Parsons School of Design
BFA Communication Design
Thesis 2017

Books for Smart Designers
Talia Cotton

Hey smart designers! Let’s get something straight—you’re really smart. Let’s get another thing straight. Since you’re so amazingly busy and talented and creative, there’s probably a bunch of other important subjects you want to know more about, but don’t really know where to start. You understand how crucial design is, but you also know there are some super important texts out there that can probably tell you about design in politics, philosophy, (whatever!) that will strengthen your design practice. “Wait but it’s all so dense and long and boring!” you say? (I know you didn’t really say that but let’s just pretend you did.) Don’t worry, I totally get you.

See, the thing is, Books for Smart Designers selects the most essential texts about design in non-design subjects, and presents them in a way that is both friendly and accessible for designers to understand. So it doesn’t just give you all the best stuff to read… it totally decodes the whole thing for you as well! Each book in the series has defined all the big words for you, looked up all the important terms, and even provided a summary of, well, everything! (Can I get a “hell-yeah”?) Because let’s face it—Design has held and continues to hold influence over cultures and pivotal events throughout history. Books for Smart Designers finally makes the tools accessible for every designer to fully grasp the value of his or her practice, in turn encouraging design that is truly Good.

Andy Agus

Ameer Akbar

Sherifa El Alfi

Orhan S Awatramani

Evan Badr

Mrinal Bhatia

Yaël Bienenstock

Olivia Brodtman

Adomas Bruzga

Holly Burt

Kiana Caesar

Elizabeth Capreol

Christian Caraballo

Alyson Cardenas

Gabriela Carnabuci

Marjorie Chamberlain

Vanna Chan

Sachi Chandiramani

Leslie Chavez

Katherine Cheng

Emily Cho

Soomin Choi

Hyeree Choi

Talia Cotton

Dorothy Cruz

Katie DeAngelis

Nicole Jane Debler

Dominique DeVito

Megan Dias

Theresa Duemler

Juan Francisco Morales Egas

Michelle Eguia

Audrey Farnsworth

Peter Fowler

Myesha Evon Gardner

Alijah Gilbert

John Hammond

Jin Ju Han

Aimee Hedman

Perla Herrera

Lauren Horsman

Zhiyan Huang

Ji Hea Jang

Urvita Jhaveri

Myles Jones

Cheryl Kao

Phoebe Kennedy

Alice Yeji Kim

Jung Yeon Kim

Thomas Sang Gul Kim

Chewon Kim

Sanggyun Kim

Hansung Kim

Likando Kumoyo

Jang Kyungjun

Josh LaCalamito

Yunjoo Lee

Kyung Sun Lee

SooJi Lee

Meijun Li

Alice Lim

Junya Lin

Yuchen Liu

Kimberly Lombardi

Natalia Malik

Roisin McNulty

Simen L. Meyer

Nikoletta Mitsopoulou

Chloë Murray

Cyrus Nathaniel

David Dahao Ni

Mariana Del Nogal

Sofia Olarra

Kamila Ortiz

Ji Hyun Park

Sara Pena

Melissa S. Peralta

Camille Petricola

Sander Phoenix

Urvi Raghbeer

Andrew Ramirez

Brianna Saba

Stephen Salomon

Julianna Amelia Santolucito

Raida Saveree Sarwar

Ritika Shah

Shui Shan

Jisoo Sim

Lauren Stein

Pei Yu Sun

Shivalika Tandon

Nia Thomas

Laura Tien

Karina Tristandy

Paula Volchok

Djiun Wang

Kyra Wang

Taylor Wasikonis

Junlu Xie

Marie Yamamoto

Jasmine Zhang