The design process has progressed from just forming objects to addressing the situations in which objects are used. This is a major theme in Ralph Caplan's seminal book By Design, expressed in the book's subtitle: Why There Are No Locks on the Bathroom Doors of the Hotel Louis IV and Other Object Lessons. This year,...
Ellen Lupton has been Cooper-Hewitt's curator of contemporary design since 1992. Her new book, Design Your Life: The Pleasures and Perils of Everyday Things (St. Martins Press, May 2009), is co-authored with her twin sister Julia. Design Your Life takes an irreverent and realistic look at everything from toasters, bras, and pillows to housekeeping and...