100 Best Graphic Design Books of All Time (Updated for 2026)

1

Thinking With Type

Ellen Lupton

5.0

Our all time best selling book is now available in a revised and expanded second edition. Thinking with Type is the definitive guide to using typography in visual communication, from the printed page to the computer screen. This revised edition includes forty-eight pages of new content, including the latest information on style sheets for print and the web, the use of ornaments and captions, linin

Recommended by David Kadavy, Kimberly Gloria Choi, Marius Ciuchete Paun, and 1 others.

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]

2

The Elements of Typographic Style: Version 4.0

Robert Bringhurst

4.8

Renowned typographer and poet Robert Bringhurst brings clarity to the art of typography with this masterful style guide. Combining the practical, theoretical, and historical, this edition is completely updated, with a thorough revision and updating of the longest chapter, "Prowling the Specimen Books," and many other small but important updates based on things that are continually changing in the

Recommended by David Kadavy.

3

LOGO Design Love, Annotated and Expanded Edition

David Airey

4.8

Completely updated and expanded, the second edition of David Airey's "Logo Design Love" contains more of just about everything that made the first edition so great: more case studies, more sketches, more logos, more tips for working with clients, more insider stories, and more practical information for getting the job and getting it done right.
In "Logo Design Love," David shows you how to develop

4

The Non-Designer's Design Book (Non Designer's Design Book)

Robin Williams

4.8

A lot has happened in the world of digital design since the first edition of this title was published, but one thing remains true: There is an ever-growing number of people attempting to design everything from newsletters to advertisements with no formal training. This book is the one place they can turn to find quick, non-intimidating, excellent design help from trusted design instructor Robin Wi

Recommended by David Kadavy.

5

How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul

Adrian Shaughnessy, Stefan Sagmeister

4.8

Designers are quick to tell us about their sources of inspiration, but they are much less willing to reveal such critical matters as how to find work, how much they charge, and what to do when a client rejects three weeks of work and refuses to pay the bill. How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul addresses the concerns of young designers who want to earn a living by doing expressive

6

Graphic Design: The New Basics

Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips

4.7

Our bestselling introduction to graphic design is now available in a revised and updated edition. In Graphic Design: The New Basics, bestselling author Ellen Lupton (Thinking with Type, Type on Screen) and design educator Jennifer Cole Phillips explain the key concepts of visual language that inform any work of design, from logo or letterhead to a complex website. Through visual demonstrations and

7

Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop

Timothy Samara

4.7

For designers working in every medium, layout is arguably the most basic, and most important, element. Effective layout is essential to communication and enables the end user not only to be drawn in with an innovative design but to digest information easily. Making and Breaking the Grid is a comprehensive layout design workshop that assumes that in order to effectively break the rules of grid-base

8

Grid Systems in Graphic Design/Raster Systeme Fur Die Visuele Gestaltung (German and English Edition)

Josef Müller-Brockmann

4.7

Recommended by Marius Ciuchete Paun.

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]

9

The Design of Everyday Things

Don Norman

4.7

Preview Summary

Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door. The fault, argues this ingenious—even liberating—book, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The problems range from ambiguous and hidden controls to arbitrary r

Recommended by Andrew Chen, Marissa Mayer, Nir Eyal, and 23 others.

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]

10

Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Steve Krug

4.7

Since Don’t Make Me Think was first published in 2000, over 400,000 Web designers and developers have relied on Steve Krug’s guide to help them understand the principles of intuitive navigation and information design.

In this 3rd edition, Steve returns with fresh perspective to reexamine the principles that made Don’t Make Me Think a classic-–with updated examples and a new chapter on mobile usabil

Recommended by Brian Armstrong, Jeff Atwood, Ken Norton, and 13 others.

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]

11

Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

Austin Kleon

4.7

Preview Summary

You don’t need to be a genius, you just need to be yourself. That’s the message from Austin Kleon, a young writer and artist who knows that creativity is everywhere, creativity is for everyone. A manifesto for the digital age, Steal Like an Artist is a guide whose positive message, graphic look and illustrations, exercises, and examples will put readers directly in touch with their artistic side.

Recommended by Ryan Holiday, Seth Godin, Andra Zaharia, and 8 others.

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]

12

Just My Type: A Book About Fonts

Simon Garfield

4.6

What’s your type? Suddenly everyone’s obsessed with fonts. Whether you’re enraged by Ikea’s Verdanagate, want to know what the Beach Boys have in common with easy Jet or why it’s okay to like Comic Sans, Just My Type will have the answer. Learn why using upper case got a New Zealand health worker sacked. Refer to Prince in the Tafkap years as a Dingbat (that works on many levels). Spot where movie

Recommended by Marius Ciuchete Paun.

