3 Review(s)

'So this is my advice: buy two copies, cut one up and hang it in your studio for a month - it will be the cheapest but best way to get some inspiration.' (Domenic Lippa, design director of Lippa Pearce Design, Creative Review) 'With more than 1,500 images, if you can't find something to inspire you then you're either incredibly cynical or you just aren't looking properly. But what really works for Area is its truly international stance, which gives the book its freshness and diversity. Ultimately it's those qualities that justify its space on your bookshelf.' (Caroline Roberts, Blueprint) 'An accurate mirror of the profusion of graphic styles in our post-, post-, post-modern era. ... Area is an up-to-the-minute snapshot of a truly pluralist age, and in this respect it succeeds admirably.' (Jonathan Bell, Grafik (formerly Graphics International)) 'In the over-crowded market of tomes on graphic design, Phaidon's Area has struck a chord. A...wonderfully subjective selection of designers across the world, it is a great snapshot of what is happening today in print design...questions our conventional Western view of graphic design.' (Sara Manuelli, Design Week) 'Area's 10 tastemakers-Nick Bell, Stefan Sagmeister, and Uwe Leosch among them-each culled 10 graphic designers from the ranks of today's emerging voices. Happily, Area's power-of-ten approach manages to yield more substance than gimmick. Big, fat, and cheerful, Area functions as a contemporary guide to corporate identity, poster and book design, typography, and packaging.' (i-D) 'A showcase of 100 designers, a diverse, international group that has pushed design limits over the last five years...[A]n intriguing look at where design's been in light of where it's going.' (Step Inside Design) 'Phaidon's Area plays the bling card to a T...Sitting down to read Area is considerably more rewarding than one might expect, however, for the simple reason that it's well-conceived. Phaidon asked ten esteemed designer-curators to pick their favorite rising stars and to explain their choices. This method yields an intelligently cultivated array of work as well as some inimitable curatorial observations.' (Print) 'The concept of Area is inspired: select 10 disinguished graphic designers as curators, then ask each to choose 10 favourite rising stars and one best ever design classic. The result is superb.' (Azure)