Top Design books recommended by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we've connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite Design books – and here are the answers.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals of Design

Understanding the concepts of Design starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

The New Designer: Rejecting Myths, Embracing Change

The choices made by designers have a significant effect on the world. Yet so much of the discourse on design focuses on aesthetics rather than ethics. In The New Designer, acclaimed author Manuel Lima aims to change this by challenging common myths and preconceptions about what comprises good design.

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Grid Systems in Graphic Design

In visual design, a grid system helps you align screen elements based on sequenced columns and rows. Like making a map, you apply the column-based structure of a grid system to guide your design, structuring your text, images and functions consistently throughout it so they can appear instantly recognizable elsewhere.

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What Design Can't Do: Essays on Design and Disillusion

A new book released by Set Margins press, titled What Design Can’t Do: Essays on Design and Delusion by Lisbon-based designer and writer Silvio Lorusso expresses the broken nature of design, gives a platform to represent the frustrations of designers and creatives, and elaborates on why good design is about inhabiting chaos.

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Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation

This book introduces the idea of design thinking‚ the collaborative process by which the designer′s sensibilities and methods are employed to match people′s needs not only with what is technically feasible and a viable business strategy. In short‚ design thinking converts need into demand.

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The Laws of Simplicity

The Laws of Simplicity (2006) by John Maeda is a guide that explores the power of simplicity in our complex world. Here's why this book is worth reading: Provides practical strategies to simplify our lives, allowing us to focus on what truly matters.

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The Design of Everyday Things

The Design of Everyday Things is a best-selling book by cognitive scientist and usability engineer Donald Norman about how design serves as the communication between object and user, and how to optimize that conduit of communication in order to make the experience of using the object pleasurable.

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Additional Design Reading

These books are not required for you to learn Design, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

Thinking with Type

Thinking with Type is divided into three sections: letter, text, and grid. Each section begins with an easy-to-grasp essay that reviews historical, technological, and theoretical concepts, and is then followed by a set of practical exercises that bring the material covered to life.

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Feminist Designer: On the Personal and the Political in Design

A bold and timely collection that brings feminist theory and critical thinking to life through vital, approachable design methods and practices. Feminist Designer brings together a constellation of voices and perspectives to examine the intersection of design and feminist theory.

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Centered: People and Ideas Diversifying Design

As the design industry reexamines its emphasis on Eurocentric ideologies and wrestles with its conventional practices, Centered advocates for highlighting and giving a voice to the people, places, methods, ideas, and beliefs that have been eclipsed or excluded by dominant design movements.

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Grid systems in graphic design: A visual communication manual for graphic designers, typographers and three dimensional designers (German and English Edition)

A grid system is a rigid framework that is supposed to help graphic designers in the meaningful, logical and consistent organization of information on a page. It is an established tool that is used by print and web designers to create well-structured, balanced designs. Rudimentary versions of grid systems existed since the medieval times, but a group of Swiss graphic designers, mostly inspired…

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Designing design

A good design description works as a convincing add-on for your entries. It convinces your clients and improves your chances of winning the contest. In addition, explaining your entry or design clarifies the hidden meaning behind it and its purpose.

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Very Demure Very Spooky: Coloring Book for Adults and Teens Featuring Creepy Adorable Characters in Cozy and Spooky Vibes, Cute and Easy Designs for ... Stress Relief (Spooky - Cute - Easy Coloring)

A coloring book that blends elegance and charm with a touch of spookiness. Featuring cute and easy designs, this collection of illustrations offers a unique mix of cozy and weird with mystical yet adorable creatures.

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This list is curated by MentorCruise and can include Amazon affiliate links. Have any other suggestions? Add here.

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