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.

Graphic Design Rules: 365 Essential Design Dos and Don'ts

Packed with practical advice, this spirited collection of design dos and don'ts takes readers through 365 rules like knowing when to use a modular grid-and when to throw the grid out the window.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

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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Logo Modernism

Examine the distillation of modernism in graphic design with this vast collection of approximately 6,000 logos from 1940–1980. Ranging from media outfits to retail giants, airlines to art galleries, these clean, clear visual concepts may be seen as the visual birth of corporate identity.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

How to Draw Cool Stuff: A Drawing Guide for Teachers and Students

How to Draw Cool Stuff shows simple step-by-step illustrations that make it easy for anyone to draw cool stuff with precision and confidence. These pages will guide you through the basic principles of illustration by concentrating on easy-to-learn shapes that build into complex drawings. With the step-by-step guidelines provided, anything can become easy to draw.
This book contains a series…

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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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How to Draw Anything for kids: 300 Cute Step-by-Step Drawing Stuff: Amazing Food, Animals, Kawaii, Gifts and Other (How to draw books for kids)

Unlock your child's artistic potential with How to Draw Anything for Kids: 300 Cute Step-by-Step Drawing Stuff, Amazing Animals, Food, Gifts and Other, the perfect guide for nurturing the imaginative young artist in your home! This book offers an exciting collection tailored to capture and develop the artistic talents of children and beginners, ideal for ages 5-12 and beyond.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

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(h)ers: A Celebration of Women in Design Today

DESIGN(H)ERS is a stunning showcase of up-and-coming talent spanning across a variety of design mediums to highlight the distinction and diversity that women bring to their respective fields.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

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…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Start Me Up! New Branding for Businesses

This work allows for the brands to distinguish themselves from the rest and attract their targed audience's attention. More than ever before, businesses are defining themselves through carefully coordinated communications. Start Me Up! is a comprehensive compendium of innovative corporate design for a new generation.

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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.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

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.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

How Design Makes Us Think: And Feel and Do Things

How Design Makes Us Think collects hundreds of examples across graphic design, product design, industrial design, and architecture to illustrate how design can inspire, provoke, amuse, anger, or reassure us. Graphic designer Sean Adams walks us through the power of design to attract attention and convey meaning.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

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

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Hello, I'm Chris Ellinas and I love solving business problems, through design thinking! 😊 I believe in good people. Good work is secondary. I had the opportunity to work with engaging clients and brands around the world. My main client right now are Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime, designing logos …

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