Serious Play: Design in Midcentury America

Hardcover | 25.15 x 2.54 x 28.45 cm | 264 pp

Yale University Press | 2018 | 9780300234220

This spirited volume shows how postwar designers and architects embraced whimsy and eclecticism in their work, exploring playfulness as an essential construct of modernity. Following World War II, Americans began accumulating more and more goods, spurring a transformation in the field of interior decoration. Storage walls became ubiquitous, often serving as a home’s centrepiece. 

Designers such as Alexander Girard encouraged homeowners to populate their new shelving units with folk art, as well as unconventional and modern objects, to produce innovative and unexpected juxtapositions within modern architectural settings.

Playfulness can be seen in the colourful, child-sized furniture by Charles and Ray Eames, who also produced toys. In the postwar corporate world, the concept of play is manifested in the influential advertising work of Paul Rand. Set against the backdrop of a society that was experiencing rapid change and high anxiety, Serious Play takes a revelatory look at how many leading designers connected with their audience through wit and imagination.