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]

13

Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Show Your Creativity and Get Discovered: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

Austin Kleon

4.6

Preview Summary

In his New York Times bestseller Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon showed readers how to unlock their creativity by stealing from the community of other movers and shakers. Now, in an even more forward-thinking and necessary book, he shows how to take that critical next step on a creative journey getting known. Show Your Work! is about why generosity trumps genius. It s about getting findable, ab

Recommended by Ryan Holiday, Armina Sirbu, Benjamin Spall, and 5 others.

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]

14

Meggs' History of Graphic Design

Philip B. Meggs and Alston W. Purvis

4.6

The bestselling graphic design reference, updated for the digital ageMeggs' History of Graphic Design is the industry's unparalleled, award-winning reference. With over 1,400 high-quality images throughout, this visually stunning text guides you through a saga of artistic innovators, breakthrough technologies, and groundbreaking developments that define the graphic design field. The initial public

Recommended by Bret Victor.

15

100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design

Steven Heller

4.5

New in the "100 Ideas That Changed..." series, this book demonstrates how ideas influenced and defined graphic design, and how those ideas have manifested themselves in objects of design. The 100 entries, arranged broadly in chronological order, range from technical (overprinting, rub-on designs, split fountain); to stylistic (swashes on caps, loud typography, and white space); to objects (dust ja

16

Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming (renowned designer Ellen Lupton provides new techniques for creative thinking about design process with examples and case studies)

Ellen Lupton, Jennifer Cole Phillips

4.5

Creativity is more than an inborn talent; it is a hard-earned skill, and like any other skill, it improves with practice. Graphic Design Thinking: How to Define Problems, Get Ideas, and Create Form explores a variety of informal techniques ranging from quick, seat-of-the-pants approaches to more formal research methods for stimulating fresh thinking, and ultimately arriving at compelling and viabl

Recommended by Ellen Lupton.

17

Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Entire Branding Team

Alina Wheeler

4.5

From researching the competition to translating the vision of the CEO, to designing and implementing an integrated brand identity programme, the meticulous development process of designing a brand identity is presented through a highly visible step-by-step approach in five phases.

18

Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated: 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach through Design

William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler

4.5

Whether a marketing campaign or a museum exhibit, a video game or a complex control system, the design we see is the culmination of many concepts and practices brought together from a variety of disciplines. Because no one can be an expert on everything, designers have always had to scramble to find the information and know-how required to make a design work—until now. Universal Principles of Desi

Recommended by Benjamin Humphrey and Jane Pyle.

Benjamin Humphrey

Essentially a reference book for product designers, the universal principles is a smartly curated and neatly presented guide to the key terms you'll come across as a designer, with examples and diagrams. A beautiful book. [source]

19

Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works

Erik Spiekermann, E.M Ginger

4.4

A guide to typography. It draws in the reader with its design and layout, making use of more than 200 illustrations and photographs. It explains in everyday layman's terms what type is and how you can use it to enhance legibility, meaning, and aesthetic enjoyment. It also includes chapters on Web typography and other forms of online text display.

Recommended by Seth Godin and Debbie Millman.

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]

20

Know Your Onions: Graphic Design

Drew de Soto

4.4

This book is practical and immediate, without being condescending or overly technical. It is like having a graphic design mentor who will help you come up with ideas, develop your concepts, and implement them in a way that is engaging and humorous. It gives readers the experience and ability that normally comes from years of on-the-job training. All of the essential techniques of graphic design an

21

Design Basics Index

Jim Krause

4.4

Master the 3 C's of Head-Turning Design!

Cover your basics with the book that covers everything from typography and color to layout and business issues! Jim Krause, author of the popular Index series, guides you through the understanding and practice of the three elements every successful visual design must have:

Components: Learn how to get the most out of the photos, illustrations, icons, typograp

22

How to

Michael Bierut

4.4

The first monograph, design manual, and manifesto by Michael Bierut, one of the world’s most renowned graphic designers—a career retrospective that showcases more than thirty-five of his most noteworthy projects for clients as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Yale School of Architecture, the New York Times, Saks Fifth Avenue, and the New York Jets, and reflects eclectic enthusiasm and accessibil

23

The Art of Looking Sideways

Alan Fletcher

4.4

The Art of Looking Sideways is a primer in visual intelligence, an exploration of the workings of the eye, the hand, the brain and the imagination. It is an inexhaustible mine of anecdotes, quotations, images, curious facts and useless information, oddities, serious science, jokes and memories, all concerned with the interplay between the verbal and the visual, and the limitless resources of the h

24

Envisioning Information

Edward R. Tufte

4.4

The celebrated design professor here tackles the question of how best to communicate real-life experience in a two-degree format, whether on the printed page or the computer screen. The Whole Earth Review called Envisioning Information a "passionate, elegant revelation."

Recommended by Kevin Rose, Jeff Atwood, Bret Victor, and 1 others.

