Book Review: Nathan Shedroff’s Design is the Problem

Last year, the theme for World Usability Day was sustainable design. I had the pleasure of being the co-chair with Nathan Shedroff. As we started our duties, Lou Rosenfeld sent me Nathan’s book to read, Design is the Problem: The Future of Design Must Be Sustainable.

Nathan’s book is flat out awesome. It sets out to define the landscape of sustainability–reduce, reuse, recycle, and restore. The sustainability landscape is a tricky one. You can be more sustainable in one area (ex: reduce) and less sustainable in another area (ex: recycle). While I will not giveaway too much, the example of the hybrid car versus a pick-up truck is inspired thinking. Buy the book for just this example.

High-Level Book Review

Nathan explains each of the landscapes of sustainability (reduce, reuse, recycle, restore) to show this very simple concept: sustainable design is smart design. When we create products for future consumption, we do need to look at how our design stack up in each of the sustainable landscape.

You will enjoy the analysis in each chapter. Real-world examples are throughout the book. Nathan will get you to a point, where you do examine the very “meaning” of your designs. It is an important book for your reference.

Nathan is our keynote speaker on Friday. Plus, he will be around to sign copies of his book.

Get This Book

You can either buy this book at the Big Design Confernece or buy it from the Rosenfeld Media website using the promo code of BIGDESIGN10.