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10 Essential Books Every Graphic Designer Should Read in 2022
There are several genius graphic design books available, with the majority of them providing hard-earned insight, design motivation, and even simple refreshers on main design concepts and techniques. You may want to brush up on design theory, study some new techniques, or simply refresh your artistic battery, but whatever your cause, we’re sure that there would be something suitable for you out there.
We’re positive since we’ve compiled a list of the best graphic design books on the market, ranging from timeless classics to contemporary masterpieces. We’ve divided the books into sections to help you locate just what you’re looking for easily. Learn graphic design online through Blue Sky Graphics online graphic design course.
So, without further delay, please accept my invitation to the critical reading list.
01. Creating a Brand Identity
Alina Wheeler’s best-selling branding guide has been revised for the fifth time, with fresh and extended coverage on social networking cross-channel teamwork, crowdsourcing, SEO, experience branding, smart devices, wayfinding, and placemaking. Designing Brand Identity is divided into three sections: brand fundamentals, operation basics, and case studies. It offers in-depth feedback for all creators and whole branding departments, walking through a universal five-stage process for brand creation and execution.
02. Branding in 5 and a Half Easy Steps
In his new novel, Branding: In Five and a Half Steps, leading graphic designer Michael Johnson demystifies the branding method. Johnson divides the phase into five main steps: investigation, plan and storey, design, execution, and interaction, and recognises the non-linear essence of branding with a critical half stage that marks the complex partnership between strategy and design.
The first half of the book is organised around a straightforward six-question model; the second half examines the design method utilising over 1,000 modern brand names from around the world.
This is the definitive visual step-by-step roadmap to developing a strong brand identity. It’s a must-read for everyone in the branding business, and it’s an especially useful guide for students and young designers.
03. Modernism of Logos
Taschen publishes several absolutely stunning novels, and Logo Modernism is no exception. Jens Müller explores the distillation of modernism in graphic design and how these attitudes and imperatives give rise to brand branding by bringing together nearly 6000 trademarks licenced between 1940 and 1980.
Müller provides a wide range of logos organised into three chapters – geometric, influence, and typographic – to both teach you and include a concise index of inspiring logo designs to remind your own job.
04. 50 Best Logos Ever
A jury of prominent branding and identity creation professionals has compiled a comprehensive list of the 50 best logos ever. Get an inside look at the artistic practises that go through some of the world’s most recognisable identity creation jobs. And see whether your own logo ever makes the cut.
05. Typographic Style Elements (v4)
This history and guide to typography by Canadian typographer, author, and translator Robert Bringhurst, first published in 1992, has rapidly become a significant typographic reference. Leading typographers Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones describe it as “the best book ever published about typography” – and it’s easy to see why.
The Elements of Typographic Style is a beautifully written manual that combines realistic, theoretical, and historical knowledge, as well as a deeper theory and understanding of the topic. If you’re searching for a book that covers the finer points of type and typography, beginning with this one can save you a lot of money.
06. 100 Best Typefaces
100 Today, designing a typeface may be just as time-consuming, including hours of research and several stages of appraisal and refining. A working digital font can often include more than 500 characters. Because of software, almost every artist will potentially train to be a typographer. FontShop AG, a well-known type foundry, performed a survey focused on historical significance, FontShop.com revenues, and aesthetic consistency. The best fonts ever used for this book is chosen with a few additions from the specialists at Computer Arts journal. In addition to identifying the list, we’ve included some context information on each one.
07. The Importance of Fonts
Why Fonts Matter by Sarah Hyndman, a graphic designer and typographer, investigates the effect fonts have on what we read and the decisions we create. The book delves into the science of font design and explains why various types elicit different reactions. It’s a must-read for anybody who wants to know how to use type design to impact their audience. Hyndman also promises to clarify how fonts will change the flavour of your food.
08. Just My Type
Graphic designers are taught to look at typefaces, but Simon Garfield’s book Just My Type will inspire you to look ever closer, learning about the rich past of fonts as well as their abilities. A well-chosen font interacts with the reader almost subliminally and may make (or break) a style. In this excellent novel, you will learn more about the origins of typography.
09. Work Hard and Be Pleasant to Everyone
Anthony Burrill’s Work Hard & Be Kind to Others, inspired by his world-famous typographic prints, is brief and to-the-point in both guidance and execution. Despite excluding any of the fat from the post, his brief, aphoristic guidance may have a huge effect due to its complete absence of pretence and full spirit.
Work Hard… is a reworked paperback edition of Anthony’s previous book Make it Now, with all-new material. It’s a genuinely inspirational, intimate account of what this foreign artist believes in creatives, and how to bring the most out of yourself without selling your soul or being horrible to others in the process.
10. Show Your Work!
Display Your Work! Austin Kleon’s 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Discovered has sparked many a freelance career. It’s great to have creativity, but even the greatest designers won’t go far if no one sees their art. This design book teaches you how to find your target audience and create your brand.
