Four books for graphic designers

Whether you are a senior or a rookie, this reading list brings you new ideas and techniques you can explore

Graphic Design Thinking Beyond Brainstorming

How to Be a Graphic Designer without Losing Your Soul

Now You See It and Other Essays on Design

From fonts to layouts and colours to grids, there is so much to play around with while making a graphic design.

Are you looking to sharpen your designing skills? While there is a plethora of information online, we bring you a few books to learn about the career in graphic design and concepts like typography and grid design.

Graphic Design Rules:
365 Essential Design Dos and Don’ts

Author: Peter Dawson, John Foster, Tony Seddon and Sean Adams

Quiz any graphic designer about their approach to choosing typeface, colours or new layouts, and you will rarely get the same answer. Every designer has their own approach or combination of techniques that they apply in new projects.

However, there are dos and don’ts, which are often much debated, on creating the best graphic design. Filled with advice in a light-hearted manner, this book is a great reference for budding designers or people curious about the field. For experienced designers, it touches upon interesting points like the importance of hyphenation or the fear of beige. The book is grouped into six colour-coded chapters — typography, colour, layout, imagery, production, and creative thinking.

Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming

Author: Ellen Lupton

This is Lupton’s second book, and is inspired from her knowledge, experience as well as conversations with leaders in the industry. She is a design curator at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York. The book explores a variety of techniques and approaches, which are explained with a narrative text, visual demonstrations and case studies. The book breaks the myth that creativity is an in-born talent and it helps foster a creative process.

The book discusses three basic phases of design process — defining the problem, inventing ideas, and creating form. It also features insights from professional designers like Art Chantry, Ivan Chermayeff, Jessica Helfand, Steven Heller, Abbott Miller, among others.

Now You See It and Other Essays on Design

Author: Michael Bierut

The author, a partner at Pentagram Design, an independent design consultancy, explores topics ranging from process, inspiration, mentorship, and the history of design, in this book.

This book is a follow-up of ‘Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design’ and has more than 50 short pieces covering diverse subjects. While some essays cover design hoaxes and pop culture, others talk about renowned names like advertising executive and restaurateur Jerry Della Femina, graphic designer Alan Fletcher, and artist Charley Harper.

How to Be a Graphic Designer without Losing Your Soul

Author: Adrian Shaughnessy

The book offers practical advice and guidance to new designers — from how to set up and run a design studio to how to find projects and clients.

It throws light on a variety of topics — professional skills, creative process, global trends in design, social responsibility and ethics, and the rise of digital culture. Also in the book are interviews with designers such as Jonathan Barnbrook, Sara De Bondt, Stephen Doyle and Ben Drury.