Duane King is a creative director and designer focused on the relationship between media effects and the public. He is currently Head of Experience at Opal, an AI hardware startup based in San Francisco. A member of Baukunst, his work spans mediums and disciplines, shaping culture through design. In 2011, Fast Company named him one of the 50 Most Influential Designers in America.
Which three books would you recommend?
TThe Little PrinceAntoine de Saint-Exupéry
As a young child, The Little Prince opened my eyes to the differences between my imagination and the way the world saw things. The drawing of a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant within (which, according to the author, to most adults looks like a hat) served as a guidepost that assured me that there was more than one of way of seeing the world. As I grew up, this same tale served as reminder to protect and nurture this youthful innocence that can see beyond the surface.
The Medium is the Massage Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore
Anyone who deals with communications and media should read The Medium is the Massage — especially in the time of AI. It serves as potent reminder of the power of visual storytelling as well as extolls the complex symbiosis of medium and message on society. Mediums are extensions of the senses. When you affect one sense, you affect all of them. And when you rearrange senses, you rearrange the person. You also rearrange the culture, the society, and the world.
Cosmic View: The Universe in 40 Jumps Kees Boeke
Cosmic View is the little known predecessor to the film Powers of Ten by the Eames. In it, Kees Boeke explore visuals and text to create a graphic journey through the universe — to the edge of infinity in one direction and to the nucleus of the atom in the other. The result is a voyage that begins with human scale which then moves to atomic and universal scales. Scale serves as a form of geography giving a sense of place that begins with ourselves.
What is your favourite bookstore or library?
Powell's City Of Books