-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 11
Design Resources
It wasn't until my senior year in college that I mustered up the confidence to switch majors from multimedia reporting to multimedia design. Unless I wanted to take on 4 more years of student debt, I realized I needed to make up for lost time. I voraciously consumed as much information (books, blogs, podcasts, etc…) as possible from seasoned designers.
Yes, I ultimately extended school a little bit. But I was so eager to learn, that I began to bypass many of my complacent peers.
I was fortunate enough to have a design mentor to guide me. For those of you looking to jump start your path in this career, I hope this helps you.
PS: when you find something you love, you never become tired of learning about it.
This site has curated a great list. Here's a few favorites:
- 2001: Space Odyssey
- Art & Copy
- Her
- To Inform and Delight
- Pixar (pretty all films)
- Objectified
- Star Trek (series & movies)
- The Pixar Story
- The Startup Kids
- The Social Network
- Tron: Legacy
Commit to listening to an hour of Design Matters each week. It's tightly edited and will help build your industry knowledge.
| Title | Author(s) | Relevance | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphic Design, Referenced | Bryony Gomez-Palacio Armin Vit | Highly interesting overview of the history of Graphic Design. | All |
| Title | Author(s) | Relevance | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thinking With Type | Ellen Lupton | Fantastic primer for anyone working with typography (all of you) | Beginner |
| Detail in Typography | Jost Hochuli | Fills you in on all the little details of great typography. | Intermediate |
| The Crystal Goblet | Beatrice Warde | Beautiful essay on why great type is invisible | Intermediate |
| Web Typography | Jason Santa Maria | History and techniques of working with typography on the web. | Intermediate |
| Elements of Typographic Style | Robert Bringhurst | Lock yourself in a room and read this. It will make you better. | Advanced |
| Title | Author(s) | Relevance | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Designing with Web Standards | Jeffrey Zeldman & Ethan Marcotte | Why you should care about crafting sustainable sites. | Beginner |
| Mobile First | Luke Wroblewski | Explains why mobile matters. | Beginner |
| Mobile & Multi-Device Design: Lessons Learned | Luke Wroblewski | Insights from Luke on building a mobile app. | Intermediate |
| Responsive Web Design | Ethan Marcotte | The extension of the article that started it all. | Intermediate |
| Responsible Responsive Design | Scott Jehl | Why performance matters. | Advanced |
| Title | Author(s) | Relevance | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| How to Meet the WCAG 2.0 | Luke McGrath | A lifesaver when I was in grad school. It translates the verbose WCAG into plain language. | Intermediate |
| A Web for Everyone | Sarah Horton & Whitney Quesenbery | This book does a great job of humanizing accessibility through the use of personas. | All |
| Title | Author(s) | Relevance | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Don't Make Me Think | Steve Krug | The first book that taught me that great design ≠ complicated. | Beginner |
| Designing for Emotion | Aaron Walter | How does the design make a person feel? | Beginner |
| Universal Principles of Design | William Lidwell, Kritina Holden & Jill Butler | I still frequently reference this book. | Beginner |
| Web Form Design | Luke Wroblewski | Before you design a form, you should read this book. | Intermediate |
| The Wayfinding Handbook | David Gibson | Although it's primarily written for architects, a lot of parallels can be made to web design. | Intermediate |
| The Laws of Simplicity | John Maeda | "Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful." | Intermediate |
| The Design of Everyday Things | Don Norman | Beware: reading this will make you realize how much everything around you is terrible…and why you should fix it. #NormanDoors | Advanced |
| Title | Author(s) | Relevance | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interaction of Color | Josef Albers | Reveals how a color is affected, especially by our perceptions. | Intermediate |
| Pantone: The Twentieth Century in Color | Eiseman / Recker | Good overview of the history of color in the US. | All |
| Title | Author(s) | Relevance | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bird by Bird | Anne Lamott | Ever feel like you're the worst designer on the planet? Stop and read this book. This has helped me push through many unmotivated slumps. I recommend it to anyone who works in a creative field. | All |
| Title | Author(s) | Relevance | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outliers | Malcolm Gladwell | Introduces the 10k hour concept. | Beginner |
| The Design Method | Eric Karjaluoto | Gives you a process to build upon. | Intermediate |
| Getting Real | 37 Signals | Learn how to ship great products, quickly. | All |
| Design is a Job | Mike Monteiro | If you're considering freelance, read this. If nothing else, it'll give you a backbone so that you do not work for free. | All |
Note: This is by no means a comprehensive list. There are so many wonderful books that really deserve a spot on here. These are just a few that really helped me.