Product Design and Consumer Culture

Fantastic Plastic shows how product design has developed and considers its usability, technology and appearance. The history of plastics is in so many ways the history of contemporary industrial design and the book provides a fascinating look at how designs using plastics can be considered as works of art, as well as objects of our everyday lives. Fantastic Plastic provides a comprehensive survey of the ecological, technological and aesthetic qualities of plastic and considers the future of the material that has made such a mark on contemporary life.

Plastics have been the defining material of the twentieth century. From the first man-made plastics in 1862 to the patenting of Celluloid in 1870, plastics originally provided an attractive replacement for ivory, tortoiseshell and bone. In Fantastic Plastic contemporary designers, artists and scientists explore the evolution of this ubiquitous and endlessly malleable material, through its trademarked names--Spandex, Teflon, Nylon, Rayon, Tupperware--through to looking at how its function and reputation have changed over its lifetime. Plastics have been used in the manufacture of everything from toys, to furniture, to clothes and has played its part in the creation of contemporary design icons from the ipod to the Tom Vac chair.

En inspirerande fotobok som utmanar och ger dig massor av aha-upplevelser.

Joe McNally är en av världens toppfotografer när det gäller digital fotografering. Hans verk har prytt omslagen på kända tidskrifter som Sports Illustrated, Time och National Geographic. Nu bryter han ny mark när han gör något som ingen fotografibok gjort tidigare, genom att blanda "coffee table"-bokens fantastiska bilder och eleganta layout med de ovärderliga kunskaper som man bara hittar i riktiga läroböcker.

När Joe inte har uppdrag för de största tidskrifterna och de stora företagen, är han klassrumslärare i ljussättning, porträttfotografering och hur man tar "bilden". Seminarierna här är vanligen reserverade för en handfull fotografer om året, men i den här boken har du nu möjlighet att lära dig samma tekniker som Joe lär ut på sina seminarier och lektioner.

Det som gör denna bok så unik är "inlärningstriangeln" där (1) Joe bryter ner ett koncept till en enda kort mening. Det börjar vanligtvis med något som "En redaktör på National Geographic bad mig..." och sedan delar han med sig av de svårförvärvade yrkesknepen som du bara kan få från någon som tillbringat en livstid bakom objektivet. (2) På framsidan av den är boken illustreras Joes teknik med hans briljanta bild. Och (3) i boken beskrivs historien om hur bilden togs och vilken utrustning han använde (objektiv, f/stop, ljussättning, tillbehör m.m.) och även vilka utmaningar du möter med denna typ av projekt och hur du ska göra för att själv ta samma bild.

Boken ger dig också något mer. Den inspirerar. Den utmanar. Den informerar. Men det kanske allra viktigaste, den hjälper dig förstå fotografi och konsten att ta fantastiska bilder på en nivå som du inte trodde var möjlig. I boken finns massor av aha-upplevelser - insikterna som gör att allt faller på plats. Den ger dig det där underbara tillfället är allt plötsligt får en mening - då det säger klick.

Författaren och fotografen Joe McNally är en internationellt hyllad fotograf, vars karriär har utspelat sig över 30 år och inkluderar uppdrag i över 50 länder. Han har fotograferat för kända tidskrifter som Time, Sports Illustrated, Life och National Geographic. Han har också gjort reklambilder för Taget, Nikon och Sony, bara för att nämna några stora företag. Han har fått flera internationella utmärkelser. Ett av Joes mest kända projekt är Faces of Ground Zero, en jättesamling bilder, som är ett av de mest kända konstnärliga gensvaren på tragedin med World Trade Center.

Här kommer uppföljaren till storsäljaren The Photographer´s Eye!

A book that all photographers will want for themselves and as gifts for their photographer friends!

The aim of this book is to answer what makes a photograph great, and explore the ways that top photographers achieve this goal time and time again. The Photographer's Mind will provide you with invaluable knowledge on avoiding cliché, the cyclical nature of fashion, style and mannerism, light and even how to handle the unexpected.

The source of any photograph is not the camera, or even the scene viewed through the viewfinder - it is in the mind of the photographer. In The Photographer's Mind, photographer and author Michael Freeman unravels the mystery behind the creation of a photograph. More than any other art form, the nature of photography demands that the viewer constantly be intrigued and surprised by new imagery and different interpretations.

För dig som gillar scrapbooking. En rik inspirationskälla att ösa idéer ur!

"I min magiska scrapbookingvärld" är fylld av personliga idéer och inspiration som ger dig nya infallsvinklar i ditt kortmakande. En stor mängd kortidéer utgår ifrån årets högtider och andra viktiga händelser.

Boken har också en kalender som ger dig ett enkelt sätt att komma ihåg din familjs och dina vänners födelsedagar, namnsdagar och andra högtider. Njut och inspireras av en bok fylld av kort, inspiration och färg!

