WE ASKED SOME OF THE WORLD'S TOPDESIGN SCHOOLS TO SHARE THEIRFAVORITE BOOKS. HERE'S WHAT THEYRECOMMEND FOR YOUR SUMMERREADING LIST.

INNOVATIONBY DESIGN 35 Books Every

DesignerShould Read

It doesnt matter if youre a student ofdesign, or just someone who hears theterm "design thinking" and stays quiet atmeetings while noting to Google it later.Theres always more you can learn aboutdesign to benefit whatever you do.

So we reached out to professors at sevenof the worlds top design schools to askwhat books they recommend for gettingyour feet wet in design. Each schoolsubmitted five books that span designdisciplines, from industrial design tographic design to interior design andmore. We combined them into thisreading list, links to Amazon and all. Letyour summer beach reading start here.

SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART ANDDESIGN

Thinkertoys (Michael Michalko)A workbook for better brainstorming.

SCAD

Design Basics (S. Pentak and A. Lauer)A textbook to teach you the fundamentalsof 2-D graphic design.

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It forLife (Twyla Tharp with Mark Reiter)Choreographer and creative Twyla Tharpexplains how to develop and honecreativity.

Visual Notes for Architects and Designers(Norman Crowe and Paul Laseau)Learn how sketching like an architect cansharpen your thinking (and make for someawesome Moleskines).

Geometry of Design: Studies inProportion and Composition (KimberlyElam)Why is a Braun blender or Barcelona chairbeautiful? The geometry. This paperbackbreaks it down.

PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN

The Industrial Design Reader (CarmaGorman)A paperback history on the origins ofindustrial design.

Design in the USA (Jeffrey Meikle)Where do hit products meet necessaryproducts in American culture? A historybook and design philosophy book in one.

History of Modern Design (DavidRaizman)Strap in. This history textbook spans the

Parsons

evolution of decorative arts, industrialdesign, and graphic design from the 18thto 20th century.

Design Studies: A Reader (Hazel Clarkand David Brody)A collection of essays examining the"history, methods, theory, visuality,identity, consumption, labor,industrialization, new technology,sustainability, and globalization" of design.

Design as Future-Making (Susan Yelavichand Barbara Adams)How will design shape our future? (Youvegotta buy the book to find out.)

PRATT INSTITUTE

Product Design (Rodgers and Milton)An explanation of what product designersreally do, from concept to manufacture.

The Design Process (Karl Aspelund)A thesis breaking down the sevenuniversal stages of design: identification;conceptualization; exploration andrefinement; definition and modeling; andcommunication on the way toproduction.

Toward a New Interior: An Anthology ofInterior Design Theory (Lois Weinthal)Interior design, presented through thelens of essays on architecture, film, andfashion.

Graphic Design: Now in Production (Ian

Pratt

Albinson and Rob Giampietro)The field of modern day graphic design,explored in work published since the year2000.

The New Basics (Ellen Lupton andJennifer Cole Phillips)Learn graphic design with a focus onvisual clarity and information hierarchy.

CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS

Thoughts on Design (Paul Rand)Originally published as an essay in 1947,Thoughts on Design is still fiercelyrelevant to today's designers.

Tibor Kalman: Perverse Optimist (PeterHall and Michael Bierut)This joint work designed by Pentagrampartner Michael Bierut and edited bywriter Peter Hall pays tribute to thegraphic design of Tibor Kalman. It appearsto be out of print.

Design as Art (Bruno Munari)A highly readable paperback by 20th-century icon Bruno Munari, exploring thedesigns all around us.

Thinking With Type (Ellen Lupton)Master typographic layouts with thisinstructional book filled with dos anddonts.

The Visual Display of QuantitativeInformation (Edward Tufte)From the godfather of data visualization,

CCA

this book features 250 graphics andcharts, complete with Tuftes explanationsof why visual ideas work or dont.

SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS

Drawing is Thinking (Milton Glaser)Explore 180 pages of drawings withoutwords by one of the most famed graphicdesigners of all time.

Graphic Design: A Concise History(Richard Hollis)This affordable paperback charts thehistory of graphic design with plenty ofpretty pictures to illustrate it.

Type and Image: The Language ofGraphic Design Paperback (Philip B.Meggs)An annotated argument that graphicdesign isnt just part of the way wecommunicate, but a unique languageunto itself.

