1. Design Is a Job Mike Monteiro

    Design Is a Job

    Mike Monteiro
  2. Outpost Journal Issue 1: Pittsburgh, PA Featuring quite a few contributors from Providence, including former Design Office member Jori Ketten. Lively layout, perhaps too lively.

    Outpost Journal

    Issue 1: Pittsburgh, PA

    Featuring quite a few contributors from Providence, including former Design Office member Jori Ketten. Lively layout, perhaps too lively.
  3. It Has Only Just Begun Hans Ulrich Obrist, Joseph Grigely, and Rirkrit Tiravanija Synopsis: For anyone who missed the keynote address given by Hans Ulrich Obrist in conversation with Joseph Grigely and Rirkrit Tiravanija at the 2008 New York Contemporary Artists’ Book Conference, this artist’s book, designed by Grigely, provides a complete transcription, beautifully printed in a range of cyan tones and accompanied by images taken from Grigely and Tiravanija’s sizable output of artist’s books.

    It Has Only Just Begun

    Hans Ulrich Obrist, Joseph Grigely, and Rirkrit Tiravanija

    Synopsis: For anyone who missed the keynote address given by Hans Ulrich Obrist in conversation with Joseph Grigely and Rirkrit Tiravanija at the 2008 New York Contemporary Artists’ Book Conference, this artist’s book, designed by Grigely, provides a complete transcription, beautifully printed in a range of cyan tones and accompanied by images taken from Grigely and Tiravanija’s sizable output of artist’s books.
  4. Animism: Modernity through the Looking Glass Maurizio Lazzarato A stunningly tight example of good typesetting. The typefaces sit at the exact right point size, providing a perfect balance of ink and paper.

    Animism: Modernity through the Looking Glass

    Maurizio Lazzarato

    A stunningly tight example of good typesetting. The typefaces sit at the exact right point size, providing a perfect balance of ink and paper.
  5. Dan Graham: Rock/Music Writings Dan Graham As admired for his writing as for his work in art, photography and architecture, Dan Graham was one of the first contemporary artists to embrace Punk, Postpunk and No Wave, becoming a figurehead for those movements, and an early supporter of (and friend to) Glenn Branca and Sonic Youth among many others. Rock/Music Writings collects 13 of Graham’s most influential writings, on bands ranging from The Kinks to Bow Wow Wow, first published in art journals such as Real Life, Open Letter and ZG between 1968 and 1988, and in the now rare volume Rock My Religion. It includes such landmark essays as “Punk as Propaganda,” which explicates the self-packaging and media critique of The Ramones, Devo, the Sex Pistols, the Desperate Bicycles and others; “Rock My Religion,” in which Graham traces themes of ecstatic reverie in rock performance (with a focus on Patti Smith), through a beautiful composite of quotation, commentary and photography; and “New Wave Rock and the Feminine,” which discusses the onstage personae of Lydia Lunch, Debbie Harry and Siouxsie Sioux, and the gender politics of all-female groups such as The Slits, The Raincoats, Bush Tetras and others. Throughout Rock/Music Writings, Graham’s appraisals are clear-eyed, sophisticated and poetically constructed, a genre of their own within artists’ writings.

    Dan Graham: Rock/Music Writings

    Dan Graham

    As admired for his writing as for his work in art, photography and architecture, Dan Graham was one of the first contemporary artists to embrace Punk, Postpunk and No Wave, becoming a figurehead for those movements, and an early supporter of (and friend to) Glenn Branca and Sonic Youth among many others. Rock/Music Writings collects 13 of Graham’s most influential writings, on bands ranging from The Kinks to Bow Wow Wow, first published in art journals such as Real Life, Open Letter and ZG between 1968 and 1988, and in the now rare volume Rock My Religion. It includes such landmark essays as “Punk as Propaganda,” which explicates the self-packaging and media critique of The Ramones, Devo, the Sex Pistols, the Desperate Bicycles and others; “Rock My Religion,” in which Graham traces themes of ecstatic reverie in rock performance (with a focus on Patti Smith), through a beautiful composite of quotation, commentary and photography; and “New Wave Rock and the Feminine,” which discusses the onstage personae of Lydia Lunch, Debbie Harry and Siouxsie Sioux, and the gender politics of all-female groups such as The Slits, The Raincoats, Bush Tetras and others. Throughout Rock/Music Writings, Graham’s appraisals are clear-eyed, sophisticated and poetically constructed, a genre of their own within artists’ writings.
  6. Designing with Data By Brian Suda Some good examples, but overall not a must have.

    Designing with Data

    By Brian Suda

    Some good examples, but overall not a must have.
  7. The Icon Handbook By Jon Hicks Really thick referencey guide through desktop and Web icons. Shipped from the U.K. so it took awhile. Worth the wait and the cost.

