Top Graphic Design books curated by experts

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

  • Curated by industry experts
  • Proven learning resources
  • Updated annually
Top Graphic Design books recommended by experts
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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.

Thinking with Type

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 shap…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Design Elements: Form and Space

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 vis…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Know Your Onions: Graphic Design

Know Your Onions: Graphic Design

It is like having a graphic design mentor who will help you come up with ideas, develop your concepts, and implement them in a way that is engaging and humorous. It gives readers the experience and ability that normally comes from years of on-the-job training.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul

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.

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

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.

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.

Start Me Up! New Branding for Businesses

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…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

100 Years of Swiss Graphic Design

100 Years of Swiss Graphic Design

100 Years of Swiss Graphic Design takes a fresh look at Swiss typography and photo-graphics, posters, corporate image design, book design, journalism and typefaces over the past hundred years.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Designing News: Changing the World of Editorial Design and Information Graphics

Designing News: Changing the World of Editorial Design and Information Graphics

Francesco Franchi's perceptive book about the design of media and information graphics. In it, Franchi also envisions the future of news reporting by publishing companies and on the internet. Francesco Franchi is one of the most exceptional talents working in information graphics today.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Interaction of color

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.

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

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 inf…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Why Fonts Matter

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 produ…

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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