Two books are reviewed and compared: one, a Phaidon book by Steven Heller on the history of avant-garde publications from the early 20th century on, the other, a glossier Taschen book featuring the recent design work of some 100 studios. Read on as Stuart Bailey puts the two in a ring together and hands Heller a very large pair of gloves.

A review, first appearing in Items first issue, of Bruce Mau‘s other large book, which arrived three years after S,M,L,XL. Described is an interesting archaeology of contemporary culture and design.

A critical review and description of an open-structured live multimedia performance series which took place in the Netherlands in 1999.

A useful critical review of the monograph from the Swiss designer who bent the Swiss grid. Stuart Bailey looks at the contradictions in Weingart's book and his design work in context.

Stuart Bailey discusses the curation of a retrospective of Dutch design, illustrating the fallibility of presentation methods which treat design work as museum or gallery pieces.

A positive review of a simply designed handbook of package design in a time where gloss is king in design publishing.