Victor PapanekCritiques

The function complex, which are the elements needed for consideration of good design is really good. The fold out summation is the thesis of the book. Think about what makes good design and for who! Don’t be murderous, greedy, thoughtless in your designs. Think what is needed and by whom! Very good. "aesthetic value is an inherent *part* of function."

Nomadic Furniture 2 is a sequel to the authors' highly successful Nomadic Furniture, a book which showed readers how to build and where to buy lightweight furniture that folds, inflates, knocks down, stacks, or is disposable and can be recycled, with many easy-to-follow instructions. In their new book, Victor Papanek and James Hennessey include a vast array of ideas for which they had no room in their first volume, as well as a great many ideas that have come up since its publication.

A searing and highly opinionated, but crucially accurate take on the state of design today and what must be improved about it for the benefit of humankind.

Papanek is beautifully explicit on the role of design and the responsibility of the designer: it is far-reaching, and it cannot be avoided or denied. His discussions of real-world issues (with examples from urban planning, architecture, politics) are highly relevant for interaction design in these times when digital artifacts increasingly pervade our everyday lives.

A good book on the need to change the way we design the entire spectrum of human artifacts, from buildings to automobiles to snackbars. Papanek discusses how product design should go far beyond aesthetics. Products can and should be designed to be energy efficient, environmentally friendly, conducive to human health, and easy to use and repair. He relates his own experiences in the design of a wide range of products and how he used his position as a designer to advocate this agenda. The text is largely engaging and easy to read. This is a good primer for anyone entering a field of product engineering or design.½

I must have bought this book and its second volume close to the time they were published. I probably found them in some edition of the Whole Earth Catalog. In my student years and their immediate aftermath I built quite a few items inspired by these books. They probably lacked a certain elegance and craftsmanship but they served for several years.

38