Kevin Rose

Co-founder/Digg

The master when it comes to taking complicated data and turning it into beautiful charts and graphs that are easy to understand. If you’re into graphic design, print design, web design, you name it, you’re going to get some really good information and how tos out of these books. He has a whole series of these books. [source]

25

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

Edward R. Tufte

4.4

The classic book on statistical graphics, charts, tables. Theory and practice in the design of data graphics, 250 illustrations of the best (and a few of the worst) statistical graphics, with detailed analysis of how to display data for precise, effective, quick analysis. Design of the high-resolution displays, small multiples. Editing and improving graphics. The data-ink ratio. Time-series, relat

Recommended by Bret Victor and Michael Okuda.

Michael Okuda

Edward Tufte's classic book, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information is a fascinating, surprisingly readable treatise for anyone interested in infographics. When I hired artists for the Star Trek graphics dept, I sometimes asked them to read it.https://t.co/cK4GQqBDxp [source]

26

Go: A Kidd's Guide to Graphic Design

Chip Kidd

4.4

Kids love to express themselves, and are designers by nature whether making posters for school, deciding what to hang in their rooms, or creating personalized notebook covers. Go, is an introduction to the ways in which a designer communicates his or her ideas to the world. It's written and designed just for those curious kids, not to mention their savvy parents, who want to learn the secret of ho

27

How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer

Debbie Millman

4.4

Take a peek inside the heads of some of the world’s greatest living graphic designers. How do they think, how do they connect to others, what special skills do they have? In honest and revealing interviews, nineteen designers, including Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Beirut, David Carson, and Milton Glaser, share their approaches, processes, opinions, and thoughts about their work with noted brand des

28

100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People

Susan Weinschenk

4.3

We design to elicit responses from people. We want them to buy something, read more, or take action of some kind. Designing without understanding what makes people act the way they do is like exploring a new city without a map: results will be haphazard, confusing, and inefficient. This book combines real science and research with practical examples to deliver a guide every designer needs. With it

Recommended by Jane Pyle.

29

Graphic Design School: The Principles and Practice of Graphic Design

David Dabner, Sandra Stewart, et al.

4.3

Graphic Design School allows students to develop core competencies while understanding how these fundamentals translate into new and evolving media. With examples from magazines, websites, books, and mobile devices, the Fifth Edition provides an overview of the visual communications profession, with a new focus on the intersection of design specialties. A brand-new section on web and interactivity

30

LOGO Modernism

Jens Müller

4.3

Brand new: An unprecedented catalog of modern trademarks Modernist aesthetics in architecture, art, and product design are familiar to many. In soaring glass structures or minimalist canvases, we recognize a time of vast technological advance which affirmed the power of human beings to reshape their environment and to break, radically, from the conventions or constraints of the past.Less well-know

31

The Elements of Graphic Design

Alex W. White

4.3

Now in full color in a larger size! 40% more content and over 750 images to enhance and better clarify the concepts in this thought-provoking resource for graphic designers, professors, and students.

This very popular design book has been wholly revised and expanded to feature a new dimension of inspiring and counterintuitive ideas to thinking about graphic design relationships.

The second edition i

32

Typography Sketchbooks

Steven Heller, Lita Talarico

4.3

Typography is an obsession for most designers. It's at the heart of all visual communication and is one of the purest forms of design, one that can always be improved and refined. Typography Sketchbooks gets into the minds of designers who create typefaces, word images and logos through their private sketchbooks. The result of these wide-ranging typographic musings provide fascinating insights int

33

Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills

David Sherwin

4.3

Have you ever struggled to complete a design project on time? Or felt that having a tight deadline stifled your capacity for maximum creativity? If so, then this book is for you.

Within these pages, you'll find 80 creative challenges that will help you achieve a breadth of stronger design solutions, in various media, within any set time period. Exercises range from creating a typeface in an hour to

34

Draplin Design Co.: Pretty Much Everything

Aaron James Draplin

4.3

Esquire. Ford Motors. Burton Snowboards. The Obama Administration. While all of these brands are vastly different, they share at least one thing in common: a teeny, little bit of Aaron James Draplin. Draplin is one of the new school of influential graphic designers who combine the power of design, social media, entrepreneurship, and DIY aesthetic to create a successful business and way of life.