    The Icon Handbook

    By Jon Hicks

    Really thick referencey guide through desktop and Web icons. Shipped from the U.K. so it took awhile. Worth the wait and the cost.
  8. L’Amuse-Bouche French Language Journal at Yale University L’Amuse-Bouche is a student-run French language magazine for the francophone community at Yale that focuses on prose, poetry, French history and culture, politics, and reviews of French films and theater productions. The purpose of this organization is to showcase the creative work of students of French at Yale and to provide timely discussions about cultural issues relating to France and the francophone countries. It is hoped that this publication will provide a central core to bring together faculty and students at Yale who are interested in the French language.

    L’Amuse-Bouche

    French Language Journal at Yale University

    L’Amuse-Bouche is a student-run French language magazine for the francophone community at Yale that focuses on prose, poetry, French history and culture, politics, and reviews of French films and theater productions. The purpose of this organization is to showcase the creative work of students of French at Yale and to provide timely discussions about cultural issues relating to France and the francophone countries. It is hoped that this publication will provide a central core to bring together faculty and students at Yale who are interested in the French language.
  9. Print/Out: 20 Years in Print Kim Conaty Designed by Mevis & Van Deursen, this MoMA exhibit catalog plays short sheets off of oversized Futura Extra Bold.

    Print/Out: 20 Years in Print

    Kim Conaty

    Designed by Mevis & Van Deursen, this MoMA exhibit catalog plays short sheets off of oversized Futura Extra Bold.
  10. Constructive Furniture Jean Prouve Incredibly satisfying book form. The cover is red linen cloth attached to green stock.

    Constructive Furniture

    Jean Prouve

    Incredibly satisfying book form. The cover is red linen cloth attached to green stock.
  11. Joel Sternfeld: Sweet Earth- Experimental Utopias in America Joel Sternfeld Another impressive project from Joel Sternfeld. The lifeless Steidl design is unfortunate.

    Joel Sternfeld: Sweet Earth- Experimental Utopias in America

    Joel Sternfeld

    Another impressive project from Joel Sternfeld. The lifeless Steidl design is unfortunate.
  12. Katharina Fritsch Katharina Fritsch The size of this book works really well. It’s tall and features oversized Berthold Akzidenz Grotesque type for text. Purchased from Symposium Books here in Providence

    Katharina Fritsch

    Katharina Fritsch

    The size of this book works really well. It’s tall and features oversized Berthold Akzidenz Grotesque type for text. Purchased from Symposium Books here in Providence
  13. Michael Wolf: The Transparent City Natasha Egan Chicago, like many urban centers throughout the world, has recently undergone a surge in new construction, grafting a new layer of architectural experimentation onto those of past eras. In early 2007, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, with the support of U.S. Equities Realty, invited Michael Wolf as an artist-in-residence to document this phenomenon. Bringing his unique perspective on changing urban environments to a city renowned for its architectural legacy, Wolf chose to photograph the central downtown area, focusing specifically on issues of voyeurism and the contemporary urban landscape in flux. This is Wolf’s first body of work to address an American city. Whereas prior series have juxtaposed humanizing details within the surrounding geometry of the urban landscape, in The Transparent City, his details are fragments of life—digitally distorted and hyper-enlarged—snatched surreptitiously via telephoto lenses: Edward Hopper meets Blade Runner. The material resonates with all the formalism of the constructed, architectonic work for which Wolf is well-known, but also emphasizes the conceptual underpinnings of his ongoing engagement with the idea of how modern life unfolds within the framework of the ever-growing contemporary city.Michael Wolf, born in Munich in 1954, grew up in the United States and studied at UC Berkeley and with Otto Steinert at the University of Essen in Germany. Two previous books—Sitting in China (2002) and Hong Kong: Front Door/Back Door (2005)—feature his much acclaimed photographs of China. Wolf lives and works in Hong Kong and Europe.

    Michael Wolf: The Transparent City

    Natasha Egan

    Chicago, like many urban centers throughout the world, has recently undergone a surge in new construction, grafting a new layer of architectural experimentation onto those of past eras. In early 2007, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, with the support of U.S. Equities Realty, invited Michael Wolf as an artist-in-residence to document this phenomenon. Bringing his unique perspective on changing urban environments to a city renowned for its architectural legacy, Wolf chose to photograph the central downtown area, focusing specifically on issues of voyeurism and the contemporary urban landscape in flux.
    This is Wolf’s first body of work to address an American city. Whereas prior series have juxtaposed humanizing details within the surrounding geometry of the urban landscape, in The Transparent City, his details are fragments of life—digitally distorted and hyper-enlarged—snatched surreptitiously via telephoto lenses: Edward Hopper meets Blade Runner. The material resonates with all the formalism of the constructed, architectonic work for which Wolf is well-known, but also emphasizes the conceptual underpinnings of his ongoing engagement with the idea of how modern life unfolds within the framework of the ever-growing contemporary city.
    Michael Wolf, born in Munich in 1954, grew up in the United States and studied at UC Berkeley and with Otto Steinert at the University of Essen in Germany. Two previous books—Sitting in China (2002) and Hong Kong: Front Door/Back Door (2005)—feature his much acclaimed photographs of China. Wolf lives and works in Hong Kong and Europe.
  14. Life on Mars 55th Carnegie International Are we alone in the universe? Do aliens exist? Or are we, ourselves, the strangers in our own worlds? Conceived around the title Life on Mars, the 2008 Carnegie International, curated by Douglas Fogle, explores the increasingly relevant yet perplexing proposition of what it means to be human in the world today. The question, “Is there life on Mars?” is a rhetorical one, posing a metaphorical quest to explore humanity’s response to a world where global events challenge and seem to threaten our everyday existence. Working in a range of media, from micro to macro levels of experience, from tragedy to comedy, the 40 artists from 17 countries in the exhibition explore the alien inside each of us. They include Doug Aitken, Kai Althoff, Vija Celmins, Bruce Conner, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Daniel Guzman, Mike Kelley, Barry McGee, Wilhelm Sasnal, David Shrigley, Rudolf Stingel, Paul Thek, Wolfgang Tillmans and Andro Wekua, among others. In questioning the absurdity of our lives while demonstrating hopeful aspirations for the future of humankind, these artists foreground the poetic over the monumental and the intimate over the heroic. In the end, the exhibition asks if we ourselves are already on Mars.

