Table of Contents

CONTENTS

FOREWORD BY JJ ABRAMS 6
ABOUT HOUSE 9
INTRO 12
BRING YOUR HOBBIES TO WORK 21
SWEAT THE TECHNIQUE 97
GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY 169
MAKE FRIENDS 195
TELL IT LIKE IT WAS 259
EMBRACE CHAOS 293
CONCLUSION 318
CONNECTIONS 320
BIOS 334
ET CETERA 397
THANKS 398

About the Author

Known throughout the world for its eclectic font collections and far-reaching creative exploits, House Industries has been a standard bearer for American graphic design for 25 years. House's work is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and will be the subject of a major exhibition at the Henry Ford Museum in the summer of 2017.

Reviews

"House Industries display elite talent and craft in their design, illustration, and production, but the real magic is that they are alchemists. If you get that alchemy means taking non-precious metals and turning them into gold and platinum, then you’ll understand it when I say that House turns numerous less-than-elite sources of inspiration into pure visual gold and platinum. It is easy for artists and designers to be precious, cryptic, and mysterious while peddling themselves as speakers of a language too smart for the rest of us to understand. However, it takes real courage to do what House Industries does: speak a common, if not universal, language but in such an elevated, powerful, and elegant way, that it reminds us how exhilarating it is to see a mastery of both the dominant and sub-cultural visual vernacular."
—Shepard Fairey

". . . the studies behind many of House Industries’ projects stress the importance of collaboration and trial and error—really proving to readers that the process is the inspiration. This book is a necessary read for fans of House Industries’ distinctively retro style and for any creatives with boundless imagination."
—Communication Arts

"I can think of few books that are a better buy than House Industries’ The Process of Inspiration. . . a delightful collection of eye candy that is also chock-full of great stories and optimistic insight into how to bring joy, creativity and fulfillment into your career and life. . . Guaranteed it will be worth the investment."
—Fonts.com

". . . massive and overflowing, with so many years of amazing work that it sent me into a design-induced seizure followed by a visual coma that I'm just now recovering from. The book is an incredible document of both how crazy and brilliant House Industries is."
—Charles S. Anderson, Charles S. Anderson Design and CSA Archive

"From a type foundry it has become a wellspring of generational typographic attitudes, styles, movements, schools, a melting pot of old and new, revived and invented. . . Known for their typographic stagecraft and promotional ingenuity, House now has a book that tells their story."
—Steven Heller, Print Magazine

Praise for House Industries:

"If there were any place I wish I worked that I don't, it's House. They're artists; their work is extraordinary."
—J. J. Abrams"What I love about House Industries is that they search through corners of culture for something valuable that you'd never thought of before, then raise it to a higher artistic level. It's a very difficult thing to do."
—Shepard Fairey"[House] makes all the best typefaces."
—David Lee Roth"Design is a willingness to surrender to a journey. You often hear about “design driven” companies but most of them that want to license the Eames name are thinking of it as an acquisition for their collection of brands. Every once in a while you encounter a company like House Industries who is willing to go on that journey and grow our brand as well as theirs."
—Eames Demetrios"I've been a fan of House Industries over twenty years. Even though we're buds, there's still a lot of mystery behind that mountain of incredible work. Until now. 400 pages that let the secrets out? Jackpot! Been waiting a long time for this one. Heavily, heavily recommended by the DDC."
—Aaron James Draplin