praise for a fine line "A breath of turbo-charged fresh air that doesn't regurgitate the ego-maniac CEO's selective memory or an outside expert's misinterpretations. Hartmut explains innovation through the lens of design, and it's about time we gained his valuable perspective." --Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist, Apple and co-founder of Alltop.com "At Flextronics, we fell in love with Hartmut and frog, and their passion for bringing crazy great designs and design processes into the forefront of great product companies. We used their expertise to help our customers, many of the greatest product companies in the world, including Apple, HP, Cisco, Microsoft and others. It is a credit to Hartmut that in the midst of a shocking global recession, frog still sets quarterly revenue records. Theirs is a unique and fascinating story." --Michael Marks, partner, Riverwood Capital LLC and former CEO, Flextronics "Hartmut's new approach to design is felt in every room in every house in every country and in every business around the world. He proved that thoughtful design is not only good for people but is good for business--and that both are interlinked. I have been fortunate to have observed first hand his impact at Sony, Apple, and HP?and have learned so much from him. He is an unsung hero of our times A Fine Line is a must-read for designers and business people alike." --Satjiv Chahil, senior vice president, Hewlett-Packard "A fascinating, breathtaking, and exemplary insight into a success story that never had so much topicality, and so much informative potential as just now. Esslinger offers an honest and encouraging portrait of the incredible power of the business and design alliance. A Fine Line is a handbook of design expertise and the art of business at its best, showing a variety of radical solutions and fresh new ideas." --Professor Dr Peter Zec, president, ICSID and founder, red dot awards

《世界现代设计史》共分九章，对世界现代设计史的源流、发展及现状进行通论式的阐述，描述世界现代设计史上的各个时期重要流派、重要人物、重要作品，展现世界现代设计史的基本轮廓、构建基本框架。

绿色设计(Green Design)是20世纪80末出现的一股国际设计潮流。绿色设计反映了人们对于现代科技文化所引起的环境及生态破坏的反思，同时也体现了设计师道德贺社会责任心的回归。
在漫长的人类设计史中，工业设计为人类创造了现代生活方式和生活环境的同时，也加速了资源，能源的消耗，并对地球的生态平衡造成了极大的破坏。特别是工业设计的过度商业化，使设计成了鼓励人们无节制的消费的重要介质，“有计划的商品废止制”就是这种现象的极端表现。无怪乎人们称“广告设计”和“工业设计”是鼓吹人们消费的罪魁祸首，招致了许多的批评和责难。正是在这种背景下，设计师们不得不重新思考工业设计师的职责和作用，绿色设计也就应运而生。
从历史可以看出，对于绿色设计产生直接影响的是美国设计理论家维克多·巴巴纳克（Victor Papanek）。早在20世纪60年代末，他就出版了一本引起极大争议的专著《为真实世界而设计》（Design for the real world）。该书专注于设计师面临的人类需求的最紧迫的问题，强调设计师的社会及伦理价值。他认为，设计的最大作用并不是创造商业价值，也不是包装和风格方面的竞争，而是一种适当的社会变革过程中的元素。他同时强调设计应该认真有限的地球资源的使用问题，并为保护地球的环境服务。对于他的观点，当时能理解的人并不多。但是，自从70年代“能源危机”爆发，他的“有限资源论”才得到人们普遍的认可。绿色设计也得到了越来越多的人的关注和认同。