    Life on Mars

    55th Carnegie International

    Are we alone in the universe? Do aliens exist? Or are we, ourselves, the strangers in our own worlds? Conceived around the title Life on Mars, the 2008 Carnegie International, curated by Douglas Fogle, explores the increasingly relevant yet perplexing proposition of what it means to be human in the world today. The question, “Is there life on Mars?” is a rhetorical one, posing a metaphorical quest to explore humanity’s response to a world where global events challenge and seem to threaten our everyday existence. Working in a range of media, from micro to macro levels of experience, from tragedy to comedy, the 40 artists from 17 countries in the exhibition explore the alien inside each of us. They include Doug Aitken, Kai Althoff, Vija Celmins, Bruce Conner, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Daniel Guzman, Mike Kelley, Barry McGee, Wilhelm Sasnal, David Shrigley, Rudolf Stingel, Paul Thek, Wolfgang Tillmans and Andro Wekua, among others. In questioning the absurdity of our lives while demonstrating hopeful aspirations for the future of humankind, these artists foreground the poetic over the monumental and the intimate over the heroic. In the end, the exhibition asks if we ourselves are already on Mars.
  15. Design Disasters: Great Designers, Fabulous Failure, and Lessons Learned Steven Heller Good reading, but the design is a disaster… Design Disasters captures the flip side of success, bringing insight, solace, and energy to the act of failure.The thrill of victory…the agony of defeat.  We’re not talking about just any failure. Design failure. So public. So humiliating. How do designers who are really, really good (we swear!) turn a disaster into a triumph? Read this book and find out, as dozens of top names reveal the heartbreaking—and sometimes hilarious—mistakes they have made and talk about how they were able to grow from the experiences. Self-delusion, overcommitment, procrastination…they’re all here. Poor communication, missed deadlines, enraged clients…yes, they’re here too. Read Design Disasters and weep? No! Read Design Disasters and be inspired to find the silver lining in even the cloudiest situation. Featuring essays by: Henry Petroski • Alissa Walker • David Barringer • Allan Chocinov • Peter Blegvad • Ross MacDonald • Robert Grossman • Ina Saltz • Warren Lehrer • Rob Trostle • Ralph Caplan • Richard Saul Wurman • Marian Bantjes • Rick Meyerowitz • Amanda Bowers • David Jury • Veronique Vienne • Francis Levy • Colin Berry • Nick Curry • Debbie Millman, and more!

    Design Disasters: Great Designers, Fabulous Failure, and Lessons Learned

    Steven Heller

    Good reading, but the design is a disaster…

    Design Disasters captures the flip side of success, bringing insight, solace, and energy to the act of failure.The thrill of victory…the agony of defeat.  We’re not talking about just any failure. Design failure. So public. So humiliating. How do designers who are really, really good (we swear!) turn a disaster into a triumph? Read this book and find out, as dozens of top names reveal the heartbreaking—and sometimes hilarious—mistakes they have made and talk about how they were able to grow from the experiences. Self-delusion, overcommitment, procrastination…they’re all here. Poor communication, missed deadlines, enraged clients…yes, they’re here too. Read

    Design Disasters and weep? No! Read Design Disasters and be inspired to find the silver lining in even the cloudiest situation.

    Featuring essays by: Henry Petroski • Alissa Walker • David Barringer • Allan Chocinov • Peter Blegvad • Ross MacDonald • Robert Grossman • Ina Saltz • Warren Lehrer • Rob Trostle • Ralph Caplan • Richard Saul Wurman • Marian Bantjes • Rick Meyerowitz • Amanda Bowers • David Jury • Veronique Vienne • Francis Levy • Colin Berry • Nick Curry • Debbie Millman, and more!
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Actual shelves open to local designers at 204 Westminster Street in Providence.
Otlet's Shelf Tumblr theme by Andrew LeClair & Rob Giampietro.

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The Design Office
204 Westminster St., 4th Floor, #14
Providence, R.I. 02903
info@thedesignoffice.cxoxorg
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