This book tells the story of critical avant-garde design in Japan, which emerged during the 1960s and continues to inspire designers today. The practice communicates a form of visual and material protest drawing on the ideologies and critical theories of the 1960s and 1970s, notably feminism, body politics, the politics of identity, and ecological, anti-consumerist and anti-institutional critiques, as well as the concept of otherness. It also presents an encounter between two seemingly contradictory concepts: luxury and the avant-garde. The book challenges the definition of design as the production of unnecessary decorative and conceptual objects, and the characterisation of Japanese design in particular as beautiful, sublime or a product of ‘Japanese culture’. In doing so it reveals the ways in which material and visual culture serve to voice protest and formulate a social critique.

A revealing look at Japanese design weaving together the stories of people who shaped Japan’s design industries with social history, economic conditions, and geopolitics. From cars to cameras, design from Japan is ubiquitous. So are perceptions of Japanese design, from calming, carefully crafted minimalism to avant-garde catwalk fashion, or the cute, Kawaii aesthetic populating Tokyo streets. But these portrayals overlook the creativity, generosity, and sheer hard work that has gone into creating and maintaining design industries in Japan. In Designing Modern Japan, Sarah Teasley deftly weaves together the personal stories of people who shaped and shape Japan’s design industries with social history, economic conditions, and geopolitics.. Key to her account is how design has been a strategy to help communities thrive during turbulent times, and for making life better along the way. Deeply researched and superbly illustrated, Designing Modern Japan appeals to a wide audience for Japanese design, history, and culture.

For many, doing good work that also does good in the world is part of the ethos of design practice. Just Design celebrates and explores this increasingly critical aspect of design by showcasing a diverse collection of inspiring projects, people and causes. Look inside to explore more than 140 exceptional design solutions from many of the world's leading designers and discover new work from emerging voices. Dig deeper by reading the story behind every included project—including 10 expanded case studies. Gain new perspective with thoughtful essays by Alissa Walker, Kate Andrews, Aaris Sherin, Alice Bybee, Cinthia Wen and Brian Collins. Energize your creative spirit with inspirational profiles and interviews with designers such as Emily Pilloton, Michael Osborne and Randy J. Hunt, and unique perspectives from Kalle Lasn, Brian Dougherty and Ric Grefe. What People Are Saying About Just Design "Just Design is the first book to offer a thoughtful, comprehensive and inspiring look at what happens when designers use their knowledge, resources and ability to create work that is concerned with positive change over cashing a check. The sample projects, interviews and contributing stories provide a contagious energy, motivation, and optimism that is hard to find in any other design book." —Armin Vit Co-founder, UnderConsideration "Christopher Simmons' brilliant new book showcases the worldwide, world-class work designers are doing to convey what is good and important for everyone, everywhere. Just Design is proof positive that design—and designers—can change the world, one design at a time." —Debbie Millman President, Sterling Brands Past President, AIGA "Through deft curation and succinct, exacting project descriptions, Christopher Simmons and his guests provide a compelling set of work that confirms the critical and unique power of social design and its practitioners." —Allan Chochinov Partner, Core77 Chair, SVA MFA Products of Design "Just Design is the kind of book that makes you proud to be a designer. And inspires you to be a better one." —Valerie Casey Founder, Designers Accord "Just Design should be required reading for any designer or communications professional seeking to make a difference." —Joel Makower Chairman, GreenBiz Group, Author, Strategies for the Green Economy Inside: Adams Morioka • Adbusters • Albert Einstein • Altitude • Aufuldish & Warinner • Bob Dylan • Charles Darwin • Design Army • Firebelly Design • Frank Chimero • James Victore • Karlsonwilker • Lance Armstrong • Mende Design • MINE™ • Modern Dog • Office • Pentagram • Plato • Stefan • Sagmeister • Turnstyle • Vanderbyl Design • Volume Inc. • Winston Churchill • And more...

Rapid advances in computer technology and the internet have created new opportunities for delivering instruction and revolutionizing the learning environment. This development has been accelerated by the significant reduction in cost of the Internet infrastructure and the easy accessibility of the World Wide Web. This book evaluates the usefulness of advanced learning systems in delivering instructions in a virtual academic environment for different engineering sectors. It aims at providing a deep probe into the most relevant issues in engineering education and digital learning and offers a survey of how digital engineering education has developed, where it stands now, how research in this area has progressed, and what the prospects are for the future.

The Museum of Modern Art and 5 Continents Editions recently launched this series of books dedicated to industrial and graphic design. Each volume offers an overview of a single country's design achievements and illustrates its particular design history and aesthetic by showcasing renowned architects and designers through exemplary works drawn from The Museum of Modern Art's unmatched collection. This season, they take on Japan. Japanese designers' special ability to combine aesthetic tradition with contemporary visual culture and material innovation has created a distinctive and exceptionally successful design industry in Japan, which has produced such divergent icons of Modern design as Sori Yanagi's Butterfly Stool, the Sony Walkman, the Honey-Pop Armchair by Tokujin Yoshioka and the Toyota Prius. This volume traces the development of Japanese design from the country's craft revival in the early twentieth century to the extraordinary objects of high technology that have been a specialty of Japanese designers since the middle of the century. Antonelli's lively introduction provides an overview of Japan's design culture, while an essay and timeline by Penny Sparke illuminate the masterpieces of Modern Japanese design that are superbly reproduced in this volume's plate section.

The present work contains 150 papers that were presented during ISEC-03, the 3rd International Conference on Structural and Construction Engineering, that was held in Tokuyama College of Technology, Shunan, Japan, from September 20 to 23, 2005. The theme of the conference was Collaboration and Harmony of Creative Systems. The conference was to encourage and assist the collaboration of any and all kinds of structural, system, and construction engineering using information technology in an environmentally friendly manner. This book contains these challenging papers.