What makes the Apple iPhone cool? Bang & Olufsen and Samsung's televisions beautiful? Any of a wide variety of products and services special? The answer is not simply functionality or technology, for competitors' products are often as good. The Soul of Design explores the uncanny power of some products to grab and hold attention—to create desire. To understand what sets a product apart in this way, authors Lee Devin and Robert Austin push past personal taste and individual response to adopt a more conceptual approach. They carefully explore the hypothesis that there is something within a "special" product that makes it—well, special. They argue that this je ne sais quoi arises from "plot"—the shape that emerges as a product or service arouses and then fulfills expectations. Marketing a special product is, then, a matter of helping its audience perceive its plot and comprehend its qualities. Devin and Austin provide keys to understanding why some products and services stand out in a crowd and how the companies that make them create these hits. Part One of the book introduces the authors' definition of plot in this context; Part Two breaks down the components needed to build a plot; Part Three describes what makes a plot coherent; Part Four takes on the challenges of making coherent products and services attractive to consumers. Part Four also presents detailed casework, which shows how innovators and makers have successfully brought special products to market. Readers will come away with a sensible and clear approach to conceiving of artful products and services. This book will help managers and designers think about engaging with plot, taking aesthetic factors into account to provide consumers with more special things.

The secret lives created by a career man and the daughter of Indian immigrants create problems when they meet and have an affair.

Past meets present in this stylish guide to decorating modern homes with heirlooms and antiques. Designer and antiques dealer Tara Shaw is a respected supplier of French and European antiques for a host of AD100 and Elle Decor A-listers, including Bobby McAlpine, Mary McDonald, and Bunny Williams. In her first book, she helps readers understand how to select the best antiques and how to use them in a variety of decor schemes. The book presents never-before-published spaces from Shaw’s portfolio and reveals her favorite antique-hunting spots throughout Europe. Anecdotes from years of treasure hunting are accompanied by images of rare and precious finds, with text that decodes just how to choose the right pieces and display them in a contemporary interior. Readers will be able to look at each space and take away ideas they can apply to their own homes, to create personalized rooms full of provenance and beauty.

Craft your own comfort with these uplifting cross stitch projects featuring spirit-boosting quotes. Cross Stitch for the Soul is a collection of beautifully designed motivational and inspirational quotes rendered in easy cross-stitching techniques that will raise the spirits, both during the making process and beyond, as gifts for loved ones or as treasured pictures on the wall. Cross stitch is a wonderfully calming and mindful occupation, a chance to slow down, embrace the process, and create something beautiful. The twenty designs in this collection feature quotes that will resonate with anyone in need of a little boost. Designed by leading cross stitch designer Emma Congdon, aka Stitchrovia, whose modern styling appeals to crafters of all ages and abilities, these inspiring quotes will provide comfort, motivation, and an all-around positive spin on life, reminding us that we are brave, we are strong, and we have the power to make our own futures—one stitch at a time!

As both an art form and a universal language, the photograph has an extraordinary ability to connect and communicate with others. But with over one trillion photos taken each year, why do so few of them truly connect? Why do so few of them grab our emotions or our imaginations? It is not because the images lack focus or proper exposure; with advances in technology, the camera does that so well these days. Photographer David duChemin believes the majority of our images fall short because they lack soul. And without soul, the images have no ability to resonate with others. They simply cannot connect with the viewer, or even—if we’re being truthful—with ourselves.

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In The Soul of the Camera: The Photographer’s Place in Picture-Making, David explores what it means to make better photographs. Illustrated with a collection of beautiful black-and-white images, the book’s essays address topics such as craft, mastery, vision, audience, discipline, story, and authenticity. The Soul of the Camera is a personal and deeply pragmatic book that quietly yet forcefully challenges the idea that our cameras, lenses, and settings are anything more than dumb and mute tools. It is the photographer, not the camera, that can and must learn to make better photographs—photographs that convey our vision, connect with others, and, at their core, contain our humanity. The Soul of the Camera helps us do that.

Graphic designers constantly complain that there is no career manual to guide them through the profession. Design consultant and writer Adrian Shaughnessy draws on a wealth of experience to provide just such a handbook. Aimed at the independent-minded, it addresses the concerns of young designers who want to earn a living by doing expressive and meaningful work and avoid becoming a hired drone working on soulless projects. It offers straight-talking advice on how to establish your design career and suggestions - that you wont have been taught at college - for running a successful business. This revised, extended edition includes all-new chapters covering professional skills, the creative process, and global trends, including green issues, ethics and the rise of digital culture. The book contains all-new imagery, and the previous interviews have been replaced with new ones, each focusing on a specific issue of importance to graphic designers.

Tracy Kidder's "riveting" (Washington Post) story of one company's efforts to bring a new microcomputer to market won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and has become essential reading for understanding the history of the American tech industry. Computers have changed since 1981, when The Soul of a New Machine first examined the culture of the computer revolution. What has not changed is the feverish pace of the high-tech industry, the go-for-broke approach to business that has caused so many computer companies to win big (or go belly up), and the cult of pursuing mind-bending technological innovations. The Soul of a New Machine is an essential chapter in the history of the machine that revolutionized the world in the twentieth century. "Fascinating...A surprisingly gripping account of people at work." --Wall Street Journal

The authors show how to "manage" ingenuity--and "manufacture" the next great idea, in other words they tell what managers need to know about how artists and highly creative people work.

From best-selling author and design icon Chris Madden comes the first book on her design philosophy, and how to achieve her comfortable, chic style. Design expert Chris Madden has spent years chronicling other people’s beautiful rooms. Now, for the first time, she presents her own design sensibility as illustrated by examples such as her elegant one hundred-year-old carriage house in upstate New York and a mid-century modern family getaway in the mountains of Vermont. Organized by type of room, each house is explored—from entryways to bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms, mudrooms, greenhouses, and terraces, as well as specialty rooms like yoga studios and a man’s study—through rich photography and dozens of practical styling tips. Readers learn how to layer fabrics and colors for seasonal decorating; how to repurpose materials; and how to recognize a room’s quality of light. Also featured are sidebars on caring for guests, collecting, and living in an old house versus a modern house. An avid gardener, Madden explores the way outdoor space frames and supports a house. This lush and elegant volume is an eminently practical resource of ideas for creating rooms in which to celebrate family, entertain friends, and provide personal sanctuary.

The second deluxe, hardcover art book from New York Times bestselling artist Atsushi Ohkubo contains full color illustrations-including cover art, color pages from its original Japanese magazine publication, and much more!-from Soul Eater and Soul Eater NOT!