The Education of a Design Writer

The Education of a Design Writer by Steven Heller and Molly Heintz is a compelling collection of essays and interviews from prolific design writers and educators at SVA/NYC. This collection is perfect for anyone interested in critiquing, explaining, or interpreting design.

Writing is designing, and writers are designers. Mastering the elements of different writing styles is as important in describing a designed work as understanding colour, texture, and material form. A design writer must make the prose as necessary and exciting to read as a designed object—from the simplest business card or product packaging to the grandest monument—is to see and to use.

This book is for both students and experts, novices and professionals, who seek to communicate effectively. With real-world examples of how and what to write when critiquing, explaining, discovering, introducing, and interpreting a piece of design, it presents a tantalising world of possibilities for any design writer. The collected essays encompass a range of styles and disciplines, from journalism, scholarship, criticism, to business. Contributors include:

• Sarah Boxer
• Akiko Busch
• Liz Danzico
• Jarrett Fuller
• Colette Gaiter
• Karrie Jacobs
• Mark Kingsley
• Julie Lasky
• Warren Lehrer
• Rob Walker
• Michele Y. Washington
• and many more!

Explaining design means writing intelligibly and creatively. The Education of a Design Writer covers it all, for and through those who practice, chronicle, critique, and observe graphic, product, industrial, and architectural design.