After reading a few more pages, I turned to the front of the book to see if it had a table of contents. It does, and the self-explanatory chapter titles ("Front Door," "Kitchen," "Dining Room," etc.) are each followed by a page number. Ah ha! I had caught an inconsistency in the book's design, or so I thought. If the pages are unnumbered, why should the table of contents tell me on what page a new chapter begins?
On returning to the place my finger marked, I held the book open at arm's length and admired the proportions of the typeset text. How neat and clean the pages looked without the clutter of numbers, headers, or footers. Just blocks of text. This was a daring but effective design, I thought.
But as the airplane left a gray cloudy sky behind and flew into the sunlight, the book's pages began to morph before my eyes. What under the dim overhead lighting looked like a minimalist design proved to be much more subtle. There actually were page numbers -- centered at the top of each page -- but they were screened, a printing technique that produces an image that can be so faint as to be virtually invisible. Flipping through the book I also found that breaks in the text that I had thought were just blank lines were in fact punctuated with discreet decorative flourishes and swirls known loosely in the printing trade as dingbats.
Looking further into the book, I discovered that pages on which a chapter began were indeed not numbered, but this is not uncommon in a well-designed book. After all, the surrounding pages do bear numbers, and so it is not difficult to go from the table of contents to a specific chapter. In Geography of Home, however, the chapter-opening pages have decorations that are unusual. A screened printer's device precedes the chapter title set in display type, and the entire right edge of the page is decorated with a string of screened devices.
When the book is flexed front-to-back to spread out its fore edge, these screened designs produce a light gray decorative pattern suggestive of Morse code and reminiscent of old books that revealed a painted scene related to the book's content. Geography of Home proved to be a geography of design!
Steve Jobs wanted Apple products to be as neat looking on the inside as they were on the outside. Even if the owner and user of a Mac notebook never looked under the hood, Jobs felt that inside there should be as orderly an arrangement of parts as was suggested by the laptop's sleek exterior. Jobs would have liked Geography. You can tell this book by its cover.
Henry, thank you.Now I know what dingbats are.I have seen them in listings of fonts, but I never really used them, or understood what their origin is.
I really appreciate your description of the subtleties of the design of the book.I have always liked such things, but I am becoming more used to electronic versions of books as time goes on.In the end, they are lighter (on one move my wife and I made we were informed that our books weighed 3,000 pounds).I do miss the tactile feel of the real books, though.Most readers put a book in a standard format with pages being decided by screen size.
As for your mention of Apple and design, I find it interesting.I have always looked on their products as being much too expensive and closed.Many years ago I was the CIO of an aerospace plant.We had a large proposal to do and the team (which I had previously worked for) decided to go around me to purchase a network of Macs to do the proposal on.They wanted to bypass our tech pubs group and do the page layout themselves.They spent $200K on equipment and overran the proposal budget by $400K.As you can imagine, there was an inquest and the program manager lost his job.The reason I mention this in the context of your article is that of design.What we ended up doing was having senior engineers doing something they had no training in.The page layout and design aspects of the proposal (which was thousands of pages) was awful.We were lucky that we had bought the competitor before the bidding process was over.By the way, it was a $1B project.
There really is an art to creating a book.Even in the most plain text only books you would see references to fonts used.These had a lot to do with readability and the feeling one gets from reading the book.
I agree, Naperlou. I, too, have long thought that Apple products were overpriced. Maybe it's my engineering sensibility talking here, but I've always thought that the genius of Steve Jobs was in marketing and industrial design, not in technology, as is so often claimed. Apple's products have a reputation for being easier to use and learn, and Apple has been positively brilliant in appealing to customers who want, and are willing to pay for, high-end products.
Anyone who thinks that Engineers lack design sense (in the Aesthetic sense) should look at the things that Engineers designed in the 1930's. They looked strong, solid, sleek, fast. In their own way they were beautiful, definitely not awkward. Even the weapons of WWII had a very rugged practical look.
Of course, that was a day when Engineers sketched things by hand. Their inherent sense of fit guided their pencils. It wasn't a conscious thing. They simply drew things at a position and size that felt right. Then adjusted them as the requirements demanded.
Nowadays with the complex intermediary of the computer, we can do far more complex things. But that simple guiding flow has been broken, and it shows terribly. Making things beautiful and visually "organic" has become much harder.
I actually remember when I first saw it in the early 1980s. A shopping mall in my area had been refurbished, and I was stunned (in a bad way). The interior looked like a computer graphic (and back in those days, that was pretty simplistic). They had tried to incorporate "design" elements to make it visually interesting, but the overall effect was to make it look like it was built out of Legos.
I don't think architectural design has ever recovered, and I think the bull-nosed things they call cars today look heavy and mean. But who knows, maybe soon a method of creating things on the computer that is as intuitive as the pencil will be invented (don't say the stylus, it is a perfectly good input device, but until CAD software can make shapes from stylus sketches, it doesn't count. It is the method that needs to be invented, not the device).
I agree with you about engineering deisgn, Sparky Watt. Even today we see it. The Apple products are sleek and clean, engineering simplicity. Of course that changes quite a bit when my 16-year-old daughter customizes the products with bling.
Rob, my kids are a little older than yours, so I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know what it means to customize Apple products with bling. Are we taping jewelry to our iPads? Is this a trend?
