Book Day and one of Catalonia's great festivities, Sant Jordi's Day, have arrived. On this date, so special and longed for this year, given that last year we couldn't celebrate it, we didn't want to miss the opportunity to do our bit. Therefore, we would like to share with you a small selection of 8 books from different disciplines that have inspired and accompanied the members of the Lúcid team throughout their work.
Even though today is Sant Jordi, books are part of our lives throughout the year and are a great source of learning and improvement. Therefore, we hope that this small recommendation of books will accompany you and be as useful to you as it is to the Lúcid team.
Marc Fabra, our Managing Partner & Head of Industrial Design, recommends the book How to Avoid Climate Disaster. The solutions we already have and the breakthroughs we still need, by Bill Gates.
Having spent a decade researching climate change, with guidance from experts in physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science and finance, Bill Gates has identified the steps we must take to stop the onset of irreversible environmental disaster.
"Through this book, the author aims to raise society's awareness of the need to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and to provide the necessary tools to achieve this goal."
Our Head of Manufacturing, Carles Ginés, recommends the book Agile Organisations. Respond to the needs of your customers with involved and self-managed teams, by Sergi Mussons.
Sergi Mussons is an engineer specialising in the development of highly committed teams and, in this book, he shares his formula for success in order to have responsible teams that perform better and successful companies. This formula consists of intelligently combining new organisational structures, supportive leadership, QRM and Agile techniques to achieve speed and quality in production, and respect for people.
"With this book, Mussons demonstrates that a company can structurally focus on taking care of its customers, create sufficient leadership and organise itself to execute processes and projects in record time."
Our PMO, Oriol G. Vivet, recommends the book Stop Starting, Start Finishing! by Arne Roock.
This is a picture book that tells the story of Justin, a project manager who achieved great results with his team by doing very simple things. It is a guide that tells the basics of Kanban for knowledge work and shows how limiting the amount of work in progress can lead to getting things done better and faster.
"The perfect book for those who are looking for a change in their work discipline and are committed to doing things well."
Ferran Sesplugues, our Head of Strategy & Innovation, recommends the book How to Have Kick-ass Ideas: Shake Up Your Business, Shake Up Your Life, by Chris Barez-Brown.
Chris Baréz-Brown turns companies around the world into highly creative and successful teams. In this book, he pours out his best techniques for rediscovering the imaginative genius within you. It's about fun, freshness and new ways of thinking, filling your life with new experiences and then having fun.
"Through practical and inspiring ways you will get your creativity going, identify what you want in life and then make it happen."
Sonia Pedrosa, our Business Developer, recommends the book Design as an Attitude, by Alice Rawsthorn.
Alice Rawsthorn is a London-based critic and journalist and one of the world's leading commentators on design and culture. This book is a subjective guide to design that demystifies the field, explores the most dynamic developments in contemporary design and assesses its impact on our lives now and in the future.
"Design as an Attitude offers a comprehensive survey of design today, responding to a time of intense economic, political and ecological instability with ingenuity and creativity."
Our UI/UX Designer Roc Prat recommends the book User Friendly: How the hidden rules of design are changing the way we live, work and play, by Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant.
Have you ever wondered why some designs feel intrinsically good and some last forever, while others disappear? User Friendly guides us through the hidden rules that govern how design shapes our behaviour. It explains them through fascinating stories such as what the Three Mile Island nuclear accident reveals about the logic of the smartphone or how the pressures of the Great Depression and World War II created our faith in social progress through improved product design.
"User Friendly is the perfect read for lovers of well-designed products and for innovators who aspire to create them."
Roc Miranda, our Lead Product Designer, recommends the book Diseño rentable: diez temas de debate, by Xènia Viladas.
This book is intended for those organisations that have design as a pending subject, so it proposes ten topics for reflection to reduce the risk in decision making related to this discipline. It offers tools and concepts in the form of open proposals for everyone to make their own, so it is a good book to use on a daily basis.
"Design has become a prerequisite for entry into many markets and is an extraordinary platform for improvement, serving business and society.
Our Lead Product Designer, Roc Miranda, also recommends the book Lo esencial. A design guide for life, by Miguel Milá.
There have been books and a documentary that analyse and study the work of the designer Miguel Milá, but in this book it is Milá himself who talks about himself, his work, his principles, his ideas and his family. Lo esencial is not only intended for designers, but for everyone, as it includes practical advice from the author that can change our daily lives. Miguel Milá, in addition to being a pioneer in the history of industrial design, has been an ecologist and defender of the essential and of emotion as decisive elements when designing, something that is fully reflected in this book.
"The essential is the theoretical and vital legacy of the greatest Spanish designer whose work confirms the definition of classic: that which cannot be done better".
