Ours is not a visually literate culture – architects and designers are not the household names they are in countries such as Spain, nor is design understood or appreciated to any discernible degree – so it is always a particular pleasure when a publication appears that celebrates design. However, it is therefore also doubly important that such a publication should enliven or enlighten a public already so impervious to what design has to offer.

Ken Cato, one of Australia’s best-known graphic designers, has edited a compendium of over 100 of ‘the world’s top designers’, First Choice. His idea in making this book is very simple. Each designer has been asked to select seven favourite projects, and these are displayed across a two-page spread. Designers appear in alphabetical order. No one is given prominence. The book is a catalogue, a register of items – in this case designers – that hints at universality and completeness.