Reviewed by Randy Fernandez | Membership Director
I highly recommend that design professionals read Michael Bierut’s Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design, as well as anyone interested in design. Bierut’s style is approachable and comprehensible for readers outside of the field. The essays are full of relatable real-life events, observations, and hilarious anecdotes that segue into his opinions on what makes a good design.

Unusual subscription emails that lead to unexpected results or buildings that look so familiar they start to seem inauthentic are just some of the situations that serve as the catalyst for Bierut’s compelling essays. The collection reveals how we are immersed in a world where everything is designed by honing-in on a specific design, explaining its context, and extrapolating lessons about design as a whole.

Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design is full of surprising subjects, which I found both inspiring and comical. Bierut is a wonderful writer, and the collection is a great casual read that does not use alienating technical design terminology.