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.

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

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

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

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.

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Now You See It and Other Essays on Design

"Design is a way to engage with real content, real experience," writes celebrated essayist Michael Bierut in this follow-up to his best-selling Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design (2007). In more than fifty smart and accessible short pieces from the past decade, Bierut engages with a fascinating and diverse array of subjects. Essays range across design history, practice, and process; urban des…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Why Fonts Matter

This book opens up the science and the art behind how fonts influence you. It explains why certain fonts or styles evoke particular experiences and associations. Fonts have different personalities that can create trust, mistrust, give you confidence, make things seem easier to do or make a product taste better.

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.

How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul

How to Be a Graphic Designer offers clear, concise guidance along with focused, no-nonsense strategies for setting up, running, and promoting a studio; finding work; and collaborating with clients.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

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.

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.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

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…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Thinking with Type

The best-selling Thinking with Type in a revised and expanded second edition:Thinking with Type is the definitive guide to using typography in visual communication. Ellen Lupton provides clear and focused guidance on how letters, words, and paragraphs should be aligned, spaced, ordered, and shaped. The book covers all typography essentials, from typefaces and type families, to kerning and trac…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

How To Draw Adorable And Easy: 500 Drawings Of Animals, Cars, Food, Gifts And Cute Stuff For Kids (Gift Ideas For Kids)

The Ultimate Drawing Book for Kids of All Ages!
With this drawing book you get:
Learn to draw everything -500 easy-to-follow illustrations
Simple & easy step-by-step clear instructions for each drawing
Drawings of different difficulty to help your little ones get better at drawing
Bonus activity all images can be colored, adding an extra layer of engagement
This book is an aw…

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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Miklos is a seasoned Lead UX/Product Designer with over 18 years of experience. He is also an accomplished speaker, writer, and mentor, boasting over 10,000 followers across Medium, LinkedIn, and Twitter. With a seven-year track record in mentoring, Miklos has successfully guided over 50 mentees through MentorCruise, DesignLab, and Springboard …

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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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Hi! I am a technology (EdTech) founder with a background as an award-winning UI/UX and visual designer with experience working at Fortune 500 companies and top creative agencies. Following a decade-long corporate career, I took on an entrepreneurial path and founded Path Unbound, a UI/UX design school dedicated to training …

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👋 I am Prateek. I am a Senior Engineer at Buffer and a published author of several books on mobile design & software development. In my tenure of over seven years, I have worked on several verticals, which include building native mobile apps for iOS and Android in Swift, Kotlin …

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Hey, i'm Matt an experienced senior UX and Product Designer based in the UK. I've worked on projects for B2C and B2B and have in-depth experience working on complex products for the finance industry. I've been mentoring and teaching for over 5 years, and have written and delivered courses on …

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Struggling to Get Noticed, Paid, or Taken Seriously as a Designer? Let’s Fix That. Hey, I’m James. I help designers stop being ignored, underpaid, and overlooked by teaching them how to build real influence, advocate for their worth, and level up their careers. Too many designers get stuck in the …

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