
Jeffery, Ken. Design and Print Production Fundamentals.OpenText BC. (Blog post)
Johansen, Jørgen Dines, and Svend Erik Larsen. Signs in Use : An Introduction to Semiotics, Routledge, 2002. ProQuest Ebook Central. [City Tech Library Card Required]
Jones, John Chris. Design Methods: Seeds of Human Futures. New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1970.
Jubert, Roxane. Typography and Graphic Design: From Antiquity to the Present. Translated by Deke Dusinberre and David Radzinowicz. Paris: Flammarion, 2006
Kepes, György. Language of Vision. New York, Dover, 1995.
*György Kepes, Language of Vision, excerpt: Kepes_Language_of_Vision_exc
Klein, Naomi. No Logo. New York, Picador, 2000.
*Naomi Klein, No Logo, Chapter 12: Culture Jamming: KleinNoLogoExcCh12
Kress, Gunther & Theo van Leeuwen. Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. 2006
Kroeger, Michael. Paul Rand : Conversations with Students, Princeton Architectural Press, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central. [City Tech Library Card Required]
Lasn, Kalle. Design Anarchy. in Armstrong, Helen. Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Field, Princeton Architectural Press, 2009.
Lasn, Kalle. Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America. New York: Eagle Brook, 1999.
Laurel, Brenda. Utopian Entrepreneur. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001.
Leborg, Christian. Visual Grammar, Princeton Architectural Press, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central [City Tech Library Card Required]
Lévy, Pierre. Cyberculture. Translated by Robert Bononno. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 2001.
*El Lissitsky, Our Book, 1926: Lissitsky_OurBook
Lupton, Ellen and J. Abbott Miller. Design Writing Research: Writing on Graphic Design. New York: Kiosk, 1996. Excerpt: LuptonMillerDesignWritingResearch
Lupton, Ellen. “Deconstruction and Graphic Design: History Meets Theory.” http://www.graphicdesigntheory.net.
Lupton, Ellen, Designer as Producer, 1998: Lupton_Producer
Lupton, Ellen, ed., Graphic Design Thinking : Beyond Brainstorming, Princeton Architectural Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central [City Tech Library Card Required]
Lupton, Ellen. Thinking with Type : A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, and Students, Princeton Architectural Press, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central [City Tech Library Card Required]
Lupton, Ellen. “Writing Lessons: Modern Design Theory”, 1988
Lupton, Ellen and Julia. “All Together Now,” Print 61, no. 1 (January/February 2007): 28–30.
Lupton, Ellen, and Jennifer Cole Phillips. Graphic Design : The New Basics, Princeton Architectural Press, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central [City Tech Library Card Required]
Maeda, John and Antonelli, John. The Laws of Simplicity, MIT Press, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central. [City Tech/CUNY Library Card Required]
*Lev Manovich, Import/Export, or Design Workflow and Contemporary Aesthetics, 2008: Manovich_ImportExport
Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002.
Marchand, Roland. Creating the Corporate Soul: The Rise of Public Relations and Corporate Imagery in American Big Business. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.
Marchessault, Janine. Marshall McLuhan : Cosmic Media, SAGE Publications, 2004. ProQuest Ebook Central. [City Tech Library Card Required]
Margolin, Victor and Ashwin, Clive. “Drawing, Design and Semiotics” in Design Discourse: History, Theory, Criticism, University of Chicago Press, 1989.
*F.T. Marinetti, Manifesto of Futurism, 1909: Marinetti_Manifesto_Futurista
McCoy, Katherine with David Frej. “Typography as Discourse.” in Armstrong, Helen. Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Field, Princeton Architectural Press, 2009.
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964.
*Marshall McLuhan. Understanding Media, 1964 (excerpts): McLuhan_UnderstandingMedia_exc
McLuhan, Marshall, Quentin Fiore, and Jerome Agel. The Medium is the Massage. New York: Bantham Books, 1967.
Meggs, Philip B., and Alston W. Purvis. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2016. ProQuest Ebook Central [City Tech/CUNY Library Card Required]
Millman, Debbie. How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer. New York: Allsworth Press, 2007.
Moholy-Nagy, László. Painting, Photography, Film. New York: MIT Press, 1969.
*László Moholy-Nagy, Typophoto, 1925: MoholyNagy_Typophoto
*Josef Müller-Brockmann, Grid and Design Philosophy (1981): MullerBrockmann_Grid_Des-Phil
Müller-Brockmann, Josef. The Graphic Designer and His Design Problems. New York: Hastings House, 1983.
Müller, Lars, ed. Josef Müller-Brockmann. Baden: Lars Müller, 1994.
