bottle design
There are very few books out there on the subject:
Art of Perfume
Bottle Design: Beer Wine and Spirits
Absolut: Biography of a Bottle
But really, the pickings are very thin.
Someone needs to come out with a definitive, glossy, yummy book. Let's say based on the last 50 years of bottle design around the world (hell, even limited to North America it would be a fascinating book). Alcohol botttles, perfume bottles, non-alcoholic beverage bottles, maybe even other product bottles like food, shampoo, etc.
Cases in point:
Romance by Ralph Lauren - love the packaging too.
Evian bottle
Lucia Gary's Pinot Noir 2000
And while I'm at it, I think a supporting web site would be wonderful too.
Why?
Because while I was looking around for related links like the ones above, I realized the web also has pretty slim pickings when it comes to this sort of thing.
the web is not quark
I've had this idea kicking around for a while now.
I work with a lot of print designers at my current job. These are hard-core print people, with little to no knowledge of the web and frankly, little desire to learn. Not that it stops 'em from wanting to design the web site. But I digress.
The hardest obstacle I have when working with print designers is that the basic fundamentals of Quark do not really extend all that well to the web. You have to think flowy. You have to give up some of that radical control. It's just the way the web works. You don't get to dictate the “paper” your audience uses - they have control over their own paper, thank you very much. And their “paper” may be older than you'd like to have to deal with.
I may not be a print designer, but I have done a lot of training in my time, and I've logged hundreds of hours trying to explain esoteric geek bits like tables and CSS-P and browser quirks and compatability and standardized, site-wide navigation to print designers for over two years. I've got a lot to say on the subject, frankly.
And I believe I could teach it well. Originally this book sketch was to be an internal document for my company, something they could hand to the print designers before they started playing with the web, but since then I've wondered if I couldn't maybe get it out into the public eye as well. There must be other print designers who need to learn about the web, right?
Here's how I envision my book:
Chapter 1. Design: A New Way of Thinking
Chapter 2. A Web Primer
Chapter 3. Users
Chapter 4. Browsers
Chapter 5. Colour
Chapter 6. Typography
Chapter 7. The Basic Tools
Chapter 8. Layout
Chapter 9. Other Design Options
Chapter 10. Interactivity
Appendix A: Resources
I've even got topic lists and in some cases screenshots for some of the chapters. All that's left is writing the darn thing.
I know there is already an excellent book on the subject, but maybe the market could bear one or two more.
You never know.
where the fluffy ones sleep
Since I run Pampered Puppy, I've been thinking a lot about dogs lately. I recently got a preview copy of a fabulous book called Barkitecture, which is a coffee-table book about fabulous dog houses. Many of the houses were crafted by architects and other designers, and it's really a fun and fabulous read for dog lovers.
It occured to me that a similar great topic would be about dog beds. David Salmon makes some fabulous ones, as does Gucci and a lady named Sheila Parness in London. For those sans dog, these elaborate designer beds are expensive. As in thousands of dollars expensive. So it would be of great interest to dog owners. Even the ones who don't have that kind of cash to spend. Think coffee-table book, conversation piece. The book could cover some history, feature lots of drool-factor photos (pardon the pun), even do some interviews with big-name designers who have lent those names to doggie beds. Discussion, perhaps, on why we crazy dog lovers spend so much money and effort into acquiring things like the perfect doggy bed.
I figure the book would take several trips; at a minimum, I'd need to fly to New York and London to interview and photograph some of the beds I've been reading about. Perhaps a few other trips, depending on where my research led me.
A friend of mine, Jen, is a professional photographer and we've even discussed doing the book together, her photos and my research and words.
For now, it sits in the ideaBlog. But I'd really like to do this, and I think it's a feasible idea. These kinds of books are becoming very popular as people spend more and more on their pets.