On the 26 September, as part of the London Design Festival, design consultancy The Partners hosted a panel discussion on the theme of a world without design, tying in with an exhibition on the same theme at their studio. The panellists were designer Paul Priestman of Priestman Goode; Dejan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum and CR editor Patrick Burgoyne. The following is an edited transcript of the discussion.

In our first round up of some of the best newly published books we focus on the work of illustrators. Or, more accurately – as you’ll see from our selection – illustrators and cartoonists who veer ever so slightly from the conventional path. (Characters from Lost Heroes by Ian Stevenson).

ITV1’s Afterlife show is a spooky drama about a medium who, following a car crash starts to receive messages from “the other side” (as in dead people, not BBC One).

So what better way to promote the series than to scare the bejeesus out of passers-by with a bit of Guerrilla Advertising? Watch what happened here.

With wearisome predictability, the UK’s national press have this morning administered a good kicking to BBC One’s new series of channel idents, unveiled yesterday. The idents, produced by Red Bee Media play on the circular shape of One’s initial letter – using a mixture of live action and effects, the shape is formed by bike riders, kite-flyers and even CGI hippos. But the press are more interested in the fact that they cost £1.2 million (that’s for all eight) and (gasp) some of them were even shot ABROAD…

We like a bit of music here at CR towers. And - but of course - the packaging it comes in… This week we’ve mostly been admiring the sleeves of the following albums:

This is the rather splendid typographic cover of Darkel, a solo album by JB Dunckel, one half of musical duo Air. Label: Prototyp Recordings / EMI. Art direction: H5. Photography: Valérie Sonnier (inner cover photo) and Anthony Mccann (booklet photo).

Here’s a selection of our favourite music videos this week, kicking off with Jaron Albertin’s atmospheric promo for Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton. Suburban supermarkets have never seemed so bleak.