The Language of Things: Understanding the World of Desirable Objects

by Deyan Sudjic

Overview

A brilliant exposé of the interaction between art, design, and commerce.

In ?The Language of Things, ?the director of London's Design Museum charts our relationship with all things designed. With scintillating wit and an eye for the pleasures and dangers of rampant consumerism, Deyan Sudjic takes us from luxury car commercials to glossy advertisements for seasonal variations of the Prada purse to the hype surrounding the latest version of the iPhone, exploring how we are manipulated and seduced by our possessions. Who would've thought that it's the subtle visual similarity between the Volkswagen Golf GTI and the barrel of an automatic pistol that makes people want to get behind the wheel? And why is it that digital cameras in cell phones "click" even though they don't have a shutter? Sudjic's illuminating argument will resound with anyone who has ever been affected by how things look—lured, in other words, by the powerful siren call of design.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393240924
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	02/25/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	415,902
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Deyan Sudjic is director of the Design Museum, London. He is the author of 100-Mile City and The Edifice Complex and the coauthor of The Architecture Pack.

Editorial Reviews

Like "geese force-fed grain until their livers explode, to make foie gras, we are a generation born to consume," says this witty commentary on rampant consumerism enabled by design innovation. Indeed, Sudjic (director of London's Design Museum and author of The Edifice Complex) says, consumer snobbery and design obsession can border on "high-functioning autism." Writing almost conversationally, he explores how "consumer engineering" expanded the design process, inspiring the world to "consume [its] way out of the Great Depression"and becoming the present marketing ideal. Luxury, fashion and art, says Sudjic,are the highlights of modern design, with fashion as the "most developed form of built-in obsolescence"-and consumers are willing to pay dearly for the impermanence. Brimming throughout with primarily British examples, pricing and language, Sudjic's appreciation of first-rate design shows through his vivid descriptions of universally classic functional or aesthetically pleasing archetypes. Especially appealing to marketers and design connoisseurs, this is easily digestible for the average consumers interested in knowingly purchasing quality design for the senses-if they can still afford it in today's economy. 71 b&w illus, 5 color illus. (June)

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Publishers Weekly

A deep, penetrating look at the ever-perilous battle among the competing forces of art, fashion, and practicality.... Difficult to read because I was laughing so much, I kept losing my place.
”

Donald Norman

[Sudjic] views the world of objects that surrounds us with both unabashed passion and supreme skepticism.... We could ask for no better guide.
”

Michael Bierut

A mind-broadening look at how designers of all kinds make our material world what it is.... Full of eye-opening examples of design at its most daring—and most successful.
”

Henry Petrosky

[Sudjic] writes beautifully, communicating an expert knowledge of design in words so well crafted that you look forward to every sentence.
”

Bill Moggridge

An evocative, sometimes disturbing, always intelligent book about the poetry of material things.
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Richard Sennett

The Language of Things reads like a good conversation with someone who has a deep understanding of his subject matter.... A provocative and effective way of looking at our world through the lens of objects.
”

John Dunningan

The Language of Things reads like a good conversation with someone who has a deep understanding of his subject matter.... A provocative and effective way of looking at our world through the lens of objects.
”

John Dunning