Assignment: Annotated Bibliography

For my thesis writing class, we have to choose six bibliographical entries and compile a sample Annotated Bibliography.

Here is what I've come up with:

Benyus, M. Janine. Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. New York:
William Morrow, 1997. Biomimicry is a book focusing on innovations as an end product of human creativity. There are case-studies of problems that are approached using nature’s solutions to these situations. Written by science writer Janine Benyus, Janine proposes ten lessons/steps to lead a better and healthier existence for all.

Biomimicryinstitute.org. ©2007-2008 .
As a new science, Biomimicry studies and utilizes nature’s best ideas and then imitates them into design processes in order to solve human problems. The Biomimicry Institute is set out to promote biomimicry into our culture by transfer of ideas, designs and strategies from biology to sustainable human systems design.

Brower PhD., Michael, Warren Leon, PhD. The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices.
New York: Three Rivers Press, 1999. It’s hard to be environmentally conscious when you’re still a consumer, getting the things you need. This book, which was put together by the Union of Concerned Scientists, acts as a guide to our decisions or any decisions that really matter. The Consumer’s Guide sets apart the signifigant from the insignifigant, so you can stop worrying. For example, page 17 mentions that we, as consumers, need to be given choices at the time of purchase. If we aren’t given healthy choices, then we can’t make an environmental impact. On page 13, it is said that key decisions need to be made on the corporate level, rather than by the individuals.

Gatter, Mark. Getting it Right in Print: Digital Prepress for Graphic Designers. Harry N. Abrams, 2005. Getting it Right in Print pinpoints what designers must do in order to create an efficient workflow and successful printed product, starting with the file. Some of the important and relevant chapters cover environmental paper choices and inks. Page 24 brings up a specifically excellent point when it suggests that you know and choose a printer that uses an echo-friendly and certified process, knowing that printing can be a highly-toxic process.

Gobé, Marc. Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People. New York: Allworth Press, 2001. Emotional Branding explains how important it is to approach branding on an emotional level, based on the target consumer. Specific to part of my thesis visuals, which is enviro-friendly packaging, chapter 14, “Emotional Packaging: The Half-Second Commercial”, provides information on topics like consumer psyche, p. 200 and cultural association with packaging, p. 216.

Pinto, Mark. Biomimicry at E4S. 17 Oct. 2007. .
Biomimicry at E4S is a blog entry that was created by Mark Pinto, who was educated in process improvement, knowledge management, strategic decision-making and adult/accelerated learning. Mark’s blog talks about using Biomimicry in the human idea process. Mark even sets a guideline, based on group decision-making. There are specific key words that caught my attention, like Fibonacci Sequence, Wisdom of Crowds and Natural Systems. The latter two terms deal with decisions based on groups; these groups of people are mimicking the natural process of animal groups and how they make decisions. This natural process is key to my thesis, focusing on how I can integrate Biomimicry into the design decision-making process among a team of designers.



This Annotated Bibliography will be applied to my thesis, and has been created based on my current references and resources.