Neurath, Otto. International Picture Language. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Tubner & Co., 1936: Neurath_Otto_International_Picture_Language
Norman, Don. Emotional Design : Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, Basic Books, 2007. ProQuest Ebook Central. [City Tech Library Card Required]
Oxman, Neri. “Age of Entanglement”, Journal of Design and Science (JoDS).
Poulin, Richard. Graphic Design and Architecture, A 20th Century History : A Guide to Type, Image, Symbol, and Visual Storytelling in the Modern World, Quarto Publishing Group USA, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central. [City Tech Library Card Required]
Poyner, Rick. No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism. New Haven, Yale University Press, 2003.
Rick Poynor “First Things First Manifesto 2000,” AIGA Journal of Graphic Design 17, no. 2 (1999): 6–7.
*Paul Rand, Good Design is Goodwill (1987): Rand_Goodwill
Rand, Paul. Design, Form and Chaos. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993.
Rawsthorn, Alice. “Design Gets More Diverse,” New York Times, March 20, 2011
Rock, Michael. “The Designer as Author.” Eye 5, no. 20 (Spring 1996): 44–53.
*Aleksandr Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, Aleksai Gan. Who We Are: Manifesto of the Constructivist Group, c. 1922: RodchenkoStepanovaGan_WhoWeAre
Aleksandr Rodchenko, Slogans, 1921 (from Experiments for the Future…): RodchenkoSlogans1921
Rodchenko, Aleksandr; Lavrentiev, Alexander; Gambrell, Jamey. Aleksandr Rodchenko: Experiments for the Future, Diaries, Essays, Letters and Other Writings. New York, Museum of Modern Art, 2004.
Ross, Rodney. “Diversity in Graphic Design,” Pulse VCU (blog), 2012.
Saussure, Ferdinand, Charles Bally, and Albert Sechehaye. Course in General Linguistics. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966.
*Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics, 1916 (excerpt): Saussure_GeneralLinguistics_exc
Scher, Paula. Make It Bigger. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002.
Siegel, Dmitri. “Designing Our Own Graves.” Design Observer blog. http://www.designobserver.com
Slavin, Kevin. “Design as Participation”, Journal of Design and Science (JoDS).
Smock, William. Bauhaus Ideal Then and Now : An Illustrated Guide to Modern Design, Chicago Review Press, 2009. ProQuest Ebook Central. [City Tech Library Card Required]
Terranova, Tiziana. Network Culture : Politics for the Information Age, Pluto Press, 2004. ProQuest Ebook Central. [City Tech Library Card Required]
Thackara, John. In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World. Cambridge: MIT, 2006.
van Toorn, Jan. “Design and Reflexivity.” in Armstrong, Helen. Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Field, Princeton Architectural Press, 2009.
van Toorn, Jan. Design’s Delight: Method and Means of a Dialogic Approach. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2006.
*Jan Tschichold, The New Typography (1928): Tschichold_NewTypo
Tselentis, Jason, et al. Typography, Referenced : A Comprehensive Visual Guide to the Language, History, and Practice of Typography, Quarto Publishing Group USA, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central. [City Tech Library Card Required]
Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Vit, Armin, et al. Graphic Design, Referenced : A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications, and History of Graphic Design, Quarto Publishing Group USA, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central [City Tech Library Card Required]
*Beatrice Warde, The Crystal Goblet, Or Why Printing Should Invisible, 1930: Warde_CrystalGoblet
Washington, Michele Y. “Why Black in Design Matters: Learnings from Harvard’s Black in Design conference,” AIGA, (2018)
Wild, Lorraine. “The Macrame of Resistance.” in Armstrong, Helen. Graphic Design Theory : Readings From the Field, Princeton Architectural Press, 2009.
ADDITIONAL ONLINE RESOURCES
100 Years of Design. AIGA.org [Website]
PaulRand.design – Articles by Paul Rand [Website]
The Observatory– Michael Bierut and Jessica Helfand on design, current events, and current enthusiasms. [Soundcloud/Podcast]
Design Matters – Debbie Millman features interviews with designers, artists and cultural leaders. [iTunes/Podcast]
Citizen Designer Now! AIGA NY. http://www.citizendesignernow.org/ [Website]
Dutch Profiles – Jan van Toorn [Vimeo – interview]
Kress and van Leeuwen on Multimodality [text and video]
Kress and van Leeuwen on Multimodality [text and video]
“Hans Arp and El Lissitzky, The “isms” of art” The Charnel-House, blogpost.
“Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?: An Animated Conversation with Noam Chomsky” 88 min | Documentary, Animation | 25 November 2013 (USA)
