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.

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 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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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…

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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…

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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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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…

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.

Interaction of color

Interaction of Color is a handbook and teaching resource for artists and designers that shares Albers' theory of color. Originally printed in 1963, the text outlines a set of principles and teaching methods for understanding and perceiving color in different ways.

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…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Caps Lock: How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and how to Escape it

CAPS LOCK uses clear language and visual examples to show how graphic design and capitalism are inextricably linked. The book features designed objects, and also examines how the study, work, and professional practice of designers supports the market economy.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

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

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 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.

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.

Augment your Graphic Design books

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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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👋 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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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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My skill set for product design was mastered at New York University and UC Berkeley Extension and I’ve been using my creative skills learned over the 8 years to help solve UX/UI problems at First Republic Bank, Afterpay, Thompson Reuters, and now at Amazon. I am currently a Senior UX …

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Hello, I'm Callan! I'm from the UK, and I currently work as a Senior Digital Designer in the creative industry. I've been involved in the creative technology field for over 10 years now, with a specific focus on learning and finding creative and innovative ways to present information. At this …

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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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