Maggie Macnab - Design by Nature: Using Universal Forms and Principles in Design (Voices That Matter)

Using Universal Forms and Principles in Design

Maggie Macnab

Design by Nature
Maggie Macnab

New Riders
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New Riders is an imprint of Peachpit, a division of Pearson Education

Copyright 2012 by Maggie Macnab

Acquisitions Editor: Nikki McDonald
Associate Editor: Valerie Witte
Production Editor: Danielle Foster
Developmental Editor: Anne Marie Walker
Copyeditor: Anne Marie Walker
Proofreader: Patricia Pane
Composition: Kim Scott, Bumpy Design
Indexer: Joy Dean Lee
Cover Design: Charlene Charles-Will
Interior Design: Charlene Charles-Will
Color correction for section-opening images: Mimi Vitetta

Notice of Rights

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact .

Notice of Liability

The information in this book is distributed on an As Is basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor Peachpit shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware products described in it.

Trademarks

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and Peachpit was aware of a trademark claim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. All other product names and services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of any trade name, is intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.

ISBN-13: 978-0-321-74776-1
ISBN10: 0-321-74776-3

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed and bound in the United States of America

For my children, Evan and Sommer, and for Mark.

There is no way to thank the many people who contributed to this book or to express in words how grateful I am for their creative, kind, and good spirits in doing so. To everyone whose creative work and inspiring words are in Design by Natureand to everyone who has contributed during its development with their supportthank you from the bottom of my heart.

I am particularly grateful to my acquisitions editor, Nikki McDonald, who saw the potential of the topic, even though my ideas were quite rough initially. To Anne Marie Walker, development editor, and Valerie Witte, project editor, who were immensely patient and always on task while guiding this work to unfurl much like a new leaf meeting the sun for the first time. To Charlene Charles-Will and Kim Scott, book designers extraordinaire with finely attuned attention to detail and aesthetic; and to Danielle Foster and Hilal Sala for minding the many ps and qs of production. I am very grateful to Peachpit Press for being willing to take a chance on the topic and the author.

To the contributors, one and allfrom unknown student to celebrated designer, to anonymous street artist, to the many mentors I will never meetit is your work that makes this book. Whether intentionally created with nature in mind or not, your extraordinary creations, stories, and passion for a life well lived are reminders of why design is a calling and worth doing to your very best ability. You have not only set the benchmark of aspiration, but your commitment inspires all who experience it as the creative, problem-solving process in action. It is why humanity is here. Thank you for the ever-present reminder.

To my parents, Arden and Sandy, for teaching me that nature is sacred. And to those closest to my heart: my children, Evan and Sommer, for the honor of being your mother; and to my love, Mark Fay Coble.

And always...always to nature.

ALBUQUERQUE THE MAGAZINE/LIZ LOPEZ

Maggie Macnab grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her parents, Sandy, an architect, and Arden, a poet and teacher, and her younger brother Jesse. Her interest in nature and its creative potential was encouraged by her father who gave her a microscope at age nine to see the invisible, read her science fiction shorts as bedtime stories, taught her to observe and draw nature, and took her camping and horseback riding in the high deserts of New Mexico. She learned early on to appreciate nature in all of its many guises in beautiful and mysterious places such as Chaco Canyon, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Big Bend National Park, Puye Cliffs, and the Santa Fe River on Upper Canyon Road.

Maggie left school at age 16 with one credit outstanding toward graduation, determined not to spend another year in the public educational system, and began training in commercial art (the predecessor to design) in Albuquerque in 1973 as a production artist. She learned hands-on with hot metal and emerging computerized typesetters, printers, and ad agencies in Albuquerque and Austin. Maggie started her freelance business in Albuquerque in 1981, subsequently winning national awards and receiving recognition in national design magazines and books from 1983 on. She raised her two children, Evan and Sommer, in the Sandia Mountains.

Maggie teaches design theory at the Digital Arts Program at the University of New Mexico/ Albuquerque and for Santa Fe University of Art and Design. She is for the most part self-taught and has pursued education in her own way, never looking back. Maggie lives in Santa Fe with her partner, Mark Coble, and a dozen chickens.

by Debbie Millman

The moment I saw the chapter titled Infinity Captured in the Table of Contents in Maggie Macnabs first book, Decoding Design: Understanding and Using Symbols in Visual Communication (HOW Books, 2008), I knew I was in for a treat. Having long been curious about the connection between science and design, I instantly recognized that her book resolved my recurrent questions and stored the answers I had been searching to find: why symbols and patterns resonate on an instinctive level, how images speak to us, and why my heart fluttered whenever I saw evidence of the golden ratio in everyday life. Decoding Design now has a noble partner to further its intellectual and philosophical reach, and it is a remarkable companion.

Design by Nature is a revelation. It is both a book and a bible of sorts: It investigates and illuminates the symbiotic relationships in nature, art, science, economics, philosophy, technology, and design.

Design by Nature begins with the beguiling subtitle, Memory: Remembering What We Know, and it is chock-full of Proustian epiphanies and exercises on reclaiming intuition and creativity. The book also investigates the notion of connectivity and quantum mechanics in a gorgeous chapter that also includes a treatise on Emptiness as a Philosophical and Visual Design Application, which is simply masterful.