Hasta La Ideas

More than likely, judging from the fact that you’ve landed on this site, you like both designers and reading. So why not combine the two (well, more than reading great UnBeige content each and every day)? So has happened with the launch of the new collaborative project, Designers & Books. Founded and edited by Archetype‘s Steve Kroeter, along with Stephanie Salomon, and helped brought to life by a team of others, the site says it “is devoted to publishing lists of books that esteemed members of the design community identify as personally important, meaningful, and formative.” As of their launch this week, we’d say that they’re off to a pretty amazing start, collecting book picks from 50 of the top names in the business, including Robert Venturi, Elizabeth Diller, Peter Eisenman and Paula Scher (who was likely one of the easier gets, along with Michael Bierut, considering Pentagram handled the site’s design). While there are a small handful of essays available on the site, it’s largely lists of books and no more than that. What’s more, the books picked by these famous designers aren’t all design-related either. They’re just their favorites, or ones that influenced their work in some way. Though there is some sparse commentary about selections here and there, by and large, most participants haven’t added notes explaining their choices. And this won’t hinder your browsing in the least. If anything, it makes you feel a little more connected to these industry luminaries. “Hey, I’ve read that book and so has Norman Foster!” we thought to ourselves more than a couple of times while scanning his picks. It’s early days for Designers & Books, and we’re looking forward to watching it grow.

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