100 Best Design Books of All Time

Grey Baker

I mainly read to decompress and change my state of mind, so it’s hard to point to an insight I read that helped me. Reading fiction has pulled me out of a bad mood more times than I can count, though, and always reenergises me to attack problems that had stumped me again. That said, I read and loved Norman Norman’s “The Design of Everyday Things”, and it’s helped me think through design problems ever since. [source]

Julia Enthoven

For people interested in designing or building software products: The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman and The Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen. Both books have informed my product sense and helped me make decisions about great UX. [source]

Kaci Lambe

These three books are about how people actually use design in their lives. They helped me understand this very basic idea: There are no dumb users, only bad designers. Take the time to create based on how your design will be interacted with. Test it. Iterate. That's how you become a good designer. [source]

Anoop Anthony

Krug was teaching usability two decades ago when UX wasn't a buzzword, and the WWW was still in its nascent stages. (The first edition of this book was published in 2000!) I cut my teeth on Don't make me think back when I first started out in the industry. It is now in its third edition and still relevant — it offers compelling insights into building great user experiences into websites and applications. [source]

Auston Bunsen

I’m actually a self-taught programmer, so these books have really helped me with practical skills that I could put to use & yield results. The return on investment for these kinds of books is off the charts for me! [source]

Chris Goward

Here are some of the books that have been very impactful for me, or taught me a new way of thinking: … Don't Make Me Think. [source]

Matt Mullenweg

Founder & CEO/Automattic

Hooked gives you the blueprint for the next generation of products. Read Hooked or the company that replaces you will. [source]

Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten

The book everyone in Silicon Valley is talking about. [source]

Chandini Jain

One of the five books Chandini would you recommend to young people interested in her career path. [source]

Barack Obama

Former USA President

A few months ago, Mr. Obama read “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” by Daniel Kahneman, about how people make decisions — quick, instinctive thinking versus slower, contemplative deliberation. For Mr. Obama, a deliberator in an instinctive business, this may be as instructive as any political science text. [source]

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

On Bill Gates's reading list in 2012. [source]

Marc Andreessen

Co-Founder/Andreessen Horowitz

Captivating dive into human decision making, marred by inclusion of several/many? psychology studies that fail to replicate. Will stand as a cautionary tale? [source]

Kimberly Gloria Choi

When asked what books she would recommend to youngsters interested in her professional path, Kimberly mentioned Thinking with Type. [source]

Marius Ciuchete Paun

Question: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path? Answer: “Just My Type” by Simon Garfield “Thinking with Type” by Ellen Lupton “Don't Make Me Think” by Steve Krug “Geometry of Design” by Kimberly Elam “Grid Systems in Graphic Design” by Josef Müller-Brockmann “ReWork” by Jason Fried These titles should be a good start, I think. [source]

Ryan Holiday

Author

Part of ambition is modeling yourself after those you’d like to be like. Austin’s philosophy of ruthlessly stealing and remixing the greats might sound appalling at first but it is actually the essence of art. You learn by stealing, you become creative by stealing, you push yourself to be better by working with these materials. Austin is a fantastic artist, but most importantly he communicates the essence of writing and creating art better than anyone else I can think of. It is a manifesto for any young, creative person looking to make his mark. Pair up with Show Your Work which is also excellent. [source]

Seth Godin

Author, Marketer, Entrepreneur

Breezy and fun and yes, scary. Scary because it calls your bluff. [source]

Andra Zaharia

While I was thinking of the best books to add to this short list, I realized that not even half of them are directly related to digital marketing. This is because I believe that the best marketers are people who understand human nature deeply and aim to bring out the best in it. Call me naive, but that’s how I see it. If I were to want to pursue a career in marketing, I’d read … Steal Like An Artist. [source]

Arvind Narayanan

@conorgil My all-time favorite example of research communication is The Selfish Gene. Astonishingly effective at explaining deep research ideas/findings to a lay reader. A book with great advice: https://t.co/QD1sM2o0z6 (It isn't specific to research but still super valuable.) [source]

Bill Liao

The Book "Made to Stick" combined with "The Poetics" by Aristotle really helped me to see the power of telling great stories with surprises in them and every time I meet a start-up I can always make a contribution to their pitch. [source]

Cristian-Dragos Baciu

I highly recommend all the books written by the Heath brothers, especially Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive And Others Die. This one's a must-read for marketers. The reason I enjoyed their work so much is because they offer real-life stories and insights that makes it so much easier for the reader to imprint that information in his mind [source]

Eric Ries

Founder/Long-Term Stock Exchange

A fantastic, proven formula for moving from idea to prototyping to decision making within five days, based on a process he developed while working at Google and later GV. [source]

Cat Williams-Treloar

Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky & Braden Kowitz "Sprint" - the go-to guide on how to sprint. You may not follow everything to the tee, but it's simple, clean and full of great examples of how to move fast with structure. [source]

