Rudy VanderLans

Graphic Designer / United States / Emigre

Rudy VanderLans’s Book List

The books I’ve listed here came to mind immediately upon receipt of the invitation. They have inspired my design, photography, and editing work, and I know that I’ve learned from them and often refer back to them. What exactly I’ve learned from them is difficult to determine. But my work has improved over the years—at the very least it has grown more mature—and that didn’t happen all by itself. I blame that on the books I’ve read, particularly the ones listed here.

Also, I love this website. Just the fact that anybody would care to make such a big deal about books and about what designers read gives me hope. It feels good to know that people are still interested in books, particularly printed books. And I love it when a new technology is used to celebrate an old one.

2 books
Edward Ruscha

Not much of a book in the traditional sense of the word, but inspirational for expanding the notion of what a book can be.

Robert Adams

Just as quiet and unassuming as his photographs, Robert Adams’s writing is an exercise in restraint—clear and concise, yet nuanced and complex. Here’s a taste: “At our best and most fortunate we make pictures because of what stands in front of the camera, to honor what is greater and more interesting than we are. We never accomplish this perfectly, though in return we are given something perfect—a sense of inclusion. Our subject thus redefines us, and is part of the biography by which we want to be known.”

comments powered by Disqus