Design your life : the pleasures and perils of everyday things

Design Your Life is a series of irreverent and realistic snapshots about objects and how we interact with them. By leading design thinker Ellen Lupton and her twin sister Julia Lupton, it shows how design is about much more than what's bought at high-end stores or the modern look at IKEA. Design is critical thinking: a way to look at the world and wonder why things work, and why they don't. Illustrated with original paintings of objects both ordinary and odd, Design Your Life casts a sharp eye on everything from roller bags, bras, toilet paper, and stuffed animals to parenting, piles, porches, and potted plants. Using humor and insight Ellen and Julia explore the practical side of everyday design, looking at how it impacts your life in unexpected ways and what you can do about it. Speaking to the popular interest in design as well as people's desire to make their own way through a mass-produced world, this thoughtful book takes a fresh and humorous approach to make some serious points about the impact of design on our lives. Find out what's wrong with the bras, pillows, potted plants, and the other hopeless stuff you use, buy, clean, water, or put away everyday. Discover how to secretly control the actions of those around you by choosing and placing objects carefully. Find out how roller bags are threatening civilization, and how the layout of your own house might be making you miserable. Use the tools of self-publishing to take the power of branding into your own hands. Taking a fresh, funny look at parenthood, housekeeping, entertaining, time management, crafting, and more, Design Your Life shows you how to evaluate the things you use, and how to recognize forms of order that secretly inhabit the messes of daily life, be it a cluttered room or a busy schedule. Use this book to gain control over your environment and tap into the power of design to communicate with friends, family, and the world. About this book Here and there. Moving the furniture The death and life of the living room View findings Porch envy Getting out of the house Objectile dysfunction. Are toasters necessary? Computer in the kitchen Baggage claims Bedtime readings Raising the honor bar Underwear architecture Messy situations. How objects explain themselves Piles : everyone gets them The lure of multitasking The art of procrastination Shoe wars The myth of the working mother Homeland security Holidays and hospitality. The permanent holiday Misgivings Strange stuffies The sex life of flowers Serving suggestions Mommy, where do baby carrots come from? Warning : graphic content. Garage branding Eat fonts Signs of failure Why no one wants to read your blog Dodging bullets (in Powerpoint) How to make a manifesto. __Design Your Life__ is a series of irreverent and realistic snapshots about objects and how we interact with them. By leading design thinker Ellen Lupton and her twin sister Julia Lupton, it shows how design is about much more than what’s bought at high-end stores or the modern look at IKEA. Design is __critical thinking:__ a way to look at the world and wonder why things work, and why they don’t. Shares irreverent, real-world snapshots that illustrate how design affects everyday situations, in a guide that explains how product designs reflect critical thinking more than fashion and influences the creations of such commonplace products as toilet paper, stuffed animals, and bras. Original. Examining such topics as housekeeping, entertaining, parenthood, time management, D.I.Y, and more, shows you how to evaluate the things you use and how to recognize the forms of order that inhabit the messes of everyday life Using humor and insight, the authors explore the practical side of everyday design, looking at how it impacts life in unexpected ways, and examining what can be done about it