Pre

35

79 Short Essays on Design

Michael Bierut

4.3

Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design brings together the best of designer Michael Bierut's critical writingserious or humorous, flattering or biting, but always on the mark. Bierut is widely considered the finest observer on design writing today. Covering topics as diverse as Twyla Tharp and ITC Garamond, Bierut's intelligent and accessible texts pull design culture into crisp focus. He touches on

36

Graphic Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications, and History of Graphic Design

Bryony Gomez-palacio, Armin Vit

4.3

Graphic Design, Referenced is a visual and informational guide to the most commonly referenced terms, historical moments, landmark projects, and influential practitioners in the field of graphic design. With more than 2,000 design projects illustrating more than 400 entries, it provides an intense overview of the varied elements that make up the graphic design profession through a unique set of ch

37

Graphic Design: A Concise History (World of Art)

Richard Hollis

4.3

This authoritative documentary history begins with the poster and goes on to chart the development of word and image in brochures and magazines, advertising, corporate identity, television, and electronic media, and the impact of technical innovations such as photography and the computer. For the revised edition, a new final chapter covers all the recent international developments in graphic desig

38

Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far

Stefan Sagmeister, Daniel Nettle, Nancy Spector

4.3

This book began as a list designer Stefan Sagmeister made in his diary under the title Things I have learned in my life so far, which includes statements such as "Worrying solves nothing" and "Trying to look good limits my life." The list reveals something that is profoundly true: Although human beings have been pursuing happiness for countless generations, it is not so easily achieved. And we nee

39

Paul Rand: A Designer's Art

Paul Rand

4.3

Graphic Design which fulfills aesthetic needs, complies with the laws of form and exigencies of two-dimensional space; which speaks in semiotics, sans-serifs, and geometrics; which abstracts, transforms, translates, rotates, dilates, repeats, mirrors, groups, and regroups is not good design if it is irrelevant.

Graphic design which evokes the symmetria of Vituvius, the dynamic symmetry of Hambidge

Recommended by Kimberly Gloria Choi.

Kimberly Gloria Choi

When asked what books she would recommend to youngsters interested in her professional path, Kimberly mentioned A Designer's Art. [source]

40

Ways of Seeing

John Berger

4.3

Preview Summary

John Berger’s Classic Text on Art
John Berger's Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and the most influential books on art in any language. First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC television series about which the (London) Sunday Times critic commented: "This is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings . . . he will almost certainly change

Recommended by Dave Elitch, David McCammon, John Harrison (Eton College), and 1 others.

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]

41

A Smile in the Mind

Beryl McAlhone

4.2

This text explores witty thinking, looking at clever ideas rather than funny drawing, and gathering together the best examples of graphic wit since the 1960s. Work is included from more than 300 designers in the US, Britain, Europe and Japan.

42

Design as Art

Bruno Munari

4.2

One of the last surviving members of the futurist generation, Bruno Munari's Design as Art is an illustrated journey into the artistic possibilities of modern design translated by Patrick Creagh published as part of the 'Penguin on Design' series in Penguin Modern Classics.

'The designer of today re-establishes the long-lost contact between art and the public, between living people and art as a liv

Recommended by Coleen Baik.

43

Information is Beautiful

David McCandless

4.2

Facts, statistics, issues, theories, relationships, numbers, words - there is just too much information in the world. We need a brand new way to take it all in. 'Information is Beautiful' transforms the ideas surrounding and swamping us into graphs and maps that anyone can follow at a single glance.

44

Color Design Workbook: New, Revised Edition: A Real World Guide to Using Color in Graphic Design

Sean Adams

4.2

Since color is such an important part of graphic design, designers need the most up-to-date, as well as the most fundamental, information on the subject to have the tools needed to use color effectively. From the meanings behind colors to working with color in presentations, this book provides readers with the vital information needed to apply color creatively and effectively to their design work.

45

Design Is a Job

Mike Monteiro

4.2

Co-founder of Mule Design and raconteur Mike Monteiro wants to help you do your job better. From contracts to selling design, from working with clients to working with each other, this brief book is packed with knowledge you can’t afford not to know.

46

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art

Scott McCloud

4.2

The bestselling international classic on storytelling and visual communication

"You must read this book." — Neil Gaiman

Praised throughout the cartoon industry by such luminaries as Art Spiegelman, Matt Groening, and Will Eisner, Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics is a seminal examination of comics art: its rich history, surprising technical components, and major cultural significance. Explore the

Recommended by Ev Williams, Austin Kleon, Bret Victor, and 1 others.

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]

47

Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type

Kimberly Elam

4.2

Although grid systems are the foundation for almost all typographic design, they are often associated with rigid, formulaic solutions. However, the belief that all great design is nonetheless based on grid systems (even if only subverted ones) suggests that few designers truly understand the complexities and potential riches of grid composition.
In her best-selling Geometry of Design, Elam shows ho

48

The Brand Gap

Marty Neumeier

4.2

THE BRAND GAP is the first book to present a unified theory of brand-building. Whereas most books on branding are weighted toward either a strategic or creative approach, this book shows how both ways of thinking can unite to produce a "charismatic brand"--a brand that customers feel is essential to their lives. In an entertaining two-hour read you'll learn:

- the new definition of brand
- the five

Recommended by Andy Budd and Robert Jones.

