Thinking Objects: Contemporary Approaches to Product Design explores the many approaches designers take to their work, deconstructing the design process. How do objects "communicate" to us? This book reveals how designers can learn to read the signals an object sends, interpret meaning, and discover historical context, and use those messages in their own new product designs. Readers will learn to recognize current genres and approaches to design, and to understand the motivation of the pioneers who created iconic objects. Globalization, technology, the media, and the need for a sustainable future are all part of contemporary product design, and this innovative guide helps students and designers everywhere to incorporate these influences and more.