Growing a Business
Paul Hawken
Fireside
First published in the early eighties, this book served as a spiritual guide for me for how run a business. It’s not a how-to book and it’s not about money. It is about thinking of your business as something you live to do.

http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Business-Paul-Hawken/dp/0671671642

On Writing Well
William Zinsser
Harper Resource
You can open this book to any page and you will find something useful. It is as much a guide to creative thinking and communication as it is about tips on writing clearly. I’ve turned to this repeatedly.

http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-25th-Anniversary-Nonfiction/dp/0060006641

Typographie
Emil Ruder
A. Niggli
A first glance this is a Swiss bible of typography. Wonderful yet dated. For me, however, it remains a model of the expressive possibilities of type regardless of the current trend. This book opened up the gate for me.

http://www.amazon.com/Typographie-Manual-Design-Emil-Ruder/dp/3721200438

A Designers Art
Paul Rand
Yale
Rand’s insightful, eclectic reflections on graphic design are timeless and reflect a deep intellect and remarkable visual acuity.

http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Rand-Designer%60s-Art-Mr/dp/0300082827

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
Edward Tufte
Graphics Press
Tufte’s lucid and playful treatise on presenting data is enlightening for designers and lay people alike. A real treat. Beautifully produced.

http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi

Rick Landesberg, Landesberg Design
www.landesbergdesign.com

At the appointed hour I showed up, my samples tucked safely in the soft attache case I usually carried to presentations. My potential client sat  behind an elegant desk, her attitude cool and professional. She was in her late twenties, a few years younger than me at the time.

A lot has been written about how one sizes up another in the first moments after meeting. That was certainly the case here. She was all business and not prone to chit chat. There was no getting off the subject here, no nascent camaraderie that would bloom into an easy professional partnership.

I proceeded to spend a few minutes telling her about my practice and experience. It was then time to show examples of our work. While maintaining my banter I reached down to remove my samples from the soft briefcase at my side. They resisted, however, and as I continued to speak I found myself tugging at them with ever increasing but unresponsive pressure. Unbeknownst to me, my combined works had lodged itself in my bag in such a way as to form a tightly wound and powerful spring. With eyes still alertly focused on my client but my attention divided, I gave one final forceful tug. My samples exploded from the briefcase, shooting out across the floor, under her desk, and about her tasteful pumps.

She did not laugh. She did not move. She said nothing. Her unexpressed sympathy astonished me, and I pondered this as I retrieved the various (and, by the way, beautifully designed) materials scattered about the floor.

The rest of the interview proceeded without event. I left, never heard from her again, and that was that.

From this experience I learned two lessons and I freely pass them on to any taker:

1. As my father told me when first showing me how to use a 35mm camera, if something resists, don’t force it.

2. Don’t work for jerks.

Rick Landesberg
Landesberg Design
www.landesbergdesign.com

Rick Landesberg, Landesberg Design

www.landesbergdesign.com

We’re driving down the street and see a hand-painted, rough plywood sign leaning against a fence. “Lemonade 10¢,” it proclaims in drippy irregular letters (the N is backwards, of course). How great that a couple of kids got this together on this sunny afternoon. It’s an authentic moment. We’re charmed. Let’s stop.

But let’s say we have this circumstance: again the plywood, the sincere, sloppy letters, except this time the message is different: “Flying Lessons $800.” No one would go near it (or shouldn’t).

People are engaged in and perceive design thinking all the time, they just don’t call it by that name.

For example, we enter into in a design process when we get dressed. Decisions—often sophisticated ones— are made daily about the compatibility of materials (leather boots against cotton skirt), mix of colors (red t-shirt under gray shirt), proportion (belt too thin), appropriateness (Tevas with those pants???), scale (pin way too big), and cultural signals  (“I’m Surrounded By Jagoffs” t-shirt). And people generally do a pretty good job of  coordinating a coherent and consistent set of signals (that doesn’t mean they dress well, they just communicate their intentions clearly).

When I decide to have a dinner on Saturday night, a process kicks into place. I may not literally name the following concerns but they are addressed. Classic design considerations are quickly established. What do I want the evening to be like? What should be its expressive qualities? How many people will be there? How much time do I have to prepare it? Lobster? Too expensive. Nick and Kate don’t eat meat. Dennis can’t eat shellfish. The store closes early on Saturday and I have that class in the morning. The nice tablecloth? No…too fancy. Creativity within constraints.

People engage in design processes in their daily lives. These efforts are very little different than professional circumstances. People just aren’t used to thinking about it that way. The client who sees design as surface, as decoration, as “icing on the cake” need only make the link to his own life. When he does so, he might see that form communicates whether he intends it to or not.

A belt does more than hold your pants up. It’s a visual juncture and we care about it’s expressive qualities. If we didn’t care, we’d just tie a rope around our waists.

Rick Landesberg, Landesberg Design

www.landesbergdesign.com