Javed Khatri

This book details the "sprint" process used at Google Ventures. We follow a similar process at Kustard to validate business ideas and to solve problems without wasting much time, money and energy. If you want to quickly validate an idea, this is a proven model and a must read. [source]

James Altucher

Founder/StockPickr

When a writer or an entrepreneur, or a manager, or an employee, or a…whatever…sits down to get to work, he or she is often met by “the resistance”. The excuses that come up: I can’t do this. I am too old. I don’t have enough money. I’m scared. “The War of Art” is the guide to getting through that block. The comfort zone is papered up and cemented shut by our excuses. Learn to blast through that wall. Because on the other side of the comfort zone are all the tools of success. [source]

Seth Godin

Author, Marketer, Entrepreneur

Also hard to find on audio. I find Steve's voice to be fascinating, and even before I knew him, I was fascinated by listening to him speak his own work. The War of Art is one of those books, at least for me when I finally was exposed to it, I said, 'Why wasn't I informed? Why did it take this long for this book to land on my desk?'... You need to be clear with yourself about what you are afraid of, why you are afraid, and whether you care enough to dance with that fear because it will never go away. [source]

Adam Johnston

The last two pages of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art gave me a swift kick in the ass. Do it or don’t do it. But if you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet. Pressfield wrote a beautiful book that you should read, but if nothing else, just read the last two pages of the book. I have them hanging on my wall in my office. [source]

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

On Bill Gates's reading list in 2012. [source]

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

Quite interesting. [source]

Brian Chesky

Co-Founder & CEO/AirBnb

For Chesky, a source may come in the form of a biography of a business hero such as Steve Jobs or Walt Disney. His primary book source on management technique is Andy Grove’s High Output Management. [source]

Tobi Lütke

Founder & CEO/Shopify

Tobi Lütke recommended this book on the podcast "The Knowledge Project". [source]

Kate Raworth

It was a real revelation for me to discover such a different approach to thinking and analysing challenges. [source]

Mira Kirshenbaum

A nice overview of how initial conditions lead to patterns that determine what the relationship feels like to the people in it [source]

Mark Zuckerberg

Founder/Facebook

This book is written by the founder of Pixar and is about his experience building a culture that fosters creativity. His theory is that people are fundamentally creative, but many forces stand in the way of people being able to do their best work. I love reading first-hand accounts about how people build great companies like Pixar and nurture innovation and creativity. This should be inspiring to anyone looking to do the same, and hopefully there will be lessons we can apply to connecting the world! [source]

Timothy Ferriss

Author & Entrepreneur

No matter your circumstances, storytelling and creativity are two 'meta-skills' that can take your business and life to the next level. Ed is a master. [source]

Ezra Klein

An amazing, amazing book. [source]

Austin Kleon

Unsolicited, but here’s my advice for visual thinkers (and others) who want to be better writers: … Cartoonists, because their work demands work from two disciplines (writing/art, poetry/design, words/pictures), are highly instructive when it comes to visual people learning to write, writers learning to make art, etc. (Check out Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics for more.) [source]

Will Brooker

Understanding Comics is a book about how comics work, told in comic form. It’s very accessible, it’s for the general reader and is about comics in general, not just superhero comics. It explores areas like pacing and editing – how motion can be created through static panels on a page, and how arranging those panels in different ways, or drawing in different styles, or combining text and image, has different effects. It’s almost like a book on film study which explores the role of sound, lighting or editing. Scott McCloud is an artist himself, and he draws pastiches to show how different styles produce different effects. [source]

Liz Lambert

The author is a writer and a thinker about architecture and about how we build. [source]

Patrick Collison

Particularly great. [source]

Ryan Holiday

Author

Part of ambition is modeling yourself after those you’d like to be like. Austin’s philosophy of ruthlessly stealing and remixing the greats might sound appalling at first but it is actually the essence of art. You learn by stealing, you become creative by stealing, you push yourself to be better by working with these materials. Austin is a fantastic artist, but most importantly he communicates the essence of writing and creating art better than anyone else I can think of. It is a manifesto for any young, creative person looking to make his mark. Pair up with Show Your Work which is also excellent. [source]

Armina Sirbu

Show your work - by Austin Kleon - is magical and I feel like reading it slowly, like enjoying a cappuccino. I need to let each "mini-chapter" sink in and take my time to also apply what I am reading there because it's "spot on" for my current projects. [source]

Benjamin Spall

Question: What five books would you recommend to youngsters interested in your professional path? Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon, … [source]

Joe Gebbia

Co-founder/Airbnb

Was hugely influential. [source]

Kate Raworth

Helped me to reimagine how industry could be designed to work with, rather than against, the cycles of the living world. [source]