Robert Jones

It’s got a nice, informal definition of what a brand is…It’s very readable. [source]

49

Work for Money, Design for Love: Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions about Starting and Running a Successful Design Business

David Airey

4.2

Unlike other dry business books, this refreshing, straightforward guide from Logo Design Love author and international designer David Airey answers the questions all designers have when first starting out on their own. In fact, the book was inspired by the many questions David receives every day from the more than 600,000 designers who visit his three blogs (Logo Design Love, Identity Designed, an

50

Design Elements, 2nd Edition: Understanding the rules and knowing when to break them - Updated and Expanded

Timothy Samara

4.2

This updated version of Rockport's bestselling Design Elements offers expanded and updated content in a new, cleaner format for easier navigation. Author Timothy Samara has added more than 50 new diagrams and more than 100 new images of real-world projects with an increased emphasis on web and environmental design projects. The "20 Rules for Good Design" has been revisited and expanded to 25 Rules

51

It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be

Paul Arden

4.2

It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be is a handbook of how to succeed in the world: a pocket bible for the talented and timid alike to help make the unthinkable thinkable and the impossible possible.

The world’s top advertising guru, Paul Arden, offers up his wisdom on issues as diverse as problem solving, responding to a brief, communicating, playing your cards right, making mist

Recommended by Casey Neistat.

Casey Neistat

Founder/368 Creative Space

The reason why I gift this book is because you can read it in 40 minutes. [source]

52

Graphic Design: A User's Manual

Adrian Shaughnessy, Michael Bierut

4.2

This book offers students, novice designers, and battle-toughened professionals alike an insider's guide to the complexities of current graphic design practice and thinking.

It contains all you need to know to survive and prosper in the complex, ever-shifting world of graphic design. Set out in A-Z style and written in a realistic, conversational, and insightful way, the book provides advice on the

53

Interaction of Color

Josef Albers, Nicholas Fox Weber

4.2

Josef Albers’s Interaction of Color is a masterwork in twentieth-century art education. Conceived as a handbook and teaching aid for artists, instructors, and students, this timeless book presents Albers’s unique ideas of color experimentation in a way that is valuable to specialists as well as to a larger audience.

Originally published by Yale University Press in 1963 as a limited silkscreen editi

54

Vector Basic Training: A Systematic Creative Process for Building Precision Vector Artwork (Voices that Matter)

Von Glitschka

4.2

Listen up, designers, and wipe those grins off your faces It's time to get serious about your design work. For too long you've allowed yourself to go soft, relying on your software to do all of your creative work for you. This book will NOT show you how to use every tool and feature in Adobe Illustrator. This book WILL, however, teach you the importance of drawing out your ideas, analyzing the sha

55

Typographic Design: Form and Communication

Rob Carter, Ben Day, Philip B. Meggs

4.2

For more than two decades, the type book of choice for design professionals and students

Typographic design has been a field in constant motion since Gutenberg first invented movable type. Staying abreast of recent developments in the field is imperative for both design professionals and students. Thoroughly updated to maintain its relevancy in today's digital world, Typographic Design: Form and C

56

Picture This: How Pictures Work

Molly Bang

4.2

Molly Bang's brilliant, insightful, and accessible treatise is now revised and expanded for its 25th anniversary. Bang's powerful ideas—about how the visual composition of images works to engage the emotions, and how the elements of an artwork can give it the power to tell a story—remain unparalleled in their simplicity and genius. Why are diagonals dramatic? Why are curves calming? Why does red f

57

Layout Essentials Revised and Updated: 100 Design Principles for Using Grids

Beth Tondreau

4.2

A classic and essential text for designers since 2009, Layout Essentials: 100 Design Principles for Using Grids just got better with a fresh exploration of its design principles, updated text, and new photos and international graphics.

Grids are the basis for all design projects, and learning how to work with them is fundamental for all graphic designers. From working with multi-column formats to

58

The New Typography

Jan Tschichold, Ruari McLean, Robin Kinross

4.1

Since its initial publication in Berlin in 1928, Jan Tschichold's The New Typography has been recognized as the definitive treatise on book and graphic design in the machine age. At once a key theoretical document of Central European modernism between the world wars and an invaluable source of working principles for the practicing designer, this classic work enjoys the reputation among book artist

Recommended by David Kadavy.

59

HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites

Jon Duckett

4.1

Every day, more and more people want to learn some HTML and CSS. Joining the professional web designers and programmers are new audiences who need to know a little bit of code at work (update a content management system or e-commerce store) and those who want to make their personal blogs more attractive. Many books teaching HTML and CSS are dry and only written for those who want to become program

60

Typography Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Using Type in Graphic Design

Timothy Samara

4.1

New in paperback, The Typography Workbook provides an at-a-glance reference book for designers on all aspects of type.The book is part of Rockport's popular Workbook series of practical and inspirational workbooks that cover all the fundamental areas of the graphic design business. This book presents an abundance of information on type - the cornerstone of graphic design - succinctly and to the po

61

Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines

Graphic Artists Guild

4.1

· Completely revised and updated to reflect the latest trends

· Features the latest information on pricing graphic design work

Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines, is
the industry bible, containing information all graphic artists and their clients need to buy and sell work in a professional manner. The twelfth edition of this classic reference has been revised and updated to

62

Sagmeister: Made You Look

Peter Hall

4.1

63

The Win Without Pitching Manifesto

Blair Enns

4.1

Recommended by David Allen.

