It’s no secret that I believe we are all born creative, it’s the entire reason I developed this blog. So when I learned about this book that used a step-by-step creative process to help improve lives, I was all over it. Design the Life You Love is a unique self-improvement book written by the award-winning product designer, Ayse Birsel. It promises to help you build a meaningful future and immediately calls out that no prior creative experience is necessary.
When I received the book in the mail, the Graphic Designer in me was ecstatic. The simplistic cover featuring hand-written typography was beautiful. Not only that, but the cover’s texture is soft to the touch. Inside, the pages of Design the Life You Love are just as lovely as the outside. All 256 pages are filled with fun illustrations, short excerpts, helpful visuals, and activities to break up the reading. All together this book was an extremely easy read and only took me about 4 hours to get through.
The real question for an accurate review is: did this book help me re-design my life to be one that I love? Birsel provides readers with many fun, creative tools that help with startling self-realizations, but that’s about it. The book is lacking any encouragement to make further improvements in your life. Frankly, it seems like the author is hoping that you already have the motivation to make positive changes for yourself since you picked up this book. Because of this, she wasn’t required to conduct any actual research or put additional work into her publication.
Even though my future doesn’t feel anymore meaningful than when I started this book, the designer side of me found it to be inspiring. I mentioned that I was impressed with the cover, but I was also intrigued by the layout and design choices of the entire publication. Some of Birsel’s tools I actually already use in my own design process and others I might refer back to for future projects.
I had such high hopes for this book but unfortunately can only give it 3 out of 5 stars. Design the Life You Love would be a great book for those who want to take a different approach at self-improvement or for anyone who wants to get a better look at a designer’s creative thought process.
Have you read any good books lately? Share in the comments!
Please note, I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for an honest review.
I’ve been looking to pick up this book, even if it isn’t the best it looks nice enough to have on the shelf. Nice review!
Thanks, Walter!
Thanks so much for the review♥♥
summerdaisy.net
This book looks interesting, too bad it wasn’t what you thought it would be
xo
http://www.laurajaneatelier.com
It was certainly interesting and well designed, I just wish it included a bit more research and motivation!
I absolutely love the cover of this book. It’s a shame it didn’t live up to its full potential! Great post!
Connie | Sponsored by Coffee | Etsy
Isn’t the cover lovely, Connie?!
I think this is great if you aren’t already as far on your creative journey as you are. I read this book a little while ago and it really helped me getting the whole “creative” process started.
Linda, Libra, Loca: Beauty, Baby and Backpacking
I’m glad to hear that, Linda! I do agree that this book could be beneficial to those who don’t have a creative background. Though, there are areas of my life that I want to work on and even with my expertise, this book didn’t help me improve.
It’s like a large moleskin! Awesome!
It does feel like that, Wendy!
Such a bummer that you ranked it 3 out of 5 stars…especially when you were expecting it to be better (hate when that happens). Well I’m sure you’ll come across a better one 🙂
stay styled,
Lindsey
IG: stay_styled
Blog: http://staystyledblog.com/
It’s always disappointing when a book doesn’t live up to it’s expectations. After all the 5 star books that I’ve read, the others have a lot to live up to!
I like the cover♥♥
summerdaisy.net
The cover certainly is eye catching!
Michelle,
The reading specialist in me wanted this to be a good book. I’m glad you saved me a little time and reviewed it first. I have about 5 books I’m trying to get through right now!
Jenn
Happy to have saved you the time 😉 are you on Goodreads? I’d love to know what you’re reading!
I am sitting at Barnes and Noble reading this book so that I can decide if I want to buy it. The cover says “a step by step guide to building a meaningful future”. The book is fun, but much too high level to guide me to a meaningful future.