
The New Designer
Rejecting Myths, Embracing Change
Manuel Lima(Author)
MIT Press
Published on 2. May 2023
Book
Hardback
232 pages
978-0-262-04763-0 (ISBN)
Description
How to develop an ethical design practice and build a better world.
The choices made by designers have a significant effect on the world. Yet so much of the discourse on design focuses on aesthetics rather than ethics. In The New Designer, acclaimed author Manuel Lima aims to change this by challenging common myths and preconceptions about what comprises good design. He argues that designers must take responsibility for the personal, societal, cultural, and environmental impact of their work, rather than simply following a standard template.
As he covers fields ranging from graphic design to industrial design to user-experience design, Lima identifies the major steps that designers must take to be a force for good in the world. Rather than sticking to outmoded ideas about perfectionism and individual genius, designers must work together to tackle some of the most challenging questions of the twenty-first century. How do you make room for humanity, with all its wondrous variations, in a society increasingly driven by metrics, algorithms, and profit? How can ecologically responsible designers consider a product's entire life cycle and look well into the future? And how can designers better respond to a community's local needs while taking advantage of global networks?
Blending approaches derived from ethics, psychology, economics, and ecology, The New Designer is a vital, field-changing treatise that will appeal to any reader who seeks to understand design's massive influence on the contemporary world.
The choices made by designers have a significant effect on the world. Yet so much of the discourse on design focuses on aesthetics rather than ethics. In The New Designer, acclaimed author Manuel Lima aims to change this by challenging common myths and preconceptions about what comprises good design. He argues that designers must take responsibility for the personal, societal, cultural, and environmental impact of their work, rather than simply following a standard template.
As he covers fields ranging from graphic design to industrial design to user-experience design, Lima identifies the major steps that designers must take to be a force for good in the world. Rather than sticking to outmoded ideas about perfectionism and individual genius, designers must work together to tackle some of the most challenging questions of the twenty-first century. How do you make room for humanity, with all its wondrous variations, in a society increasingly driven by metrics, algorithms, and profit? How can ecologically responsible designers consider a product's entire life cycle and look well into the future? And how can designers better respond to a community's local needs while taking advantage of global networks?
Blending approaches derived from ethics, psychology, economics, and ecology, The New Designer is a vital, field-changing treatise that will appeal to any reader who seeks to understand design's massive influence on the contemporary world.
Reviews / Votes
Included in Fast Company's "6 essential design books to read this summer" list"Designer and author Manuel Lima writes in his important new book that the old ways of practicing design no longer work and that it's time to rethink design. Organized around myths in the design industry (from the obvious "design is perfection" to the provocative "design is for humans"), Lima proposes that the designer of the future is focused equally on the product and the system, the user and the environment, the aesthetics, and the ethics. Lima's prose is friendly and accessible and each chapter ends with actionable advice for designers to immediately apply to their work."
- Fast Company
"Manuel dives deep into how our choices as designers should focus more on ethics rather than just aesthetics. A must-read for any designer who wants to learn how to challenge common myths about what truly comprises design and, both individually and collectively, take responsibility for the personal, societal, cultural and environmental impact of the work current and future designers produce."
-The Association of Registered Graphic Designers
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge (Massachusetts)
United States
Publishing group
MIT Press Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 233 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
612 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-262-04763-0 (9780262047630)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
08/2023
MIT Press
€28.99
Available for download
Person
Manuel Lima is an internationally renowned designer and author of three bestsellers: The Book of Circles, The Book of Trees, and Visual Complexity. Named "one of the 50 most creative and influential minds" by Creativity magazine, he is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a regular lecturer at conferences around the world.
Content
Preface ix Personal Impact
1 Design is perfection 3
2 Design is about sole genius 23
3 Design is about ideas 45
Societal Impact
4 Design is about tasks 67
5 Design is a measurable instrument 89
6 Design is an instrument for good 109
Environmental Impact
7 Design is for humans 133
8 Design is the answer 153
9 Design is local 175
Conclusion
10 Designer of the Future 197
Notes 213
Bibliography 225
Index 251
1 Design is perfection 3
2 Design is about sole genius 23
3 Design is about ideas 45
Societal Impact
4 Design is about tasks 67
5 Design is a measurable instrument 89
6 Design is an instrument for good 109
Environmental Impact
7 Design is for humans 133
8 Design is the answer 153
9 Design is local 175
Conclusion
10 Designer of the Future 197
Notes 213
Bibliography 225
Index 251