Cristina Riesen

First, a word on career paths. In time, I realised that career paths are like one-way streets. Magic happens in unexplored territories. Plus life is how you choose to live every moment, every day. So today, rather than building a career, I prefer to make lateral moves in life, working with great people and being part of ambitious projects impacting the world. There are a few books that got me here: … Tom and David Kelley "Creative Confidence". [source]

Kimberly Gloria Choi

I read about this during my first job in a startup (luxola) now Sephora SEA as a designer. This is before I started my small business - www.marchbabycollective.com. I have always wanted to do something on my own besides my full time job, it’s always a great way to express yourself with other designing task, you know, just to keep your creative juices flowing. The Stanford D. School and IDEO U have always interested me, and here I came across this book that was written by David Kelley. [source]

Robert Katai

Another book that has helped me in a specific moment was “Creative Confidence”. I don’t remember which part helped me, but I can remember that I had some mornings in which I woke up at 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning just to start my day reading something creative. [source]

Dave Elitch

Dave Elitch recommended this book on the podcast "The Tim Ferriss Show". [source]

David McCammon

Ways of Seeing goes beyond photography and will continue to develop your language around images. [source]

John Harrison (Eton College)

You have to understand the Marxist interpretation of art; it is absolutely fundamental to the way that art history departments now study the material. Then you have to critique it, because we’ve moved on from the 1970s and the collapse of Marxism in most of the world shows—amongst other things—that the model was flawed. But it’s still a very good book to read, for a teenager especially. [source]

Edward Glaeser

Jacobs pointed out innumerable ways in which people are connected by proximity and the virtues of dense living. [source]

Leo Hollis

This book sums up these new ideas of putting people first – that the city is complex but not a place that needs to be rationalised. [source]

Daniel Burka

Awesome! @mulegirl's excellent new book, Conversational Design, is now available from @abookapart. My blurb even made it in! "This book cuts through the fluff and buzzwords to get straight to the point..." https://t.co/0oeD5J0OSH [source]

Mike Monteiro

Hello. @mulegirl’s revised, expanded, even more good edition of the world’s best research book, Just Enough Research, dropped today. Buy it for yourself, or buy it for everyone in your company, and you’ll make better things. https://t.co/7U4xcCu2ez [source]

Tim Kastelle

“A large corporation is more like Australia: it’s impossible to see the whole landscape at once and there are so many things capable of maiming or killing you.” Just Enough Research by @mulegirl is a fantastic book - highly recommended. https://t.co/t11yOVeqNc [source]

Arianna Huffington

Founder/The Huffington Post

This is such an important book. Indistractable is the best guide I’ve read for reclaiming our attention, our focus, and our lives. [source]

Cal Newport

Author

Indistractable is a master class in understanding the root cause of distraction. Recommended for anyone looking to do more deep work. [source]

Mark Manson

Founder/MarkManson.net

Indistractable is the most practical and realistic approach to balancing technology with well-being. A must-read for anyone with a smartphone. [source]

Seth Godin

Author, Marketer, Entrepreneur

This book helped me see design differently. Good design costs just as much as bad design, but it breaks through all sorts of clutter. [source]

Debbie Millman

The great typographer Eric Spiekermann’s book. [source]

Daniel Burka

I love that @monteiro writes in such clear, direct language. Reading his new book "Ruined by Design" might be difficult or hurt your ego, designers. And, you might disagree with Mike. But you should read it for a clear-headed viewpoint on our mistakes and challenges. 👏 https://t.co/UKPbgsp2m7 [source]

Massimo Banzi

"The world is working exactly as designed. And it’s not working very well. " Mike Monteiro (Must have book..) https://t.co/gRUKid6YTk [source]

Miguel De Icaza

My god, @monteiro ‘s book “ruined by design” should be mandatory reading for anyone in the software industry - beautiful, powerful, lucid and eye opening. Treat yourself and get the book. [source]

Ryan Hoover

Although it's about gaming, the learnings and tactics in the book can be applied to any product. It's really about psychology and how people think. [source]

Katherine Isbister

This book is written by a very respected game design practitioner and academic, and it is one of the classics. [source]

Austin Kleon

While re-reading Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s wonderful book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, I came across this passage on working crossword puzzles. I think he could just as well be talking about making blackout poems: "There is much to be said in favor of this popular pastime, which in its best form resembles the ancient riddle contests. It is inexpensive and portable, its challenges can be finely graduated so that both novices and experts can enjoy it, and its solution produces a sense of pleasing order that gives one a satisfying feeling of accomplishment. It provides opportunities to experience a mild state of flow to many people who are stranded in airport lounges, who travel on commuter trains, or who are simply whiling away Sunday mornings." [source]

Tom Chatfield

The notion of flow is the idea that there is a state that is characterised by complete immersion in an activity, by a constant response to stimuli, and a perfect match between your ability and the challenge in front of you. [source]