Meggs' History of Graphic Design (PhilipB. Meggs, Alston W. Purvis)From the creation of written language tothe rise of interactive design, this textbooktakes you through the history of graphicdesign and includes 1,500 illustrativephotos.

Anatomy of Design: Uncovering theInfluences and Inspiration in ModernGraphic Design (Steven Heller and MirkoIlic)

SVA

Everything is derivative. This paperbackexamines 50 graphic designs, breakingdown what influenced each project.

INSTITUTE OF DESIGNILLINOISINSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

The Design of Everyday Things (DonNorman)An industry classic explaining how todesign products for real human use.

Change by Design (Tim Brown)A primer on the idea of "design thinking,"and working from inspiration toinnovation.

Designing for Growth (Jeanne Liedtke)Another book on design thinkingthisone filled with question lists and exercisesto get you going.

Next Generation Business Strategies forthe Base of the Pyramid (Ted London andStu Hart)An argument that businesses shoulddevelop cheaper goods made for theentire world, and how to make theseproducts catch on.

Vision in Motion (Laszlo Moholy-Nagy)Part of the original Bauhaus school, LszlMoholy-Nagy illustrates where design, art,and science meet. Currently out of print, itcan be a bit difficult to get your hands on.

RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN

IIT

World Changing: A Users Guide for the21st Century (Alex Steffen)A book spanning the world ofsustainability, from the locavoremovement to eco-friendly homes.

Humble Masterpieces: 100 EverydayMarvels of Design (Paola Antonelli)MoMA curator Paola Antonelli payshomage to 100 pieces of design brilliance,from Band-Aids to Post-Its.

In the Bubble: Designing in a ComplexWorld (John Thackara)"We're filling up the world withtechnology and devices, but we've lostsight of an important question: What isthis stuff for? What value does it add toour lives?"

Sustainable Design: Explanations inTheory and Practice (Stuart Walker)A call to think about design differently,considering sustainability first andforemost in the process.

Art and Visual Perception: A Psychologyof the Creative Eye (Rudolf Arnheim)Originally published in 1974, this bookexplores where art and psychologycollide.

RISD

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MARK WILSON

Mark Wilson is a writer who startedPhilanthroper.com, a simple way to give back everyday. Continued

June 25, 2015 | 7:30AM

S I G N I NA D D N E W C O M M E N T

Type your comment here.

22 COMMENTS 2 DAYS AGO

Speaking of design... You know those left-rightclickable arrows next to the photos in this article?Why can't someone just put them in one consistentlocation instead of having to reposition the mouseat every click? THAT is bad UI design.

B O N G B O N G

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2 DAYS AGO

Try any of these:http://www.articul8publishing.com/

K N O W Y O U R O N I O N S

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3 DAYS AGO

You're free to share your recommendations! tkanksa lot http://seokar.com

S E O K A R

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7 DAYS AGO

"The Creative Problem Solver's Toolbox" has beenhighly praised as a design book. It has beenpublished around the world in 10 languages, butthe U.S. English edition was self-published, so it'snot well-known in the United States. Disclosure: Iam the book's author, Richard Fobes

C P S O L V E R

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8 DAYS AGO

You don't become a great designer by only readingabout design. Try a few selections from this list:

http://www.nocturnaldesign.com/cm/content/branding_bookshelf.asp

And, this list:

http://www.nocturnaldesign.com/blog/?p=64

K E N P E T E R S

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8 DAYS AGO

Missing from this mix are the following requisites

M O N I R O M

Typographic Design: Form and Communication,6th Edition

Crisp: Notes on Graphic Design and VisualCommunication

History of Graphic Design (Phil Meggs)

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8 DAYS AGO

The most important one (for me) is not cited:Design for the Real World, Victor Papanek. It shouldbe the first book read by a designer.

R O B E R T O P E R E I R A

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7 DAYS AGO

asif that's not cited. These guys are utterlyclueless.

C A L L U M N A S H

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8 DAYS AGO

Little beats excellent literature.

Was Tufte among the duplicates? Im surprised thatEnvisioning Information hasnt made it, which Iddeem primus inter pares.

J E N S O L I V E R M E I E R T

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8 DAYS AGO

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud Notdirectly about design but relevant.

http://scottmccloud.com/2-print/1-uc/

B E R T O A L V A R O

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7 DAYS AGO

Definitely a good read and insight into howpeople process images.

M O N I R O M

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Comment removed.

8 DAYS AGO

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