On the Subject of Design 2

2010 Jan 29
Comments 39
Published In Books, Design, Site
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Once again I’m adding to my list of recommended books with some good reads I’ve come across in the past few years. I’m always up for finding new books to help me better understand design or improve my practices, but it can be very difficult to find the meat from so many fatty offerings. That’s why I try to keep this list focused on design, type, and theory. There are many lists for good web design books around, but few of just straight up good design books, and many of these topics are applicable anywhere. Like last time, this doesn’t aim to be comprehensive, but I personally vouch for the usefulness all of these books offer. Enjoy!

Comments 39
Design Tags FF Yoga, Green, Photo, White
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39 Comments

Permalink for this comment Lance says: January 29, 2010

Thanks for updating your bookshelf Jason :) Very helpful!
Permalink for this comment Tomaz Zaman says: January 29, 2010

I agree, very useful book collection, I would recommend Steve Krug’s “Don’t make me think” along these, because designers often forget it’s all about the users
Permalink for this comment Jake Przespo says: January 29, 2010

Wow, that’s a pretty thorough list. There are a lot of books there I haven’t heard of, but will definitely pick up. Hopefully they are all on the iPad :)

Thanks for the list Jason.
Permalink for this comment sara says: January 29, 2010

Thanks for this wonderful list!
Permalink for this comment Louis says: January 29, 2010

Jason,

It’s nice to see a list of books that’s as unique as this one. Most web design book lists are pretty predictable (CSS Mastery, Don’t Make Me Think, DWWS, Web Standards Solutions, etc). This is a refreshing set — some of which I’ll have to consider for my own predictable collection. :)
Permalink for this comment Dan says: January 29, 2010

I agree with Tomaz “Don’t make me think is an essential”
Thanks a bunch for the new list!
Permalink for this comment Amber Weinberg says: January 29, 2010

I’m always looking for non-step-by-step or design and coding books based on theory versus “how-to”. Thanks for the list!
Permalink for this comment Kirk says: January 29, 2010

Yes, yes. This is all very interesting but the big question is – what was your setup when photographing the books?
Permalink for this comment Jason Santa Maria says: January 29, 2010

@ Kirk

Yes, yes. This is all very interesting but the big question is – what was your setup when photographing the books?

Just a stack of books on me dresser against a white background. Sort of like this, but lit better. My apartment sucks for taking photos, so I make due with what I have. Used a tripod with my D90, and held a light I bought at the hardware store. :)
Permalink for this comment Ryan says: January 29, 2010

‘The art of looking sideways’ stands as one of the most interesting books I have ever read, and was a major influence on me in becoming a designer.
Permalink for this comment Tim Smith says: January 29, 2010

I love the list! I’m always looking for new books to read so… this will definitely come in handy. Thanks a bunch for the list and the always inspiring designs you accompany them with :)
Permalink for this comment Luke Lux says: January 29, 2010

I have been reading your previous recommended books and I have bought Understanding Comics, the invisible art. It’s a great book! Thank you dude.

Ps: The O from Once, looks strong, healthy and at the same time I can see it falling down and rolling. Muy bueno!
Permalink for this comment swissmiss says: January 29, 2010

Excellent. Blogged! :)
Permalink for this comment Travis Neilson says: January 29, 2010

Hey Jason,
Thanks for the list of good reads, I am always on the lookout for the next one. And great way to make a list. These thoughtful layouts are what keeps your site on my Safari ‘top sites’ screen.
Keep it up.
Permalink for this comment Brent Burdick says: January 29, 2010

Good design books are priceless. Thanks for the list.
Permalink for this comment Bryan Lynn says: January 29, 2010

I’m going to have to check out these when I have some free time thanks Jason.
Permalink for this comment Josh Stodola says: January 29, 2010

Can’t read this on the iPhone :(
Permalink for this comment Radu says: January 29, 2010

Which would you say it’s your favorite?
Permalink for this comment Chris O'Donnell says: January 30, 2010

Jason, you’ve probably already read it, but Michael Bierut’s “79 Short Essays on Design” is quite enjoyable. Not to mention Steven Heller’s excellent “Paul Rand”.
Permalink for this comment Chris O'Donnell says: January 30, 2010

Just noticed the tooltip effect. Bravo.
Permalink for this comment Jason Santa Maria says: January 30, 2010

@ Josh Stodola :

Can’t read this on the iPhone :(

Try a desktop browser then. :)

@ Radu :

Which would you say it’s your favorite?

It really depends on what you’re looking for. Different books are my favorites in different categories. But if you read some of the brief write-ups I did for each book, you might get an idea of what I got out of them.

@ Chris O’Donnell :

Jason, you’ve probably already read it, but Michael Bierut’s “79 Short Essays on Design” is quite enjoyable. Not to mention Steven Heller’s excellent “Paul Rand”.

Yep, both good reads too.
Permalink for this comment Amrinder says: January 31, 2010

Nice list, Thx.

I’ve already bought more than half of the books you recommended last time. Here is what I have read/bought/recommend: http://www.awayback.com/i-love-reading/
Permalink for this comment Carl Peterson says: February 01, 2010

Very cool tooltips!
Permalink for this comment Kevin says: February 02, 2010

Another great list Jason. One book I’ve added to my shelf is The Art of Client Service by Robert Solomon. It’s one of those books full common sense advice that we tend to overlook.
Permalink for this comment Courtney Bolton says: February 03, 2010

…beautiful! thank you.
Permalink for this comment Jackson says: February 03, 2010

Lovely layout, photo, list, and short write–ups. Your site has been a favorite destination of mine for many year. I only just started going through the list, but I have a feeling my Amazon Prime account will be paying for itself this week ;)

Thanks!!
Permalink for this comment Brent says: February 03, 2010

Great list. I guess I better get reading… That’s a great way to display/link to them also.

