Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Book note: "Mapping Design Research"

The book "Mapping Design Research" (2012) edited by Simon Grand & Wolfgang Jonas is a great new addition to the field of design philosophy and theory. The book contains 21 essays covering different aspects of design theory. It is a mix of older seminal writings from recognized design thinkers such as Herbert A. Simon, Christopher Frayling, Bruce Archer, and John Chris Jones. There are also some essays by authors who are not primarily seen as design thinkers, such as Bruno Latour, John Law, Michel Callon, and Friedrich Nietzsche. The book also contains some essays from contemporary design thinkers by among others Wolfgang Jones, Ken Friedman, and Anthony Dunne.

I have not yet had time to read all chapters but several of the chapters are texts I have encountered before. I am looking forward to read the ones that I am not familiar with. It seems to be a good collection and I congratulate Grand and Jonas for putting this anthology together!