(Un)Funny Business: David Barringer on Design

Our highly unscientific survey of designers’ summer reading revealed rave reviews for David Barringer‘s There’s Nothing Funny About Design (Princeton Architectural Press) and its Felix Sockwell-designed cover. In his first collection of essays, the writer and self-taught graphic designer takes on topics ranging from blood-soaked DVD cover art and his father’s business card collection to the work of Chip Kidd and why drug names overdose on the letter “X.” The take-home message? There’s a whole lot that’s funny (funny ha-ha and funny strange) about design, including Barringer’s update of the Kubler-Ross Model, “Nine Emotions of the Working Designer,” which comes in the section of the book devoted to the business of design.