Thanks!
Permalink for this comment Matt says: February 04, 2010

I’ll be checking out some of these in greater depth as soon as I can.

For my part, I think any design bookshelf would greatly benefit from having ‘The End of Print’ (or some suitable examples of David Carson’s work) on it, simply for how he tore up the rule book and turned modernism on its head.
Permalink for this comment Dave R says: February 04, 2010

Art As Experience & How Designers Think! Two of my favorites!

If you are a fan of Pragmatism I suggest you check out McCarthy & Wright’s Technology as Experience. A nice tech-centric follow up to Dewey’s classic.
Permalink for this comment Michael Locke says: February 07, 2010

Excellent, thanks for the share. Being focused on so many other things it’s easy to lose focus on what you really love, the art of design. Thanks for bringing back the spark and interest.
Permalink for this comment Vladimir Remenar says: February 07, 2010

Marvellous list. I missed a couple :)

A must read for designers is The Elements of Graphic Design: Space, Unity, Page Architecture, and Type from Alexander W. White.

With this one most won’t agree but the Smashing book is a well rounded book for a quick glance on all design elements.
Permalink for this comment Brian Parks says: February 08, 2010

Great post as usual.

It really makes me wish I still had my copy of ‘Stop Stealing Sheep.’

I noticed you dumped sIFR and went with typekit for your site headings too. Looks good, though I do miss that gorgeous Trade Gothic.
Permalink for this comment Kevin mercer says: February 08, 2010

Art As Experience is such a great book!

Another that I can’t recommend enough (relative to art as experience) is Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: A Life of Contemporary Artist Robert Irwin by Lawrence Weschler. Crucial reading on following your own creative impulse.
Permalink for this comment Jason Santa Maria says: February 08, 2010

@ Kevin Mercer :

Wow, Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees looks really interesting. Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll definitely pick that up!
Permalink for this comment Courtney Bolton says: February 17, 2010

To this list I would add:
+Obey the Giant: Life in the Image World, by Rick Poynor
+No Logo (in Writing), by Naomi Klein

& consider:
-Interaction of Color, by Josef Albers
-Profile: Pentagram, ed. Susan Yelavich
-The Social Life of Information, by Brown/Duguid
-Screen, by Jessica Helfand
-Code, by Lawrence Lessig
-Metaphors We Live By, by George Lakoff
-Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein
-On Photography, by Susan Sontag
-Ways of Seeing, by John Berger

-I agree:
How Buildings Learn, Bird by Bird, & Grid Systems
= excellent.
Permalink for this comment Webstandard-Blog says: February 17, 2010

Awesome list Jason! The only book I have is “Fonts & Logos” by Doyald Young.
Permalink for this comment Sam Potts says: February 21, 2010

Last year, I put together a list of reading assignments for my students, which I ended up not giving them. At the risk of revealing my true colors (er, as an elitist), here’s the list. My hope in class was to encourage some kind of broadish awareness of writing and thinking outside of the design canon (which I’m not at all knocking) and that design can conceive of itself as among the liberal arts as well as the visual ones. At least that was the hope. Please forgive me for bogarting your list, Jason, but I never got to share my own list. So:

Jorge Luis Borges, Ficciones (1956, fiction); esp. ‘Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,’ ‘Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote,’ and ‘The Babylon Lottery’

Julio Cortázar, Hopscotch (1963, fiction); esp. Chapters 1–5, 41, 68, 93, and 143

William Gass, On Being Blue (1976, essay)

Paul Kael, Going Steady (1970, film criticism); esp. ‘Trash, Art, and the Movies’ [Plus probably everything Kael ever wrote]

Chuck Klosterman, ‘Every Dog Must Have Have His Day, Every Drunk Must Have His Drink’ from Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs (2003, rock criticism) [Don’t bother with the rest of the book]

Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York (1978, architecture); esp. ‘Introduction,’ ‘Prehistory,’ and ‘The Frontier in the Sky’

Jonathan Lethem, The Disappointment Artist (2005, memoir); esp. ‘13, 1977, 21’

Danny Meyer, Setting The Table (2007, memoir)

Brian O’Doherty, Inside the White Cube (1976, art criticism)

Mark Singer, ‘Secrets of the Magus’ in The New Yorker (April 5, 1993, profile); Reprinted in Life Stories: Profiles from The New Yorker

Leo Steinberg, Other Criteria (1972, art criticism); esp. ‘Contemporary Art and the Plight of Its Public’ and ‘Jasper Johns: The First Seven Years of His Art’ [Plus everything else Steinberg wrote]

David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again (1997, essay); esp. E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction’ [OK, also Consider the Lobster but I always thought A Supposedly Fun Thing was better.]

Lawrence Wechsler, Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonders (1995, essay)

Colson Whitehead, The Colossus of New York (2003, essay); esp. ‘City Limits’ and ‘Central Park’
Permalink for this comment Jason Santa Maria says: February 21, 2010

@ Sam Potts :

Wow, great list Sam! I’ve read a couple of these, but now I have more stuff to add to my wishlist. Thanks for sharing :)
Permalink for this comment Harfleur says: February 27, 2010

Brilliant list, Sam, thanks!