Top Graphic 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 Graphic Design books – and here are the answers.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals of Graphic Design

Understanding the concepts of Graphic 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.

Branding

What is branding? Branding is the process of creating a distinct identity for a business in the minds of your target audience and the general population. At its core, branding consists of a company's name and logo, visual identity design, mission, values, and tone of voice.

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Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team

From research and analysis through brand strategy, design development through application design, and identity standards through launch and governance, Designing Brand Identity, Fourth Edition offers brand managers, marketers, and designers a proven, universal five-phase process for creating and implementing effective brand identity. Enriched by new case studies showcasing successful world-cla…

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Graphic Design School: A Foundation Course for Graphic Designers Working in Print, Moving Image and Digital Media

Graphic Design School is organized into two main sections, ‘principles’ and ‘practice’. The first section deals with the fundamentals of design, such as composition, hierarchy, layout, typography, grid structure, colour and so on. The second section puts these basics into practice, and gives information about studio techniques and production issues relevant to a number of different graphic des…

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Bob's Burgers 2025 Wall Calendar

Centering on patriarch Bob (Archer’s H. Jon Benjamin) who runs his business with his wife, porcelain baby collector and dinner-theatre enthusiast Linda (voiced by John Roberts), the series also features teenage daughter Tina (Dan Mintz), who is obsessed with boys and horses; son Gene (Eugen Mirman), who is only afraid of snakes; and youngest daughter Louise (30 Rock’s Kristen Schaal), who neve…

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Oh Sh*t... What Now?

Of all the men you’d consider to be insecure, Craig Oldham is not one of them. Having graduated just under a decade ago, he boasts not only an impressive CV, but a joyfully formed reputation for being the most forthright, potty-mouthed speakers around, with the well-informed opinions to back it up. Politically and socially engaged—in 2013 he produced In Loving Memory of Work, a hard-hitting ac…

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Additional Graphic Design Reading

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

Design Elements: Form and Space

Design principles never change. They serve as the foundation of the designer's thought process and are the essential tools that define a visual language. With hundreds of fundamental principles for creating successful design compositions, Design Elements: Form & Space establishes a basis for visual organization strategies and serves as a comprehensive manual for graphic designers. Understandin…

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Graphic Design For Everyone: Understand the Building Blocks So You Can Do It Yourself

Graphic Design for Everyone shows you how to define your brand and your message, then takes you through the basic principles of design. Find out how to create a brand plan, discover how a typeface sets the mood, and learn how to use colour theory for maximum impact.

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Work for Money, Design for Love: Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions About Starting and Running a Successful Design Business

Unlike other dry business books, this refreshing, straightforward guide from Logo Design Love author and international designer David Airey answers the questions all designers have when first starting out on their own. In fact, the book was inspired by the many questions David receives every day from the more than 600,000 designers who visit his three blogs (Logo Design Love, Identity Designed…

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How to Use Graphic Design to Sell Things, Explain Things, Make Things Look Better, Make People Laugh, Make People Cry, and (every Once in a While) Change the World

The first monograph, design manual, and manifesto by Michael Bierut, one of the world's most renowned graphic designers—a career retrospective that showcases more than thirty-five of his most notable projects for clients such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Yale School of Architecture, the New York Times , Saks Fifth Avenue, and the New York Jets, and reflects eclectic enthusiasm and acc…

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100 Ideas that Changed Graphic Design

100 Ideas that Changed Graphic Design is an accessible and compact book which demonstrates how ideas influenced and defined graphic design, with stunning visual examples. It is both a great source of inspiration and a provocative record of some of the best examples of graphic design from the last hundred years.

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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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