Hello World

Where Design Meets Life

Design is one of the most powerful forces in our lives. When deployed wisely, it can being us pleasure, choice, strength, decency and much more. But if its power is abused, the outcome can be wasteful, confusing, humiliating, even dangerous. None of us can avoid being affected by design, whether or not we wish to. It is so ubiquitous that it determines how we feel and what we do, often without our noticing.

Hello World explores design's influence on our lives. Written by the renowned design critic Alice Rawsthorn and designed by the award-winning book designer Irma Boom, it describes how warlords, scientists, farmers, hackers, activists and designers have used design to different ends throughout history: from the macabre symbol invented by 18th century pirates to terrorise their victims into surrender, to one woman's quest for the best possible prosthetic legs and the evolution of the World Cup ball.

At a time when we face colossal changes, unprecedented in their speed, scale and intensity - from the deepening environmental crisis, to giant leaps in science and technology - Hello Worldexplains how design can help us to make sense of them andto turn them to our advantage.

About Alice Rawsthorn

Alice Rawsthorn is the author of Yves Saint Laurent: A Biography and Hello World: Where Design Meets Life. A British Design critic, she writes for the International New York Times, and she is a regular contributor to Frieze magazine. she is Chair of Trustees at Chisenhale Gallery and the dance group Michael Clark Company, and a trustee of the Whitechapel Gallery. She worked as an award-winning journalist for the Financial Times from 1985 to 2001 and was Director of the Design Museum in London from 2001 to 2006. She has sat on the jury of many cultural prizes, including the Turner Prize, the Sterling Prize for Architecture and the PEN History Book Prize.
She was awarded an OBE for services to design and the arts and she lives in London.
Details
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • ISBN: 9780241957431
  • Length: 288 pages
  • Price: £5.99