From dial-up to wi-fi, an engaging cultural history of the commercial web industry In the 1990s, the World Wide Web helped transform the Internet from the domain of computer scientists to a playground for mass audiences. As URLs leapt off computer screens and onto cereal boxes, billboards, and film trailers, the web changed the way many Americans experienced media, socialized, and interacted with brands. Businesses rushed online to set up corporate “home pages” and as a result, a new cultural industry was born: web design. For today’s internet users who are more familiar sharing social media posts than collecting hotlists of cool sites, the early web may seem primitive, clunky, and graphically inferior. After the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, this pre-crash era was dubbed “Web 1.0,” a retronym meant to distinguish the early web from the social, user-centered, and participatory values that were embodied in the internet industry’s resurgence as “Web 2.0” in the 21st century. Tracking shifts in the rules of “good web design,” Ankerson reimagines speculation and design as a series of contests and collaborations to conceive the boundaries of a new digitally networked future. What was it like to go online and “surf the Web” in the 1990s? How and why did the look and feel of the web change over time? How do new design paradigms like user-experience design (UX) gain traction? Bringing together media studies, internet studies, and design theory, Dot-com Design traces the shifts in, and struggles over, the web’s production, aesthetics, and design to provide a comprehensive look at the evolution of the web industry and into the vast internet we browse today.

As much as skills and styles matter when it comes to design, every visual begins with a fundamental element that can be enhanced or expanded into an aesthetically pleasing and meaningful piece of work. Whether they serve as simple points of focus or building blocks for complex patterns, these elements present countless possibilities when combined with purpose and principles like contrast, balance, rhythm, and white space. Going back to basics, DOT, LINE, SHAPE is a comprehensive collection of projects that manifest the three elements in inspiring and ingenious ways to bring unique creative visions to life. No matter how trends or platforms change over time, they serve as timeless components that provide designers and artists around the world with infinite means of expression to make a lasting impact.

A celebration of twenty years of design, philosophy, and inspiration from the renowned American furniture brand Blu Dot. Blu Dot is an American pioneer of democratic design, and winner of the 2018 National Design Award for Product Design from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Founded and run by its principal designers, the company is celebrated for its minimal and innovative design, and its mission to make modern design accessible to a wider audience. Published to coincide with the brand's twentieth anniversary, this carefully produced book collects two decades' worth of ideas, inspiration, designs, and products that chronicle the evolution of one of the most iconic names in contemporary American design. Illustrated with stunning photography of Blu Dot's best-known pieces, the book includes everything the brand has ever produced, from the very earliest designs like the Chicago 8 box shelving system to the ubiquitous and iconic Real Good Chair. Supplemented by sketches, notes, and other inspirational materials drawn from the archives of Blu Dot's founders -- John Christakos, Maurice Blanks, and Charlie Lazor -- this book also includes revealing interviews and written contributions from leading names in contemporary design, including an essay by design curator Andrew Blauvelt. The book is a celebration not just of the pioneering work of one American company, but of good design.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • At last, a book that shows you how to build—design—a life you can thrive in, at any age or stage • “Life has questions. They have answers.” —The New York Times Designers create worlds and solve problems using design thinking. Look around your office or home—at the tablet or smartphone you may be holding or the chair you are sitting in. Everything in our lives was designed by someone. And every design starts with a problem that a designer or team of designers seeks to solve. In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show us how design thinking can help us create a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of who or where we are, what we do or have done for a living, or how young or old we are. The same design thinking responsible for amazing technology, products, and spaces can be used to design and build your career and your life, a life of fulfillment and joy, constantly creative and productive, one that always holds the possibility of surprise.

Chapter one. Introduction -- Chapter two. Results of initial survey of state departments of transportation -- Chapter three. Background information on project development and design methods -- Chapter four. Profiles of states with practical design policies -- Chapter five. Findings, conclusions, and suggested research.

Vashti believes that she cannot draw, but her art teacher's encouragement leads her to change her mind and she goes on to encourage another student who feels the same as she had.