Suggested Reading
By no means a complete list, these are just some of the books I recommend considering as you build your design library.So-called “essential” titles are followed by an asterisk, but every book on the list has its own unique value.
Titles with two asterisks have particular relevance to my courses.
General
Thinking Course
Edward De Bono
Facts On File, 1994 (Revised Edition)
The Fountainhead
Ayn Rand
NAL-Dutton, 1996
The Dot and The Line (1st edition)
Norton Juster
Random House, 1963
Man and His Symbols
Carl Jung
Doubleday, 1969
The Medium is the Massage
Marshall McLuhan & Quentin Fiore
Hard Wired, 1996
The Power of Myth
Joseph Campbell
Anchor Books, 1988
The Tipping Point*
Malcolm Gladwell
Back Bay Books, 2002
Six Memos for the Next Millennium
Italo Calvino
Random House, 1993
Powers of 10*
(A rare case in which the film is even better)
Philip Morrison and Phylis Morrison, with the Office of Charles and Ray Eames
Scientific American Library, 1967
No Logo
Naomi Klein
Vintage Canada, 2000
In the Blink of an Eye
Walter Murch
Silman-James Press, 2001
Logos / Identity / Branding
Logo:Lab
Christopher Simmons
HOW Design Books, 2005
Letterhead & Logo Design 9
Christopher Simmons
Rockport Publishers, 2005
The Corporate Personality
Wally Olins
Design Council, 1979
Corporate Identity
Wally Olins
Harvard Business School Press, 1989
Marks of Excellence*
Per Mollerup
Phaidon, 1997
How to Design Logos Symbols and Icons
Gregory Thomas
Northern Light Books, 2000
Logo Design That Works
Lisa Silver
Rockport, 2001
LogoLounge (multiple volumes)
Catherine Fishel & Bill Gardner
Rockport, 2003
Font Analysis, Logotype Design, Typography, Type Comparison
Doyald Young
Delphi Publishers, 1999
Design + Design History
A History of Graphic Design*
Philip Meggs
Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1996
Graphic Design: A Concise History
Richard Hollis
Thames and Hudson, 1974
Mixing Messages*
Ellen Lupton
Princeton Architectural Press, 1996
Design Writing Research
Ellen Lupton and Abbott Miller
Phaidon Press, 1999
Design Literacy
Steven Heller and Karen Pomeroy
Allworth Press, 1997
The Education of a Graphic Designer
Edited by Steven Heller
Allworth Press, 1998
A Smile in the Mind*
Beryl McAlhone & David Stuart
Phaidon, 1998
Graphic Design Manual
Armin Hoffman
Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1965
Information Architects
Richard Saul Werman
Graphis Press, 1996
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
Edward Tufte
Graphis Press, 1983
Also: Envisioning Information and Visual Explanations
Design Language
Tim McCreight
Brynmorgen Press, 1996
Design Dialogues
Steven Heller and Elinor Pettit
Allworth Press, 1998
Making and Breaking the Grid
Timothy Samara
Rockport Publishers, 2005
Grid Systems in Graphic Design
Josef Muller-Brockmann
Arthur Niggli; Bilingual edition, 1996
Typography
About Face: Reviving the Rules of Typography*
David Jury
Rotovision, 2002
The Complete Manual of Typography
James Felici
Adobe Press, 2002
Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works (2nd Edition)
Erik Spiekermann and E. M. Ging
Adobe Press, 2002
The Elements of Typographic Style
Robert Bringhurst
Hartley & Marks, 1997
The Annuals of the NY Type Directors Club
Art
Art and Visual Perception
Rudolf Arnheim
University of California Press, 1974
The Art of Color
Johannes Itten
Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1933
Art History*
Marilyn Stokstad
Prentice Hall/Abrams, 1995
Modern Art*
Sam Hunter and John Jacobs
Prentice Hall/Abrams, 1992
Art as Experience
John Dewey
Berkeley Publishing Group, 1959
Creativity
The Art of Looking Sideways
Alan Fletcher
Phaidon, 2001
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
Betty Edwards
Tarcher/Perigree, 1952
Lateral Thinking*
Edward de Bono
HarperCollins, 1970
Ways of Seeing*
John Berger
Penguin, 1977
A Smile in the Mind
David Stuart
Phaidon Press, 1998
Periodicals
• Graphis
• Emigre (discontinued)
• ID (discontinued)
• Critique (discontinued)
• STEP (discontinued)
• Eye
• Graphic Design USA (FREE)
• HOW
• Wired
• Dwell
• Your local newspaper + business times
• Some sort of computer/technology magazine
• Pick up a photography book from time to time
• Check out Salon.com from time to time
• Pick up a comic book every once in a while
• Laugh with The Onion
• Live a little
NOTE
NOTE
There are numerous books on logo design. Most are compilations of logos from various regions, time periods or themes. While these provide a valuable record of trends in logo design, I urge caution in their use. Just because a logo appears in print doesn’t mean it is good. Reputable titles to consider include: Graphis Logo (6 is the latest volume in this series) and and Rockport’s Letterhead and Logo Design series (11 is the latest edition).
Never buy any book by David E. Carter.