Books led me to typography and graphic design. Love of reading became love of the medium in which the words are printed, of the type that composes these words, of the substrate that supports them, of the page layouts that give form to narrative and argument, of the covers and bindings that hold these texts and pictures together, of the lettering and imagery that seek to express a book’s essential nature. . . .
View the complete textBooks led me to typography and graphic design. Love of reading became love of the medium in which the words are printed, of the type that composes these words, of the substrate that supports them, of the page layouts that give form to narrative and argument, of the covers and bindings that hold these texts and pictures together, of the lettering and imagery that seek to express a book’s essential nature.
Graphic design books are a kind of meta-book. These are the publications in which the art of making books (as well as other graphic media) is discussed. Any graphic designer who read only this kind of book would have a severely limited view of the world. On the other hand, any graphic designer who made a point of avoiding books about graphic design would have a highly circumscribed view of the discipline. For this reason, I have concentrated here on graphic design books and have resisted the temptation to dilute the mixture by including volumes about other aspects of art and visual culture that might also be relevant to graphic designers. To be useful, such a list would need to be three times as long.
Several of these titles are books of particular significance to me, but none has been selected only for that reason. These are contributions that form a vital part of the literature of graphic design, to be consulted wherever the subject is taught, thought about, or discussed. There are other core texts that could have been included in a longer list, and many other monographs, though the five below are all significant. My particular interest is in the history and criticism of graphic design, and I have not included books about design techniques and practice. Many of the titles here would also, I hope, be interesting to non-professional readers.
Comments about Books Every Graphic Designer Should Read
14 commentsLists are always debate - able, but it is shocking that Thoughts on Design or another book by or on Paul Rand are not on this list.
Paul Rand's books have already been mentioned several times. This website is supposed to be educational. As you said, lists are debatable, so of what help would these lists be if everyone would name the same books, more or less?
I would propose an Ellen Lupton book be added to this list.
Jessamyn, there already is an Ellen Lupton book on the list -- Design Writing Research (with her partner Abbott Miller). But I assume you are thinking of her more recent books. I've avoided books about technique, as I mentioned in my intro, but if this were such a list I'd probably go for Thinking with Type.
About Paul Rand: he's clearly a canonical figure, but there are many canonical designers not represented in my list, and he doesn't bulk quite so large for non-Americans, which I am. Over time, as Iancu suggests, Rand's name is bound to come up a lot in recommendations on this site. I preferred to concentrate on other books that have meant more to me, and/or will be less well known.
What about "More dark than shark"?
I could (and certainly would) add Pierre Fauchaux's highly original "Écrire l'éspace", an autobiographic account of his long and distinguished career published in 1977 by Robert Laffont (http://pedromarquesdg.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/ecrire-lespace-de-pierre-faucheux/)
ABSOLUTELY agree on "Design Writing Research": that is THE book that makes one like graphic design (and graphic design books).
I mean Faucheux and not Fauchaux
Hey Jessamyn, fancy meeting you here!
Great list!
My Work is Not my Work is one of my all time favorite design books. I love the authors critical point of view - it truly helps frame the work within. I read somewhere recently that writing about design is an act of design. This book truly showcases that!
Thanks for sharing your list!
Dear Rick Poynor,
I love your book list.
And I want to buy "Pictures on a page" by Harold Evans.
Online there are a lot of editions.
Wich edition do you prefer?
Thank you in advance for the reply.
Giorgio, apologies for the slow reply. I have only just seen your question.
I have this edition:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/pictures-Photo-journalism-graphics-Picture-Editing/dp/B001AQ5ZW6
And you can buy it from Amazon UK at a very reasonable price.
But if I were buying the book now I would probably go for the later, revised edition:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pictures-Page-Photo-journalism-Graphics-Picture/dp/0712673881/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364928207&sr=1-1
Great list, and I really think you made the best call picking Heller's book on Avant Garde magazines versus his others. It is just a magnificent collection, beautiful book, and is so well researched. If anyone is a fan, you should also check out MoMA's "Russian Avant Garde Book" if you can find it. Many thanks for your insights!
Hi Rick: I'm a long-time admirer of your design criticism and, as a contributing editor to Print, count myself among your (more humble) colleagues in the field.
Just wondering if you'd ever considered creating more specialized variations of this list, like top 20 books for graphic design, typography, etc.? I would also argue for specialties like Color + Design...and if you nibble on that hook, I'd coyly suggest you include my upcoming book ROY G. BIV: An Exceedingly Surprising Book About Color. It's available for pre-order now and will be published by Bloomsbury US / UK on 9/17: http://amzn.to/10iK6Pa
If you leap on that idea, I'd be more than happy to help you round out a list devoted to color and design. And I'd fill up my shopping carts with whatever other lists you create for specializations!
Best,
Jude Stewart
@joodstew
Thanks for the kind words, Jude.
More specialized variations on this general list, to explore particular topics, are really a matter for the proprietor of Designers & Books. That kind of subdivision could in theory happen across the entire D&B site in time. Sub-lists would certainly be useful, but it's not my call.
Incidentally, though I went for 20 books here because I like a nice round number, the total of books on a list is up to each individual contributor.
Randy, I agree that Russian Avant-Garde Books, 1910-1934 is a terrific book.