64

Fingerprint: The Art of Using Hand-Made Elements in Graphic Design

Chen Design Associates, Michael Mabry

4.1

Make Your Mark

Design is at a turning point. Our infatuation with—and the backlash against—technology is over. Today's best designers have learned to embrace its advantages and think beyond its limitations by combining the power of the computer with the tactile qualities of handmade elements.

Inside you'll find examples of work that showcase a variety of design methods, including mixed media, illust

65

Logo

Michael Evamy

4.1

The logo bible, this book provides graphic designers with an indispensable reference source for contemporary logo design. More than 1300 logos are grouped according to their focal form, symbol, and graphic associations into 75 categories such as crosses, stars, crowns, animals, people, handwritten, illustrative type, etc. To emphasize the visual form of the logos, theyare shown predominantly in bl

66

In Progress: See Inside a Lettering Artist's Sketchbook and Process, from Pencil to Vector (Hand Lettering Books, Learn to Draw Books, Calligraphy Workbook for Beginners)

Jessica Hische, Louise Fili

4.1

This show-all romp through design-world darling Jessica Hische's sketchbook reveals the creative and technical process behind making award-winning hand lettering. See everything, from Hische's rough sketches to her polished finals for major clients such as Wes Anderson, NPR, and Starbucks. The result is a well of inspiration and brass tacks information for designers who want to sketch distinctive

Recommended by Jason Santa Maria, Jessica Hische, and 2 others.

67

The End of Print: The Graphic Design of David Carson

Lewis Blackwell, David Carson, David Byrne

4.1

He was the enfant terrible of graphic design in the nineties. His tortured typography prompted a vocal camp of critics to accuse him of being flippant and of destroying the communicative basis of design. But now the techniques of David Carson (and those of his countless imitators) dominate advertising, design, the Web, and even motion pictures. With 35,000 copies of the original sold, this revised

68

Type Matters!

Jim Williams, Ben Casey

4.1

Once upon a time, only typesetters needed to know about kerning, leading, ligatures, and hanging punctuation. Today, however, most of us work on computers, with access to hundreds of fonts, and we’d all like our letters, reports and other documents to look as good – and as readable – as possible. But what does all the confusing terminology about ink traps, letter spacing, and visual centring mean,

69

Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design

Kristen Cullen

4.1

New in Paperback! An inspired resource for creating excellent layouts Layout Workbook is one of five volumes in Rockport's series of practical and inspirational workbooks that cover the fundamental areas of the graphic design business. In this edition, author Kristin Cullen tackles the often perplexing job of nailing down a layout that works.

More than a collection of great examples of layout, this

70

Typographic Systems of Design: Frameworks for Type Beyond the Grid (Graphic Design Book on Typography Layouts and Fundamentals)

Kimberly Elam

4.1

Typographic organization has always been a complex system in that there are so many elements at play, such as hierarchy, order of reading, legibility, and contrast. In Typographic Systems, Kim Elam, author of our bestselling books, Geometry of Design and Grid Systems, explores eight major structural frameworks beyond the gridincluding random, radial, modular, and bilateralsystems. By taking the re

Cover unavailable

71

Designing with Type: The Essential Guide to Typography

James Craig and Irene Korol Scala

4.1

The classic Designing with Type has been completely redesigned, with an updated format and full color throughout. New information and new images make this perennial best-seller an even more valuable tool for anyone interested in learning about typography. The fifth edition has been integrated with a convenient website, www.designingwithtype.com, where students and teachers can examine hundreds of

72

Symbol

Steven Bateman

4.1

Symbols play an integral role in branding programs. This book explores the visual language of symbols according to their most basic element: form. Over 1,300 symbols from all over the world are here categorized by visual type, divested of all agendas, meanings, and messages that might be associated with them so that the effectiveness of their composition and impact can be assessed without distract

73

Graphic Design Solutions

Robin Landa

4.1

Cutting-edge concepts, a beautifully illustrated text, and a dazzling array of award-winning design make the third edition of this standout best-seller one of the most highly acclaimed design texts in the world. Graphic Design Solutions continues to provide a clear and comprehensive introduction to graphic design and advertising design, with step-by-step visual solutions that readers can apply wit

74

Thoughts on Design

Paul Rand, Michael Bierut

4.1

One of the seminal texts of graphic design, Paul Rand's Thoughts on Design is now back in print for the first time since the 1970s. Writing at the height of his career, Rand articulated in his slender volume the pioneering vision that all design should seamlessly integrate form and function. This facsimile edition preserves Rand's original 1947 essay with the adjustments he made to its text and im

Recommended by Fabio Sasso and 1 others.

