What Is Good Design?: A Simple Question without a Simple Answer

This graphically delightful primer handily defines the seven characteristics of good design and shows why it matters!

What do a folding bicycle, umbrella, toilet brush, and water bottle all have in common? They are examples of good design—something we often recognize but can't express in words. 

This book by a 40-year design-industry veteran targets creatives of all ages, including tweens, teens, and STEAM students and their parents, by making a complex subject accessible.

• Each of the seven chapters defines and explains a characteristic of good design, accompanied by five examples of product designs rendered in cut-paper art.
• The colorful artwork and clear, simple language make complex and sometimes abstract ideas easy to understand. 
• Readers will see a wide range of everyday objects that meet the criteria for good design: works well, looks good, opens our minds to new ideas, improves lives, brings joy, is innovative, and stands the test of time.

Philadelphia-based Lisa S. Roberts has been working in the design industry for over 40 years as a product designer, author, host of a TV docuseries on design, and lecturer. She is a trustee at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.