Designerly Ways of Knowing: A Working Inventory of Things a Designer Should Know
Design thinking has created divisions in the discipline: either designers are too theory driven or simply practitioners. Those feeling lost can easily turn to a language meant to inspire creative production in easy to pitch ways, where rhetoric uses design to keep power at bay, to celebrate hegemonic beliefs which are used to indoctrinate designers in bad education, incapable of imagining different futures. If you take away the post-its, the A3 papers and the markers, can designers think? Led by Antonio Gramsci’s advice that knowing thyself requires compiling an inventory, design critic, educator and researcher Danah Abdulla pays tribute to the late architect, activist and critic Michael Sorkin, whose original list "Two Hundred and Fifty Things an Architect Should Know" inspired this updated version targeted at designers. The iterative list is not meant to be a definitive how to guide, but to spark conversations, to prompt critical thinking and to help designers reconfigure their discipline.
| Binding | Smyth-Sewn Hardcover with Embossed Metallic Foil Spine |
| Paper Type | 120 GSM Acid-Free Archival Woodfree Cream Paper |
| Page Count | 160 Illustrated Pages |
| Dimensions | 6.5" x 9.25" Coffee Table & Study Format |
| Language | English with High-Resolution Architectural & Cipher Plates |
| Ribbon Marker | Woven Silk Burgundy & Gold Ribbon Bookmark |
| Publisher | Arcana Vault Press, New York |
Curator Notes: Designerly Ways of Knowing: A Working Inventory of Things a Designer Should Know
Design thinking has created divisions in the discipline: either designers are too theory driven or simply practitioners. Those feeling lost can easily turn to a language meant to inspire creative production in easy to pitch ways, where rhetoric uses design to keep power at bay, to celebrate hegemonic beliefs which are used to indoctrinate designers in bad education, incapable of imagining different futures. If you take away the post-its, the A3 papers and the markers, can designers think? Led by Antonio Gramsci’s advice that knowing thyself requires compiling an inventory, design critic, educator and researcher Danah Abdulla pays tribute to the late architect, activist and critic Michael Sorkin, whose original list "Two Hundred and Fifty Things an Architect Should Know" inspired this updated version targeted at designers. The iterative list is not meant to be a definitive how to guide, but to spark conversations, to prompt critical thinking and to help designers reconfigure their discipline.
Each production run of this artifact is executed in limited atelier batches. Hand-assembled and calibrated with precision tools to ensure that physical resistance, kinetic balance, and aesthetic presentation meet the stringent heirloom standards of Arcana Vault.
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A treasure trove of mechanical ingenuity and philosophical puzzles. A must-read for any curious mind.
Fascinating historical depth combined with cryptic challenges. The typography and layout are an art form in themselves.
The Smyth-sewn binding allows it to lay completely flat on my study desk. Rich archival paper that smells wonderful.