75

Hand Job: A Catalog of Type

Michael Perry

4.1

In this digital age of computer-generated graphics and typography, it's refreshing to find typographers who still believe in working by hand. No longer relegated to designer's sketchbooks, hand-drawn type has emerged from the underground as a dynamic vehicle for visual communicationfrom magazine, book, and album covers to movie credits and NFL advertisements. As the practice and appreciation of ha

76

Logotype mini

Michael Evamy

4.1

Logotype mini is the definitive modern collection of logotypes, monograms, and other text-based corporate marks. Featuring more than 1,300 international typographic identities, by around 250 design studios, this is an indispensable handbook for every design studio, providing a valuable resource to draw on in branding and corporate identity projects.

Logotype mini is truly international, and feature

77

Graphic Design Theory: Readings from the Field

Helen Armstrong

4.1

The titles in our best-selling Design Brief series are highly praised by graphic design students, educators, and professionals worldwide as invaluable resources. Each beautifully designed, affordable volume offers a concise overview of a design fundamentalthe hows of design. But as most seasoned designers will tell you, a comprehensive education also requires an understanding of the whys of design

78

Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book

Johanna Basford

4.1

Tumble down the rabbit hole and find yourself in an inky black-and-white wonderland.

This interactive activity book takes you on a ramble through a secret garden created in beautifully detailed pen-and-ink illustrations – all waiting to be brought to life through colouring, but each also sheltering all kinds of tiny creatures just waiting to be found. And there are also bits of the garden that sti

79

The Anatomy of Type

Stephen Coles, Erik Spiekermann

4.1

Students and professionals in any creative field can benefit from a good typographic eye. The Anatomy of Type (The Geometry of Type in the UK) is all about looking more closely at letters. Through visual diagrams and practical descriptions, you’ll learn how to distinguish between related typefaces and see how the attributes of letterforms (such as contrast, detail, and proportion) affect the mood,

Recommended by Fabio Sasso.

80

Paul Rand

Steven Heller

4.1

Paul Rand (1914-1996) was a pioneering figure in American graphic design whose career spanned almost seven decades. Always enquiring and investigating, he explored the formal vocabulary of European avant-garde art movements and synthesised them to produce a distinctive graphic language.

81

Design Is Storytelling

Ellen Lupton

4.1

Ellen Lupton, award-winning author of Thinking with Type and How Posters Work, demonstrates how storytelling shapes great design

Good design, like good storytelling, brings ideas to life. The latest book from award-winning writer Ellen Lupton is a playbook for creative thinking, showing designers how to use storytelling techniques to create satisfying graphics, products, services and experiences. W

82

Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design

Steven Heller

4.1

Author and design expert Steven Heller has revisited and revised the popular classic Design Literacy by revising many of the thoughtful essays from the original and mixing in thirty-two new works. Each essay offers a taste of the aesthetic, political, historical, and personal issues that have engaged designers from the late nineteenth century to the present—from the ubiquitous (the swastika, antiw

83

Detail In Typography

Jost Hochuli

4.1

How is it that text can be set perfectly and yet look insufferably dull? How do you achieve perfect congruence between the type itself and its meaning? In Detail in Typography Jost Hochuli, master book designer and author of the seminal Designing Books, addresses the finer points of setting text. Hochuli begins with a consideration of how human beings read, moving on incrementally to consideration

84

The Cheese Monkeys

Chip Kidd

4.0

After 15 years of designing more than 1,500 book jackets at Knopf for such authors as Anne Rice and Michael Crichton, Kidd has crafted an affecting an entertaining novel set at a state university in the late 1950s that is both slap-happily funny and heartbreakingly sad. The Cheese Monkeys is a college novel that takes place over a tightly written two semesters. The book is set in the late 1950s at

85

Logo, Font & Lettering Bible: A Comprehensive Guide to the Design, Construction and Usage of Alphabets and Symbols

Leslie Cabarga

4.0

Put the power to design logos and type in your own hands!

Why be a designer who must rely upon preexisting typefaces and clip art when you can become the kind of designer who creates logos, fonts and lettering of your own? Leslie Cabarga, author of the bestselling "Designer's Guide to Color Combinations," has created a textbook of type for the experienced graphics professional as well as the beginn

86

Paint by Sticker: Cats: Create 12 Stunning Images One Sticker at a Time!

Workman Publishing

4.0

An addictive all-ages activity for crafters and artists, Paint by Sticker: Cats includes everything you need to create twelve vibrant cat images—the stickers, the templates, the simple directions.

