Synopses & Reviews
andlt;Pandgt;Our culture is dominated by the visual. Yet most writing on design reflects a narrow preoccupation with products, biographies, and design influences. Maud Lavin approaches design from the broader field of visual culture criticism, asking challenging questions about about who really has a voice in the culture and what unseen influences affect the look of things designers produce. Lavin shows how design fits into larger questions of power, democracy, and communication. Many corporate clients instruct designers to convey order and clarity in order to give their companies the look of a clean new world. But since designers cannot clean up messy reality, Lavin shows, they often end up simply veiling it.Lacking the power to influence the content of their commercial work, many designers work simultaneously on other, more fulfilling projects. Lavin is especially interested in the graphic designer's role in shaping cultural norms. She examines the anti-Nazi propaganda of John Heartfield, the modernist utopian design of Kurt Schwitters and the neue ring werbegestalter, the alternative images of women by studio ringl + pit, the activist work of such contemporary designers as Marlene McCarty and Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, and the Internet innovations of David Steuer and others. Throughout the book, Lavin asks how designers can expand the pleasure, democracy, and vitality of communication.andlt;/Pandgt;
Review
"This is a serious book, brilliant with experience and discretion."
— Jo Guldi, Eye
Review
"This book should make design a key component of all histories of twentieth-century culture. It deals with large issues of design and communication: who has the means to use images and words effectively, and for what purposes? I know of no other book like it." Anne Higonnet , Wellesley College Leslie Chess Fuller - New York Times Book Review
Review
andquot;This book should make design a key component of all histories of twentieth-century culture. It deals with large issues of design and communication: who has the means to use images and words effectively, and for what purposes? I know of no other book like it.andquot;
-- Anne Higonnet, Wellesley College
Review
...a discussion that has powerful implications for our interpretation of the past and art practices in the future. The MIT Press
Review
"...a discussion that has powerful implications for our interpretation of the past and art practices in the future."
— Neil Harris, Chicago Tribune"Maud Lavin. . . discusses the divergent voices of graphic artists whose images have shaped society."
— Leslie Chess Fuller, New York Times Book Review"This is a serious book, brilliant with experience and discretion."
— Jo Guldi, Eye"This book should make design a key component of all histories of twentieth-century culture. It deals with large issues of design and communication: who has the means to use images and words effectively, and for what purposes? I know of no other book like it."
—Anne Higonnet, Wellesley College
Review
Maud Lavin... discusses the divergent voices of graphic artists whose images have shaped society. The MIT Press
Review
"Richly detailed case studies and helpful narrative tables enliven this very systematic and orderly review of the access and browsing literature relevant to information and communication."--J. David Johnson, Professor and Dean, College of Communications and Information Studies, University of Kentucky The MIT Press
Review
"Maud Lavin's witty and elegant Clean New World: Culture, Politics, and Graphic Design engages the history of graphic design from the early years of Berlin Dada to the current era of corporate logo commissions and graphics in cyberspace. Her sharp critique of the graphic design profession 'so powerful and so warped (in most commercial practice) in its ability to communicate' will engage readers in cultural studies as well as art and design. Highly recommended."--Dolores Hayden, Professor of Architecture, Urbanism, and American Studies, Yale University, Author of Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History Neil Harris - Chicago Tribune
Review
"By delivering to us the power structure that is behind some of the most important acts in graphic design in the century, Lavin shows us the politics of the design process. That's a first. Here is a book about graphic design that is intelligent, new in perspective, and necessary."--Paola Antonelli, Curator of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art The MIT Press
Review
"We all envy John Thackara's digestive system. He is able to take in the most disparate events, locations, trends, and apparent minutiae and deliver back a synthesis of the way the world moves for the use of designers and of those who use design as a powerful life-forming tool. And to help us swallow what might otherwise be too abstract a meal, he serves it to us with parables that make the book not only an enriching, but also a fun read."--Paola Antonelli, Curator of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"Richly detailed case studies and helpful narrative tables enliven this very systematic and orderly review of the access and browsing literature relevant to information and communication."--J. David Johnson, Professor and Dean, College of Communications and Information Studies, University of Kentuckyandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"This book should make design a key component of all histories of 20th century culture. It deals with large issues of design and communication: who has the means to use images and words effectively, and for what purposes? I know of no other book like it." --Anne Higonnet, Art Department, Wellesley Collegeandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"Maud Lavin... discusses the divergent voices of graphic artists whose images have shaped society." Leslie Chess Fuller New York Times Book Reviewandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"...powerful implications for our interpretation of the past and art practices in the future." Neil Harris Chicago Tribuneandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Synopsis
Our culture is dominated by the visual. Yet most writing on design reflects a narrow preoccupation with products, biographies, and design influences. Maud Lavin approaches design from the broader field of visual culture criticism, asking challenging questions about about who really has a voice in the culture and what unseen influences affect the look of things designers produce. Lavin shows how design fits into larger questions of power, democracy, and communication. Many corporate clients instruct designers to convey order and clarity in order to give their companies the look of a clean new world. But since designers cannot clean up messy reality, Lavin shows, they often end up simply veiling it.
Lacking the power to influence the content of their commercial work, many designers work simultaneously on other, more fulfilling projects. Lavin is especially interested in the graphic designer's role in shaping cultural norms. She examines the anti-Nazi propaganda of John Heartfield, the modernist utopian design of Kurt Schwitters and the neue ring werbegestalter, the alternative images of women by studio ringl + pit, the activist work of such contemporary designers as Marlene McCarty and Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, and the Internet innovations of David Steuer and others. Throughout the book, Lavin asks how designers can expand the pleasure, democracy, and vitality of communication.
Synopsis
Our culture is dominated by the visual. Yet most writing on design reflects a narrow preoccupation with products, biographies, and design influences. Maud Lavin approaches design from the broader field of visual culture criticism, asking challenging questions about about who really has a voice in the culture and what unseen influences affect the look of things designers produce. Lavin shows how design fits into larger questions of power, democracy, and communication. Many corporate clients instruct designers to convey order and clarity in order to give their companies the look of a clean new world. But since designers cannot clean up messy reality, Lavin shows, they often end up simply veiling it.
Synopsis
Maud Lavin approaches design from the broader field of visual culture criticism, asking challenging questions about about who really has a voice in the culture and what unseen influences affect the look of things designers produce.
Synopsis
andlt;Pandgt;Maud Lavin approaches design from the broader field of visual culture criticism, asking challenging questions about about who really has a voice in the culture and what unseen influences affect the look of things designers produce. andlt;/Pandgt;
About the Author
Maud Lavin is Professor of Visual and Critical Studies and Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the author of Cut with the Kitchen Knife: The Weimar Photomontages of Hannah Höch and Clean New World: Culture, Politics, and Graphic Design (MIT Press, 2001).