The Banksy of Guerilla gardening! The Little Book of Little Gardens is an artistic demonstration and playful collection of the internationally acclaimed ‘Pot Hole Gardener’. The UK’s Sun newspaper described the popular and creative East London figure as the “Banksy of guerilla garden- ing”. This collection of his best work is brought to life using the backdrop of a world mega-city urban environment transformed into this inspirational and photographic book. The Pot Hole Gardeners’ journey from pot hole to pot hole provides unexpected scene’s that brightens the lives of passers-by. As you take the journey with him, your imagination will wander in these themed yet informal gardens that use wonderful props and colourful seasonal flowers. The use of empty miniature benches and chairs inspires and questions the reader to ask – who uses them and why? What are the hidden messages or issues portrayed behind these small yet brilliant pop-up gardens? This must-have gift edition will take readers on a photographic journey down some of London’s most iconic locations turning dirty into beautiful, crappy into happy; and doom into bloom.

Stencil Republic is a pure celebration of the art of the stencil. The 20 stencils featured, printed on perforated card stock so that they can be cut out and used, have been created by international artists from across the street art scene, from the old masters to the new kids on the block. A collector's item in its own right, this is a book of stencils that can be used and treasured or just simply be an inspiration to others to create.

Indispensible artifacts of our material and virtual culture, calendars help us to organize our increasingly complicated lives within the framework of the passage of time. We depend on them as personal flash drives to contain and retrieve the overflow of data we have resigned to not committing to memory. But, whether on our walls, desks, or desktops they rarely stray from anticipated or traditional forms. Save the Date showcases groundbreaking designs for calendars and planners, where aesthetic concerns compete with the temporal to create new and often startling combinations. No longer largely invisible or disposable, the calendars of today demand pride of placement in our homes or workplaces to be followed by a graceful retirement as collectible or covetable objets d art. Break the grid!

Despite popular belief, social media is not just for teenagers. Social media is now the #1 activity on the Internet. The world of social media is so powerful that it is causing a macro shift in corporate and personal behavior.

The economic promise social media offers is limitless. This book introduces the concept of Socialnomics and its ability to eliminate inefficient marketing and middlemen. As a result, everything from purchasing a baby carriage, to drafting a will, is easier and cheaper for the consumer and more profitable for the seller.

In this book business professionals will learn that in a Socialnomics world, not all great brands will be built from within, but rather they will be built externally through customer feedback on websites and online communities. Socialnomics creates a World of Mouth that far exceeds traditional word of mouth. We live in a global economy partly enabled by social media. This book helps show business professionals the pitfalls to avoid and opportunities to capitalize on.

Advertising is changing fast, in order to hold its own in an ever-changing media landscape. The traditional channels of TV, press and poster simply won't reach some target audiences. Instead, clients demand project-specific solutions involving social media networks, stunts in public places, street propaganda and more.

This book showcases the varied and inventive tactics that are being used today by big-name brands, non-profit organizations and individuals to promote themselves, their ideas and their products. Projects of this title include: giant afro combs stuck in topiaried shrubs to promote a play set in a barber shop; an inflatable pig wedged between two skinny Manhattan buildings to advertise dental floss; musical grooves in a road, only audible if you drive at the safe limit of 40 mph; and, street buskers launching a new Oasis album in New York. Over 70 international campaigns are featured, grouped according to their approach: Stunts, Street Propaganda, Sneaky Tactics, Site-specific campaigns and Multi-fronted attacks.

PEPIN Fashion, Textiles & Patterns 02

This book contains more than 150 reproductions of typical Flower Power designs, ranging from all-over patterns of tiny flowers to giant blooms covering entire garments.

Flower power is an expression associated with Hippie culture of the late 1960s and represents a style in which flowers as symbols of love and peace were omnipresent. On clothing floral imagery was embroidered, woven and printed in all shapes and sizes.

PEPIN is a series of thematic titles on various types of textile and dress - including unusual and overlooked styles. Each volume contains introductory text, fashion plates an/or historical images to show the subject in its original context and high-quality photographs and drawings of clothing, patterns, decorative details, etc. A wide selection of these images is saved on the enclosed CDs.

Drawing fashion with colored markers.

A complete course and guide to drawing modern fashion in colour that shows how to realize the full potential of markers as a medium for fashion drawing and design.

Michiel Schwarz and Joost Elffers' Sustainism Is the New Modernism declares the dawn of a new cultural era, as we transition from modernity to sustainity- towards a world that is more connected, more localist, more digital and more sustainable. As the authors of this clear-eyed manifesto argue, "sustainism marks a shift not only in thinking and doing but in collective perception--of how we live, do business, feed ourselves, design, travel and communicate, as much as how we deal with nature." In the twentieth century, whether we knew it or not, our world was shaped by modernist values, from the design of our cities to our homes, technologies and our conceptions of progress. Sustainism recasts our relationship to all of these things, binding ecological issues to a larger picture of our world. Through a series of graphically dynamic aphorisms, quotes and symbols designed for worldwide use by businesses, individuals and institutions, to signal support for sustainism, Michiel Schwarz and Joost Elffers show how the movement is already reshaping global culture, technology, food and media. With this concise manifesto, they launch the term sustainism into the public consciousness. The sustainist era has begun.

Michiel Schwarz is a Dutch independent cultural thinker, innovator and producer, now working from Berkeley, California. Originally trained as a sociologist of technology, he has initiated projects on global issues, the future of design, technology and media. His publications include The Technological Culture and Speed: Visions of an Accelerated Age.

Joost Elffers is a designer, "symbol maker" and creative producer of award-winning and innovative books such as 48 Laws of Power, Play With Your Food and Tangram: The Ancient Chinese Shapes Game.