The Paint by Sticker series is now purrfect for cat lovers! Create gorgeous illustrations of felines in low-poly (geometric polygon shapes) style, one sticker at a time. There’s a playful ginger tabby

87

Pantone's Guide to Communicating with Color

Leatrice Eiseman

4.0

· Over 80,000 copies sold

· Features proven color principles designers need to create effective designs

· Employs Pantone's universal color system to make color selections easy

This authoritative guide presents hundreds of color combinations and color principles needed to create effective designs. Every lesson is demonstrated by example, enabling designers of all specialties and levels of experience

88

Before and After: How to Design Cool Stuff

John McWade

4.0

Before and After magazine's focus on clarity, simplicity, and elegance has won it legions of fans--fans who will welcome this second volume of the definitive Before and After Page Design by John McWade. Truly an icon of the graphic design community, his insistence on approaching design not as mere decoration but as an essential form of communication is vividly apparent in this cohesive primer on p

89

Beautiful Evidence

Edward R. Tufte

4.0

Science and art have in common intense seeing, the wide-eyed observing that generates visual information. Beautiful Evidence is about how seeing turns into showing, how data and evidence turn into explanation. The book identifies excellent and effective methods for showing nearly every kind of information, suggests many new designs (including sparklines), and provides analytical tools for assessin

Recommended by Bret Victor.

90

Penguin by Design: A Cover Story 1935-2005

Phil Baines

4.0

"Ever-since the creation of the first Penguin paperbacks in 1935, their jackets have become a constantly evolving part of Britain's culture and design history." By looking back at seventy years of Penguin paperbacks, Phil Baines charts the development of British publishing, book-cover design and the role of artists and designers in creating and defining the Penguin look. Coupling in-depth analysis

91

The Vignelli Canon

Massimo Vignelli

4.0

The famous Italian designer Massimo Vignelli allows us a glimpse of his understanding of good design in this book, its rules and criteria. He uses numerous examples to convey applications in practice - from product design via signaletics and graphic design to Corporate Design. By doing this he is making an important manual available to young designers that in its clarity both in terms of subject m

92

Creative Strategy and the Business of Design

Douglas Davis

4.0

“Douglas wears a lot of hats–all stylish and functional. There’s a huge disconnect happening right now in the industry and Douglas’s book is a means to bridging that gap.” —The Huffington Post

The Business Skills Every Creative Needs!

Remaining relevant as a creative professional takes more than creativity--you need to understand the language of business. The problem is that design school doesn't te

93

Burn Your Turtleneck: A Guide to Succeeding as a Creative Professional

Michael Janda Janda

4.0

Recommended by Fabio Sasso.

94

Type: A Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles (Volume 1, 1628-1900)

Jan Tholenaar, Cees De Jong

4.0

This book offers a novel overview of typeface design, exploring the most beautiful and remarkable examples of font catalogs from the history of publishing, with a special emphasis on the period from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, when color catalogs were at their height. Taken from a Dutch collection, this exuberant selection traverses the evolution of the printed letter in all its

95

The Elements of Color

Johannes Itten, Faber Birren, Ernst Van Hagen

4.0

This is the most complete document of one of the landmarks of modern education in art - the famous Basic Course at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany. Itten was the teacher who organized it at the invitation of Walter Gropius. First published in 1963 when Itten was still alive, the book has been revised and updated by Itten's widow, Anneliese Itten, and includes new material from the basic course at t

96

Chanel: Collections and Creations

Daniele Bott

4.0

Chanel's combination of tradition, originality, and style has always made it the most seductive of fashion labels. Here the House of Chanel opens its private archives, revealing a galaxy of brilliant designs created by Coco Chanel from 1920 onwards. Dazzling clothes, intricate accessories, beautiful models, and timeless design leave no doubt as to the lasting fame of her name and embody everything

97

The Graphic Design Idea Book: Inspiration from 50 Masters

Steven Heller and Gail Anderson

4.0

This book serves as an introduction to the key elements of good design.

Broken into sections covering the fundamental elements of design, key works by acclaimed designers serve to illustrate technical points and encourage readers to try out new ideas. Themes covered include form, narrative, color, type and image, ornament, simplicity, and wit and humour.

The result is an instantly accessible and e

98

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise (Avatar: The Last Airbender, #1)

Gene Luen Yang

4.0

The Avatar's adventures continue right where the TV series left off, in this beautiful, oversized hardcover of The Promise, from Airbender creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko! Aang and friends must join together once again as the four nations' tenuous peace is threatened in an impasse between Fire Lord Zuko and Earth King Kuei! As the world heads toward another devastating war, Aa

99

Visual Explanations

Edward R. Tufte

4.0

Few would disagree: Life in the information age can be overwhelming. Through computers, the Internet, the media, and even our daily newspapers, we are awash in a seemingly endless stream of charts, maps, infographics, diagrams, and data. Visual Explanations is a navigational guide through this turbulent sea of information. The book is an essential reference for anyone involved in graphic, web, or

Recommended by Jeff Atwood and Bret Victor.

100

The Art of Color: The Subjective Experience and Objective Rationale of Color

Johannes Itten

4.0