Re: Coffee Table Books

I have three "coffee table books" on my coffee table. Interestingly enough, one of them is about coffee. And I cannot for the life of me remember who wrote it or really what the cover even looks like.

The second book is a book about modern art that I bought for an undergrad class. I think it's fun to browse art books when you are visiting someone's house.

Time Magazine Special Art Edition with Modern Art, Revised and Updated, John Jacobus, Daniel Wheeler

The third book I showed in class: The zodiac book. Remember...When I tell people to have a seat and read about themselves, and then tell me briefly what I might be dealing with?

Darkside Zodiac
Stella Hyde

Coffee Table Books

It's always interesting getting more insight about a person, a family, a couple or a stranger based on their surrondings -- maybe it's the music on their iPod, the contents of their car trunk, or, the objects found on their coffee table. My dad is an engineer so growing up, books about Frank Lloyd Wright were often set out. And now, it seems that magazines about architecture reign supreme on my parents coffee table -- Dwell can be found all over the house (which I love!).

I live with three friends right now so anything goes on the coffee table -- none of us have really taken the lead on getting fancy in that respect. And, well I'm not sure I'd necessarily want to design this book -- but I would love to purchase a book about one of my favorite shows growing up *major admission coming* -- the coffee table book would detail all the ridiculous contraptions, tricks, etc. that MacGyver rigged up in each episode. Maybe the modern spin would be to add the "Mythbusters" touch and reveal what worked, what didn't and what would've made them work in real life.

Re: Coffee Table Books, A Glimmer of Hope

Lord I almost forgot about the blog! Wow these books are absolutely beautiful. I feel sort of bad because I obviously need to buy more coffee table books. I don't have any books lying around that are as beautiful as these. If I were to design a coffee table book it would probably either be about fashion, or naked body beauty photography. Thinking about coffee table books, I do appreciate seeing them. Whether in someone's house, or in retail stores. Since were on the subject I think Ophthalmologist offices should have coffee table books instead of magazines. Just because it makes sense to go to an eye doctor and see beauty on the waiting room end tables instead of small print magazines.

Urban Outfitters has a lot of cool coffee table books that I love to look at but I never buy because I'm distracted by the shoes and clothes. But I'm going to post a few I remember seeing the last time I was in the store. Maybe the next time I go, I'll go with the intention of buying a few coffee table books.

The book cover is shown on the left side, page example shown on the right

 

 

That last one was for you Callan!

Re: Coffee Table Books, A Glimmer of Hope

I love me a good coffee table book. And I'm really happy to hear that they seem to be slightly immune from the rest of the book decline. I have wanted to create a coffee table book for a long time, so it's funny you should bring this topic up, Jamie. In another life, my husband wrote and I dabbled in photography. We would love to write about and photograph once-thriving-now-desolate little towns. You know the kind: there's a little downtown area where half of the shops are for rent or boarded up, there's a set of empty railroad tracks, there's usually an old gas station, and there's almost always a 1950s hotel that's still attempting to limp along. I could see it being a series of books, by region. Someday...

I'm a sucker for home decor magazines and the homes they feature always have coffee tables and book shelves filled with beautiful books. I rarely buy them myself because I can't justify the expense. And if I have a little extra cash, I'd rather buy a new pair of Steve Maddens (see? economical.).

Here are the few that I have, and I'm not even sure they classify as "coffee table" books. I keep them out, so maybe they are because I say they are?

I think Young House Love is probably the most picturesque in this stack, but Real Simple's The Organized Home is also so beautifully photographed and inspiring. 

I would like to own Domino's The Book of Decorating. I was a fan of that magazine before Conde Nast shut down production.

I also think The Little Book of Lettering is so well-done.

A friend of mine has 100 Years of Fashion Illustration and it's just perfect.

And just because it's a hilarious conversation starter, I think it would be fun to own Cake Wrecks. The design of the book makes my eyes bleed, but it's a hilarious collection of professionally designed cakes that are just so wrong. The creator, Jen Yates, started it as a blog.

Re: Coffee Table Books

I managed to find a few examples at my parents' house tonight:

#1. Classic nature photography of close-up flowers and foliage. Aside from their beauty, some remind me of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings with the hints of sexual connotation.

#2. Graphic Design books: "Big Idea" was a gift from my uncle in Korea. The cover, table of contents, intro pages are in English with American design examples, while the captions running on the top are in Korean. Also, the book is divided into letters as chapter parts to convey themes (i.e. humor, exaggeration, parody, animal) as you'll see below.

Re: Crazy Cool Books

I have no clue about this post, but I like what I see so far.  I didn't even know books like this existed, but it's cool.  So I found a couple of books that got my attention. The accordion book reminds me of my childhood, where my librarian use to play the accordion for us....not by request. She just looked cool, but have you seen an accordion played lately.  Ok, I got off track. :)

Re: Coffee Table Books, A Glimmer of Hope

Jamie, I am seriously loving the Bentley Photo Bomb. What a cutie pie! (And love your pictures. Sorry for my semi-blurry photos below. It's a rainy day and I'm using my cell phone).  :)

Between my husband and I, our house is filled with coffee table books. Even though they can be expensive sometimes, the majority of mine were actually gifts or ones I found while browsing the bargain book and clearance sections of book stores. I have many design ones that I love because of the design and the inspiration I can find anytime I flip through the pages, and of course I have all those Broadway ones that I love because the design evokes the memories of sitting in the audience watching the show, but there are also a few that I like for different reasons:

As a few of you realized last night (and some of you already knew), I have a twin sister. The above coffee table book, Twins, is a look at twins of all ages, races, and backgrounds. The stories included are sometimes heart wrenchingly sad, but there are others that are incredibly uplifting, and all of them do an amazing job of telling the world what it is like being a twin. The cover design has never been my favorite, but the inside pages were kept very simple, letting the photos and writing really tell the stories:

Another one of my favorites is a book of the history of cameras which I gave my husband as a gift. I think this book has taken content that is very much like a reference book and made it visually appealing while maintaining an easy to navigate structure.

The last example I want to share is a book about love across the world which was produced by National Geographic. They kept the design of this book very clean and simple and of course it's filled with stunning photos:

I think it would be neat to design a book on twins who work (or have worked) together. My sister and I worked together for about 6 months after graduating from college, and then again for 5 years at the same design firm. I think our work dynamic is different than most co-workers and it would be interesting to see how those kinds of work/twin relationships compare around the world. I think it could be a combination of advice on working with your twin, funny stories, and maybe even some failures. Those photoshoots would be so much fun too!