Humans did not discover fire, they designed it. Harold Nelson
Whole System Design

Design Bibliography

The bibliography below is collected with the purpose of providing a source of references valuable to a designer interested in the exploration and study of basic ideas in design. These references are recommended by ADi as good readings in design theory, design philosophy and design methodology and in related subjects. The references are grouped in accordance with some key subjects: Creativity/Innovation, Judgment, Systems Thinking, and Diathenic Graphologue. We also include work on the new sciences and, of course, general design literature.

We welcome you to suggest other books that you think can inform design thinkers—send an email.

General Design Literature

  1. Buchanan, R., Margolin, V. (eds) (1995). Discovering Design: Explorations in Design Studies. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
  2. Jantsch, E. (1980). The Self-Organization and Planning in the Life of Human Systems. New York: George Braziller.
  3. Margolin, V., Buchanan, R. (eds) (1995). The Idea of Design. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
  4. Schon, D. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: Toward a new design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
  5. Simon, H. A. (1981). The Sciences of the Artificial (2nd ed.) Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Creativity and Innovation

  1. Areti, S. (1976). Creativity: The Magic Synthesis. New York: Basic Books.
  2. Briggs, J. (1990). Fire in the Crucible: The Self-Creation of Creativity and Genius. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc.
  3. Csikszentmihali, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience—Steps Toward Enhancing the Quality of Life. New York: Harper & Row.
  4. Follett, M.P. (1930). Creative Experience. New York: Longmans, Green and Co..
  5. Grudin, R. (1990). The grace of great things—creativity and innovation. New York: Ticknor and Fields..
  6. May, R. (1975). The Courage to Create. New York: Norton & Co.

Judgement and Reason

  1. Dunne, J. (1993). Back to the Rough Ground: 'Phronesis' and 'Techne' in Modern Philosophy and in Aristotle. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
  2. Hillman, J. (1989). A blue fire—selected writings by James Hillman. New York: Harper Perennial.
  3. Kant, I. (1790). Critique of judgment. Translation by W. S. Pluhar, published 1987. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. .
  4. Nussbaum, M. (1990). Love's knowledge—Essays on philosophy and literature. New York: Oxford University Press.

Diathenic Graphologue

  1. Dewey, J. (1934). Art as Experience. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, Wideview/Perigee Book (1980).
  2. Makkreel, R. A. (1990). Imagination and interpretation in Kant Ð The hermeneutical import of the Critique of Judgement. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Systems Thinking

  1. Capra, F. (1996). The Web of Life: A new Scientific Understanding of Living Systems. New York: Anchor Books, Doubleday.
  2. Churchman, C. W. (1971). The Design of Inquiring Systems: Basic Concepts of Systems and Organizations New York: Basic Books.
  3. Churchman, C. W. (1979). The Systems Approach and Its Enemies. New York: Basic Books.
  4. Prigogine, I., Stengers, I. (1984). Order Out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue with Nature. New York: Bantam Books, Inc.
  5. Waldrop, M.M. (1992). Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos. New York: Simon & Schuster.
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