How Typography & Graphic Design Influence Behavior
by Steven Heller & Mirko Ilić, Rockport Publishers April 2012
$30 US

Reviewed by Mark McAllister, RGD



From Paleolithic caves through to the rise of modern consumer capitalism, history provides countless examples where the designer has been at the forefront of shaping human behaviour. As a typical designer with a hybrid inferiority/superiority complex, I picked up Steven Heller & Mirko Ilić’s Stop Think Go, Do — How Typography & Graphic Design Influence Behavior hoping to gain a new perspective into how the world marches to the designer’s drum.
 
I was hoping for a bit more than was delivered. Heller and Ilić have curated over 800 examples of contemporary work that illustrate eight behavioural principles that they believe sit at the core of most design work: to inform, to advocate, to play, to caution, to entertain, to express, to educate, and to transform. The authors present an interesting way of categorizing the variety of goals a work of design may pursue, but by relying on curated work their ideas seem underdeveloped. Each section is preceded with just two to three pages of text, and the captions that accompany each example are often less than illuminating.

The collection of work itself was enjoyable to sift through. While some of the included pieces may leave you scratching your head (your head scratchers may differ from mine), many do exhibit the powerful qualities that Heller & Ilić ascribe to them. Some of the examples work so well that they almost give you a foggy idea of what the authors are trying to say. Knowing Heller, I can’t help but think that we would have been better served with fewer examples and more of a case study approach focused on the strongest of the curated work.

In short, Heller & Ilić have put together a book that is full of mostly impressive design content, but lacking in real insight. Stop Think Go, Do makes for a good coffee table book, but it won’t teach a designer anything they shouldn’t already know.

Based in Sudbury, ON, Mark McAllister if a freelance graphic designer, illustrator, typographer and past instructor of art history, copywriting and typography at Cambrian College. He is the founding president of the Sudbury Design Society and the author of SDS Constitution. He is VP and Chair of the Ethics Committee of RGD Ontario. He recently launched a personal project, The Graphic News, an illustrated look at current events.