Graphic Design Thinking

Creativity is more than an inborn talent. It is a hard-earned skill that, like all skills, improves with practice. Graphic Design Thinking explores a variety of techniques---from quick, seat-of-the-pants approaches to more formal research methods---for stimulating fresh thinking and solving design problems. Brainstorming techniques are grouped around the three main phases of the design process: defining problems, getting ideas, and creating form. Visual demonstrations and case studies show the design processes and solutions at work. Featuring best-selling author Ellen Lupton's hands-on, accessible approach to instructional writing, this most recent addition to the Design Briefs series will help designers create projects that satisfy clients, users, and themselves.

Ellen Lupton is curator of contemporary design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City and director of the Graphic Design MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore. An author of numerous books and articles on design, she is a public-minded critic, frequent lecturer, and AIGA Gold Medalist.

Jennifer Phillips is principal of J. Cole Phillips Design. She is also associate director of the Graphic Design MFA program at the MICA. Phillips coauthored Graphic Design: The New Basics with Lupton. She currently serves on the AIGA Advisory Board.