Visual design books
This is one of a series of reading lists I put together between 2002 and 2004 when I was starting out in interaction and experience design, building out a personal canon from books I was buying, borrowing from libraries, or lending to students. The lists are grouped by topic. This one is visual design: grid systems, typography of form, colour theory, graphic design history, and the design-annual/showcase books that were the web’s main way of keeping track of itself before Flickr and RSS.
Some of these are still essential (Muller-Brockmann, Itten, Albers, Rand, Pevsner). Some are of their moment (Reload: Browser 2.0 is a time capsule of early web design). The Amazon links below are what I had at the time, most will be dead now, but the ISBNs will find you a copy.
Grid Systems in Graphic Design
Josef Muller-Brockmann. Magma Books / Niggli / UK booksearch
Primer of Visual Literacy
Donis A. Dondis. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Graphic Design Timeline: A Century of Design Milestones
Steven Heller, Elinor Pettit. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
6 Chapters in Design
Philip Meggs. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Pioneers of Modern Design
Nikolaus Pevsner. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design
Steven Heller. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Design Literacy (Continued): Understanding Graphic Design
Steven Heller. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Paul Rand: A Designer’s Art
Paul Rand. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Design, Form and Chaos
Paul Rand. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Designing Books
Jost Hochuli, Robin Kinross. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
On Book Design
Richard Hendel. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Design and Form
Johannes Itten. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
The Elements of Color
Johannes Itten. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
The Color Star
Johannes Itten. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Interaction of Color
Josef Albers. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Basic Law of Colour Theory
Harald Kueppers. amazon.com
Color for Websites: Digital Media Design
Molly Holzschlag. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers
Leonard Koren. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Katachi: Classic Japanese Design
Takeji Iwamiya, Kazuya Takaoka. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Dutch Graphic Design
Kees Broos, Paul Hefting. amazon.co.uk
Experience
Sean Perkins. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Permanent: Design Is Kinky
Andrew Johnstone, Jade Palmer. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Catching the Moment
Terry Jones. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Reload: Browser 2.0
Patrick Burgoyne, Liz Faber. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Narita Inspected
Lopetz Klanten. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Mobile Minded
Mieke Gerritzen. An introduction to Mattmo’s work in motion graphics, interaction design and print. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com
Design For Interaction
Lisa Baggerman. Very visual, somewhat disappointing in its coverage of interaction, but offers many visual examples of rich web designs for inspiration. amazon.co.uk / amazon.com