Designing Programmes by Karl Gerstner is one of the most elusive design books in the world. Brand new copies retail for over $2,000, and even used versions go for over $250. Luckily for you, I spent my hard earned $277 for a copy so you don’t have to..

Let’s start

The book itself is surprisingly thin and it’s not really a book per se- it’s a compilation of four essays from Karl Gerstner.

The entire introduction is spent philosophizing the very definition of a “programme” but in essence, you can think of it as an algorithm that produces different, yet cohesive outcomes.

It starts with an example of a 15th century Gothic cathedral Karl passed by on his way to work every day…

Notice how every window design is different, yet looks related.

The architects of the cathedral used a “design program” which adheres to the same constraints and variables in order to produce different ornamental designs which feel like they belong together.

Karl describes it in detail:

MIT’s Media Lab Rebrand

Another great modern example of a visual design program comes from MIT’s media lab.

In 2011, they rebranded their identity and for a logo, they used a “program” that could generates 40,000 different permutations so each student, faculty member, building and project can get their own unique logo for the next 25 years…

Small batch of the 40,000 possibilities

Just 3 years later, MIT’s media lab changed its identify yet again, but retained the grid of the earlier logo design program…