In Manchester we have a great branch of Waterstones that has a very well known Art & Design section. Ask any designer around this area and they’ll tell you how much they love that part of the shop, how it’s become a sort of mecca for great books on design (as well as Magma down in the Northern Quarter). The thing is I recently read 2 great books that I found really inspirational neither of which you would find in the Art & Design section or Magma. Film Music and Everything Else is a series of short essays by film music composer Charles H. Bernstein. It contains great insights into the creative process, not just for film music but creativity in general. The second book was the children’s classic The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, written in 1963. Think Alice in Wonderland meets The Wizard of Oz and you’ll get an idea for the feel of this book. It just blew me away with it’s inventiveness and imagination and I’ve been telling everyone ever since. So what’s my point? Well that Art & Design section of Waterstones is great but it’s only part of the story. The trouble is it’s very easy to simply use the default setting in your head when looking for inspiration. “I’m a designer so therefore my place is the Art & Design department”. You can easily just walk in there with blinkers on and not see anything else. Sometimes it’s much more interesting to walk on past and see what else is on offer…
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The Phantom Tollbooth was one of my favorite stories (and cartoons) as a kid. I absolutely loved the imagery from that book. Amazing stuff.
kartooner / 12/09/2004