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Make It New
Book

Make It New

The History of Silicon Valley Design

Barry M. Katz
MIT Press, 2015

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Eye Opening
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Stanford professor Barry M. Katz’s impressive, primary-sourced and research-backed analysis of the important yet often disregarded role that designers played in shaping Silicon Valley offers a true insider perspective on the development of design in the 20th and 21st centuries. Katz’s nonlinear style, at times, obscures his thorough account of the way various designers and their innovations fit into the timeline of Silicon Valley’s history. Sometimes his entertaining narrative devolves into recitations of lists of names and achievements. Ultimately, however, Katz makes a compelling case for how and why design’s role in Silicon Valley – and beyond – shifted from a backbench support function to a front-line position in product development. He also explores the advent of “Design Thinking” and its impact on design’s future. getAbstract recommends his treatise to design professionals and lay enthusiasts who wish to know more about design history and philosophy.

Take-Aways

  • For many decades after World War II, design dealt mostly with crafting “enclosures” for equipment.
  • In the 1980s, design firms such as GVO pursued “ethnographic” design.
  • The personal computer shifted perceptions of design’s product development role.

About the Author

Barry M. Katz is professor of industrial and interaction design at the California College of the Arts, consulting professor in the design group at Stanford University as well as a fellow at IDEO, Inc. He co-wrote Change by Design and Nonobject.

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    V. M. 7 years ago
    The book for design professionals in general is not for a wide audience
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    J. J. 7 years ago
    Good， Thank you
  • Avatar
    B. G. 7 years ago
    Good read. Thank you!