The Melbourne Design Guide
by Kara Macleod
A clever little book created and edited by industrial designers, The Melbourne Design Guide one-ups most guidebooks. The 450-page flip book teems with current design intelligence from Melbourne’s creative community, making the publication as attractive to design professionals as it is to savvy locals or travelers wanting a different take on the scene.
Its twofold construction simplifies what can often be the daunting task of navigating the second most populous city in Australia. Designed for reading from either end, the flip style allows one half of the book to focus on the city’s design destinations while the other profiles Melbourne’s leading designers.
Similar in concept to the Le Cool travel guides, the Melbourne Design Guide's page layouts have a pieced-together, notes-from-the-creative-insider feel, but the overall setup is clear and concise.
Disciplines—Craft and Graphic Design, Built Environment, Product Design, Fashion and Art—organize each side of the book and include a host of interviews and opinions of what makes Melbourne such a great creative hub.
Published by Alphabet Press and designed by Chase & Galley, the bi-annual guide can be purchased online for $55. (They also offer a Sydney version.)
