The Design of Design
The Design of Design by Fred Brooksby Fred Brooks
Shares rank 10 of 12 design books by recommenders
People recommend it for an unusually dense collection of quotable aphorisms on nearly every page.
People recommend it for an unusually dense collection of quotable aphorisms on nearly every page.
3 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Dense with quotable aphorisms
“notable for having an almost impossible density of quotable aphorisms on every page”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 on Hacker News
Other design books people recommend
The four most recommended other design books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Design of Everyday Thingsby Don Norman | 29 | 2 | 94% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Refactoring UIby Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger | 14 | 3 | 82% | 3 | — | — |
| Don't Make Me Thinkby Steve Krug | 12 | 1 | 92% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Practical Typographyby Matthew Butterick | 10 | 3 | 77% | 8 | — | Approved |
| The Design of Designby Fred BrooksThis page | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
1 of the 3 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“notable for having an almost impossible density of quotable aphorisms on every page”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.