Artful Design takes readers on a journey into the art and philsophy of design. There is a path from beginning to end, as chapters develop through computer music instruments, toys, visual, audio, toys, games, social tools, and a moral-ethical dimensions of artful design. But you’re also invited to find your own way.

Read slowly. Give yourself time and space to think. The visual context is as important as the text, so inhabit the world created on each page.
Read Chapter 8 (p.398) — perhaps even first. Circle back and see how the rest of the book connects into it.
• Channel your inner-nerd (and philosopher). It's a very nerdy book. Revel in it.
Listen to your favorite music when reading. It won't help you read the book, but music is awesome!


Prelude | Welcome | Table of Contents | Start reading now (pdf)

CHAPTER 1: Design Is ________ | What is design? A working definition, and the abiding elements of design as a human institution; The difference between means vs. ends, pragmatics vs. aesthetics

CHAPTER 2: Designing Expressive Toys | Connecting people to musical expression through technology; Mobile phones; The designs of music-making apps: Ocarina and I Am T-Pain

CHAPTER 3: Visual Design | Principles of designing interactive visuals; Forms, motion, personality and strange design loops; Cats and the design of the world's most depressing photo album software

CHAPTER 4: Programmability and Sound Design | The art of programming and the design of musical sounds, from Ada Lovelace to computer music programming languages; Simulating the THX Deep Note to transforming reality with computers (and some audio digital signal processing)

CHAPTER 5: Designing Expressive Toys | The membrane of interaction between humans and technology; Interaction loops, musical instruments, embodiment in design; The birth of the Laptop Orchestra

Interlude: Dialogue with a Zen Master | A visit to a teacher and zen master of computer music instrument design, high up in the mountains; The philosophy of music-making coffee mugs, squeezevoxes, rubber chickens; Pondering life, engineering education, and Everything

CHAPTER 6: Game Design | Designing for play and gamification; Three case studies of games: Starcraft 2, Save the Date, and That Dragon, Cancer; The design of musical games like Magic Piano and Magic Fiddle

CHAPTER 7: Social Design | Shaping technology to connect humans; Thinking about values of social tools; Expressiveness and transparency; The (largely under-tapped) power of designing for strangers; Mechanical Turks, clouds, crowds, and social karaoke

CHAPTER 8: Manifesto | It all comes together in this final chapter; The conscience of this book, and the search for design's nature, purpose, and meaning in the crucible of our ever more technological world; Are we happy? Designing from both needs and values; The "humanist engineer" and the "pi-shaped individual" (and why humanities, art, and social sciences intrinsically matter to engineers); Aesthetic self-fashioning and pursuing human flourishing; The Everyday Sublime

Coda: In Search of the Sublime | (The end is the beginning.)