The essays, selected from volumes 4-9 of the international journal Design Issues, focus on three themes: reflection on the nature of design, the meaning of products, and the place of design in world culture.

The Idea of Design is an anthology of essays that addresses the nature and practice of product design and graphic design in the contemporary world. The essays, selected from volumes 4-9 of the international journal Design Issues, focus on three themes: reflection on the nature of design, the meaning of products, and the place of design in world culture. The authors are distinguished scholars, historians, designers, and design educators. The diversity of their work illustrates the pluralistic and interdisciplinary dimensions of the idea of design in contemporary culture.

Contributors
Rudolf Arnheim, S. Balaram, Richard Buchanan, A. Cheng, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Yves Deforge, Clive Dilnot, Alain Findeli, Jorge Frascara, Tony Fry, Rajeswari Ghose, Takuo Hirano, Martin Krampen, Laus Krippendorf, Tomas Maldonado, Victor Margolin, Abraham Moles, Victor Papanek, Gert Selle, Ann Tyler, Barbara Usherwood

A Design Issues Reader