Yep, it's a big trend. You can accessorize your iPod and iPhone to match what you're wearing. Apple and other suppliers are doing a big business in brightly colored sparkling covers for iPods and iPhones. Additional bling includes little items of colorful shapes. I bought my daughter a smartphone and inherited her dumbophone with has two sparkly hearts on the front.
Yes, that will do it, Ann. My daughter asked whether I minded that the dumbphone she swapped with me (for her smartphone) had bling on it. I told her the bling looks great. The phone has hearts with colorful dots. And you can't get them off.
It's all the same to me, Ann. But from a materials point of view, I'm quite amazed at the adheisive on the back of these little hearts. Once they're on, you really can't get them off.
Thanks for a thoughtful post, and one mentioning what used to be a favorite subject of mine: book design. I think SparkyWatt's comments on CAD are unfortunately true, at least for some objects we live and work with. And I see the same trend in book publishing, if you can call it that anymore, due to the proliferation of electronic "books" and e-readers. I think Apple has been a leader for exterior consumer electronics design, at least. Too bad that other areas are not benefiting from their leadership. I wonder if 3D printing could be that new, more intuitive design method.
What you're describing here is an instance when the art or design department made decisions apart from the need for simple functionality. As a former publisher, I know that the art department -- a wonderful crew -- needs to be monitored. Their aesthetic decisions can quickly divert from the practical needs of the reader.
From your picture, I fear you're falling prey to the same experience related shortcoming the rest of us with grey hair are feeling, to a greater or lesser extent. :) Opticians rejoice, I'm sure.
Design has a value, in how it makes us feel, and how it allows us to use technology. That value is irrespective of the age... errr experience... of the user. Business week has shifted to a layout which flags the page number in the middle of the right hand side of the page, in bold color. Most helpful, if lacking in subtlety.
As an Architect, who studied Engineering, Product Design, Advertising Design, Publication Design, Landscape design and Urban Design, I must suggest that Design is such a huge word that few grasp it in total.
There is a very high percentage of Engineers, who may be good designers in their field who have absolutely no clue as to architecture at all. It's almost shameful from my perspective.
Steve Jobs did, though because as a very young man he hung around some Calligraphy Classes and learned to appreciate Design Excellence.
Woz, on the other hand sure could design a circuit and he even could conceive the desktop computer, but the Apple II really was incompetent looking and that is why IBM whipped them. No, Gates had nothing to do with that.
And this is the second time that I have enjoyed reading Prof. Petroski's writings and observations. If I read his writings correctly he enjoyed that book very much.
So it is clear to me that the designers were perfectly in control of what they were doing... a smart bunch or a smart person. They grabbed his attention and he relayed it to us in some detail revealing his reactions. No Bean Counters vs Car Guys here.
For many the word design implies an esthetic sense... pleasure, ease, happyness. To many engineers this is something to be ignored as if they are religious zealots eschewing pleasure. Certainly not this Professor so that is a joy to me.
Now I like the close kerning on the word Design in Design News but wonder why it was not done on the word News. For me this is a goose/gander continuity thing.
And in wanting to respond to the Professor I saw the word Comment below his name and when hitting it, I was pushed into the list of comments. Comments is the correct word to use in that case and the same is true of the word below his writings.
This offends my design sense. I did not wish to use the short route of hitting comment or reply below someone else's comment and hence be locked into a spiral of conversation with one person as just happened.
Architects tend to philosophize about Design. Some overly so but it is interesting and worthwhile.
Isn't it interesting that the main driving force in an automobile purchase is an esthetic one. The "Designers" do rule and very few of them ever studied engineering.
It wasn't Jobs that brought beauty to the Mac. It was Jef Raskin. Search out his books & papers if you really want to know about form & function.
In an earlier age, L F Herroshoff's advice to a budding yacht designer was to ".. draw as much as possible (particularly freehand drawing)". Herroshoff was the son of an outstanding yacht designer and was himself one.
Both him & his father made significant advances to the technology of ship engineering for which, ".. it is very necessary to serve your time in a boat shop, where boats are really built, as this is the only practical way to learn."
I think his advice is just as valid to the budding engineer today.
An engineer's eye should be always looking to function. But in the greatest designs, form & function are one. Witness Mitchell's Spitfire or Sayer's E-type
I have always been involved with manufacturing a product, consequently designing jigs, fixtures, conveyors, robotic equipment to automate processes etc.As a result, getting the job accomplished trumps getting the job accomplished—with flair and style.I certainly do appreciate the work of Jobs and the Apple folks but then again, all of the Apple products are consumer products.I never expect the buying public to see the conveyors necessary to expedite production and handling.When I think about all of the "pains" and effort put into the i-Pad, i-Phone, i-Book designs I conclude I'm on the right side of the commercialization equation.
In a world that's going green, industrial operations have a problem: Their processes involve materials that are potentially toxic, flammable, corrosive, or reactive. If improperly managed, this can precipitate dangerous health and environmental consequences.
An analysis of what’s needed to implement Design for Disassembly and Design for Recycling results in eight strategies engineers can use to design an intentional end-of-life stage into their products.
Government regulations, coupled with growing consumer sensitivity about data and identity theft, require that data storage organizations demonstrate proper protection and due diligence in protecting sensitive information stored inside datacenter enclosures.
When a crane doesn't have a monitoring system, crane owners schedule service every six months and simply scrap the parts they replace, even if a part has had little use and doesn't need replacing. This can cost thousands.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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