User Design Books

Three simple booklets bring wit, wordplay and graphic design shenanigans to the printed page

Boutique graphic design outfit User Design recently released a series of self-published works united by British wit and a simple, hand-drawn aesthetic. The titles include “The Journey of the Larks”, “Punctuation…?” and “Life”, and show an emerging playful side of the predominantly commercial publisher. Illustrated, designed and created by Thomas Bohm, the trio matches supremely minimal design with an endearing sense of play. “Journey of …

Current State: Snowboarding

Tracing the sport's past and present in a pair of complementary books

Written, edited and designed by professional snowboarder, graphic designer and filmmaker David Benedek, the new two-volume book “Current State: Snowboarding” marks three years of hard work across 450 pages. Interviews with some of the sport’s most prolific characters, such as Jake Burton, Terje Haakonsen, Shaun Palmer and Peter Line, are included alongside images from the past three decades. This massive tome attempts to show the …

Bicycle Portraits

South Africa's diverse cycling culture celebrated in a beautiful book

While commuting by bike has long been a natural choice in countries like the Netherlands and China, other nations around the world are only just starting to consider it a serious mode of transportation. In South Africa bike culture is lacking—especially outside of major cities—but cyclists Stan Engelbrecht and Nic Grobler aim to change that. Taking to their own bikes, the enterprising duo rode nearly …