Iconic Product Design: An Illustrated History of the World's Most Innovative Devices

Everything around us is designed, one way or another. Whether a simple paperclip or a fancy computer, a pair of Louboutin shoes or a Prada bag. They are all designed, meaning that someone sat down and said to himself or herself, "let's make something useful or beautiful...". But some products stand out, either by their sheer iconic beauty, by their incredible usefulness, or because they touch the string of your heart, making them suddenly essential. Wolfgang Joenssen's has managed a tour de force in assembling some of the world's most desirable objects and explaining their origin, or the subtle thinking behind their creation. A great read, and certainly a book that belongs on the shelf of anyone who loves design and beautiful things. Thank you

quality of pictures (simplified sketches of famous products) are more suitable for kids coloring book...

This book is wonderful. Wolfgang Joensson has created a book which sums up quintessential product designs from around the world, from the 17th century to today. The layout and design of the book itself are beautifully done, with color-coded pages for each time period and superb graphic illustrations. It will be a reference for years to come, and I am thrilled to have it as part of my library. I highly recommend this masterpiece on design!

I was expecting this to be a bit of a treatise on the best designs out there, and I think it kind of tries to be, but instead of having pictures of the product, they use illustrations instead. This kind of reduces the impact of design since you only see a single color illustration, and I don't think it actually conveys the attention to detail in a design since you aren't really seeing any of the subtle details or textures that can really make a design stand out. Still, the text is interesting to read, but instead of this being a must-have book for design enthusiasts, is more of a nice-to-have bathroom book that provides an unauthoritative overview of popular products.

My daughter is a graduate of School of Visual Arts. She is a Graphic Artist. I add graphic arts books to her "library" every year at Christmas time. This book, in a straightforward and concise manner - through graphic arts, shows us how these products play/played a role in everyday lives. I'll never look at a pair scissors the same way again, espically the orange colored ones that are easier to spot.