The Good Design Book

By the numbers

Last night I emailed the manuscript to my editor, opened a bottle of wine we’d been holding onto since 1999 and got some sleep. While there is still some significant work ahead, this morning I took a moment to reflect on some of the work behind me. Here are a few of the quantifiable aspects of the book, for your  amusement:

To me, these numbers start to tell a story:

Thought we rejected about 80% of the work that came in, several contributors had multiple submissions accepted. Some firms are just really, really good.

We broke our (unpublished) rule of not including any tote bags or t-shirts. It was a prejudice, which was overcome by the excellence of those designs.

Though we had no photo budget, we shot about a third of the 523 images ourselves. You can also see from the ratio of projects to images that most include multiple images to help give readers as full an appreciation for the work as possible.

Speaking of ratios, words vastly out number images. This is still a book to look at, but as designers we can’t rely solely on visual inspiration. Every project has a story and every story a moral. I tried my best to tell them well.

Our six essayists did a great job of setting the context for each chapter. Some are established writers and some are being published here for the first time. All are design leaders, and I thank them.

I wish I’d done more interviews. The more I learned about each of the projects and the people who created them, the more I was inspired by their example. I’m looking at you, Dawn Hancock.

As for the f-bombs, those were out of my control. Sometimes a well placed expletive is warranted. Attribute two of the three to Brian Ponto.

Good Friday: Hiccups

Sometime last Friday our servers crashed. Like, all of them. No email, no website, no Good Design Book blog, nothing. In all four websites, three blogs and eight email accounts were offline until late yesterday. Needless to say, we’ve been scrambling to recover.

Now for some good news!

Alice Bybee sent us her essay late last week, John Bielenberg turned in his “And Now for the Bad News” foreword and we now are the proud possessors of all but one Grant of Rights form (every image we publish must be accompanied by a signed written agreement allowing us the right to reproduce the project or photograph in the book).

I hear word from Brian Collins that he expects to finish his essay over the weekend and we expect the others next week as well.

Now if I can just get off my ass and finish up my writing we might actually have a book on our hands!

Oh, and I’ve saved the very best news for last. We have officially secured our sixth and final essayist. LA’s number on pedestrian and all gelato connoisseur Alissa Walker will be writing for the Reacting section. Alissa writes for GOOD Magazine, Fast Company, and on her own blog Gelatobaby. I really couldn’t be more thrilled to have her as the final member of this special family that has become The Good Design Book.

Right now I’m dashing out to the Celery happy hour (not just to party on a Friday night, but also to take a photo of Brian Dougherty for the book).

Good Friday: Essayists

So, I’m finally able to share with you who our contributing essayists are for the book. I’m really excited about their diverse perspectives and what they will mean to the book and the work.

As I’ve already reported, John Bielenberg is writing the foreword. You can always count on John for an oblique perspective.

Each of the six sections is also anchored by an essay:

• Teaching (How are critical causes being addressed in design education?) Essay by Allan Chochinov
• Seeking (How can design thinking pro actively identify and address social, cultural and political issues?) Essay by Brian Collins
• Organizing (How does design help spread the word, make people care, and motivate them toward action?) Aaris Sherin
• Supporting (Work that supports an existing cause/non-profit) Essay by Kate Andrews
• Reacting (What is the designer’s creative response to the human condition?) This one I still need to confirm, hang tight…
• Celebrating (Work that celebrates the arts or achievement, contribution or service to a cause. Sometimes good design is, itself, good design.) Essay by Alice Bybee

In addition we have interviews with Emily Pilloton, Michael Osborne, Randy J. Hunt, Brian Dougherty and others.

We also just confirmed to day that Ric Grefe will be contributing some written perspective, along with a few others that still need to be locked down, so I shouldn’t jinx anything by mentioning them here.

I’m very excited and extremely pleased to have the support and contribution of these remarkable leaders and thinkers. Their thoughts and perspective will certainly be a critical force in elevating the relevance and thoughtfulness of the book.

Good Friday: Ladies and Gentleman

Today was a good day.

With one week left before the extended deadline closes, today we sent out an email blast reminder to our network of designer, friends and colleagues from whom we have not yet received work, encouraging them to contribute. I also sent out personal emails to about 25 women designers I know personally, urging them to send in work. For some reason we’re pretty light on representing women here, and I decided it was important to take a proactive step to address that. I spent much of the day fielding replies from the likes of Cinthia Wen, Melanie Doherty, Margo Chase, Ann Willoughby, Sharon Werner and others. I heard back from most of them and I’m much more encouraged now. I expect some really amazing work to roll in next week. I may even give you all a sneak peek when it does.

Continue reading…

Good Friday: HOW to get a book deal

This is the first of my regular Good Friday installments. Each week I’ll chronicle the progress and the process of writing and designing the book. Since this is the first post, I’ll have to play a little catch up.

In the summer of 2007, I spent a week in rural Alabama, advising to Project M. Walking down a quiet country road with Brian Collins one evening, we got to chatting about how transformative our time in Alabama had been.

Continue reading…

John Bielenberg to Write Foreword

Celebrated designer, lecturer and former AIGA National Board Member, John Bielenberg, will write the foreword to The Good Design Book. John is the mastermind behind Project M and one of the founding partners of C2. John’s work touches on all six categories featured in the book, particularly the notion of problem seeking (a term coined by Brian Collins while on a trip to Project M in rural Alabama). We’re very excited to have John on board. It will be some time before actually has to write anything, so stay tuned for future updates.

John Bielenberg | Photo: Michael Weymouth