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04.03.11

William Drenttel | Essays

Design of Crime, Evil and Death

Buried in our Winterhouse library are numerous and eclectic books with "design" in the title — things like Death by Design, Design for Dying and Design in Evil. These obviously are not books on the subject of design, but examples where the word "design" has worked its way into popular vocabulary or vernacular speech.

I'm wondering what else is out there? Are there other fun examples of "design" in book covers (popular fiction, pulp novels, romance trash, non-fiction, even scholarly titles) where the subject is evil, death, crime — even sex. Send us your images. We may turn this into a proper post and slideshow. In the meantime, enjoy these three examples.

Send images (.jpg at 525 pixels wide) and proper publishing citation to jade [@] winterhouse.com. If anyone knows the designers of these book covers, do send that information as well: we'd love to credit the graphic designers behind these titles.

Death by Design by August Derleth. Cover designer, unknown. Arcadia House, 1953

Design for Dying by Louis Trimble. Cover designer, unknown. Bartholomew House, 1946

Design in Evil by Rufus King. Cover designer, unknown. Popular Library, 1942

More from William Drenttel

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Winterhouse First Symposium on Design Education and Social Change: Program Description
This symposium, sponsored by the Winterhouse Institute, was held October 17-19 2010 in Falls Village, Connecticut. This was the initial information shared with participants.

Winterhouse Second Symposium on Design Education and Social Change: Participants
The Winterhouse Second Symposium on Design Education and Social Change, was held August 14-16, 2011 in Falls Village, Connecticut.

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