Category: Notes

A collection of fifty case studies in brief of advertising and design work preformed by Pentagram Design. The book is a bit more than most advertising book that merely through a serious of their “best” ads at the reader. Instead, they go into depth about the theory and principles behind the way they designed, including some analysis about what worked and what did not. This is not a book that one would sit down and read, rather it is a book to flip through and stow away the images with an increase in knowledge about good design.

Interesting tidbit: Pentagram Design was responsible for the Celebration, Florida. The special city built and maintained by Disney.

A fun research article that analyzes the walking styles (also known as “gaits”) of various animals. The article especially focuses on the gait differences between primates and other mammals.

The article can be found here http://jeb.biologists.org/content/209/11/2042.full.

This book explores the process we go through to make choices. It includes an analysis of why many people make the decisions they make and why they avoid others. There is a hefty discussion about people insisting on being able to make decisions, even though they do a poor job at making them (think health care, in which common people decide about their medical treatment despite being in the care of a highly trained doctor). Even though they make poorer decisions, they are happier for the opportunity to make them.

Interest fact: Reactance is what happens when a freedom is eliminated or threatened, people revolt by expressing the newly removed or forbidden freedom as a rebellion.

A fun discussion on various techniques that can be used to lie using maps (as the title implies). The book is not as devious as it sounds; part of its intention is to help map and chart makers avoid simple mistake and help more effectively communicate information (some information should be suppressed to avoid overwhelming the viewer). There is also some use in knowing how people might use maps and charts to lie so that the contemplative user can more intelligibly discern when he is being deceived.

Interest fact: Ottawa Canada was left off of a AAA tourism map because it did not have direct international flights, even though it is a major Canadian city.

This book is a collection of myth busting study summaries (with a bit of common sense thrown in for good measure) in which the authors attempt to disabuse the minds of the general public of the sometimes rampant misconceptions people have about the way their minds work. For example, we do not know how smart the human brain can be, thus the assertion that we only use 10% of it cannot be true. Further, using brain scans we have found, at one time or another, every area of the brain in use.

Interesting tidbit: blind people usually only dream with imagery if they had sight before the age of 7.