Toward Design Literacy: Essential Graphics Literature

22 Jan 2007 Category: Features, Graphics, Illustration, Typography, Worldwide

The education of graphic designers is often a haphazard process. A number of designers working today came to their positions without formal design education. Undergraduate design education often leaves much to be desired: no formal typography classes, some half-assed software instruction, no reality-based lessons in how to deal with clients or contracts, and beyond urging students to join JAGDA, AIGA, or ICOGRADA, no insistence upon interacting with your design community.

Written by Ian Lynam

I was urged to read certain books on graphic design during my undergraduate education, but it wasn’t until I had a few years of work under my belt and was attending graduate school at CalArts that I was able to really appreciate much writing about design.

A few amazing titles come out every year that really add to design history, criticism, and discourse. A sea of shitty “how-to” books and unwarranted design monographs is released each year, as well, though. It can be difficult to wade through the territory and find truly essential design education texts. Where does one start?

What follows is a ramshackle list of design texts that I consider utterly invaluable to the education of a graphic designer.

I understand my place in history a little bit better because of these texts - they helped inform both my work and my attitude toward my profession. Legitimation is a tricky thing, but analyzing your profession from a viewpoint of being part of a developing cultural and historical practice will help heaps.

Be proud of your work - stand up and be counted! And while you are at it, read something about what you are doing to understand it better. (And don’t stretch the type - that shit is just tacky…)

BOOKS

A History of Graphic Design by Philip Meggs

This book is a must-read. It is thick, textbook-ish and often boring as hell, but it gives one the fundamentals of design history education. You need a foundation to build a house, right? Philip Meggs busted his ass to create this book, and no nay-sayer has stepped up to the plate to bring forth a better version to the masses. ‘Nuff said. If you have even an inkling of interest in design culture and history and haven’t read this book, it is time to go back to school and get yourself learned.

The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst

Essentially graphic design combines image and text. Images are easy - the fundamental Bauhaus-based design education will teach you all about that. So will Bob Ross.

Handling type, on the other hand, one will most likely not learn in school, unless you have slamming typography instructors. Robert Bringhurst will help you understand correct typography. If you don’t understand proper typography, you will be resigned to a life of creating work with too many words per line, poor understanding of leading and a lack of kerning applied to ugly, inferior Monotype cuts of popular typefaces. If you read this book front-to-back, you will have a thorough understanding of type history, typographic design, and geometric proportion.

Allworth Press’ Looking Closer I-III, Texts on Type: Critical Writings on Typography, Graphic Design History, Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design, The Education of a Typographer

Collections of essays on design history and criticism, almost all edited, written or overseen by Steven Heller.

A design critic once tried to tell me that Heller’s books were the “Readers’ Digests of design literature”. She wasn’t an insomniac workaholic who art directs the goddamn New York Times Book Review, judges a ton of contests, and publishes a few books a year like Heller. These books help fill in the gaps (often gaping) that Meggs provides in the timeline of design history.

Design Writing Research by Ellen Lupton & J. Abbott Miller

Admittedly, the first three book selections are a hard sell - often boring and without a payoff. With the exception of Bringhurst, all are poorly designed, which makes the argument that we should care about our practice utterly unconvincing. After those puppies, this book will knock your fucking socks off. Literally. You will shit your goddamn pants. Actual interesting topics such as the representation of African-Americans in print, deconstruction, vernacular design, and the evolution of typography are given visually engaging, well-designed consideration by Abbott Miller and Lupton, designers and design educators in this must-read.

Stop Stealing Sheep by Erik Spiekermann and E.M. Ginger

What if with all of this reading your typography has gotten sloppy? Let the king of German typography show you what’s up. A fun and irreverent read that will boost your typographic acumen. Buy here!

Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte

Before wandering off into the realm of questionable sculpture, Tufte put it down in the realm of information-conveying graphics. If you have any interest in imparting information to clients via charts and graphs in a client’s annual report, you should read this.

Josef Müller-Brockmann: A Pioneer of Swiss Graphic Design by Lars Müller

This book falls into the category dreaded by many graphic design educators: the picture book/monograph. However, Müller-Brockmann came correct time after time in delivering the straightforward and often-emulated Swiss style of typography to the masses. At times tight-assed, but better that than sloppy.

Jan Tschichold: A Life in Typography by Ruari McLean

Jan Tschichold was the king of considered spatial arrangement and typography. Study the reproductions of title pages within to get a grip on classical proportions, letterspace your capitals, and be dizzied at Tschichold’s typeface designs. The subject still reigns as the king of unparalleled typographic acumen.

Unjustified Texts: Perspectives on Typography by Robin Kinross

After all of that relaxing picture-book action, a snappy collection of essays concerning modernism, social design, and historical analysis of typography and graphic design. More here.

Type and Typography by Phil Baines and Andrew Haslam, Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton and Oubunshotai by Akira Kobayashi

Type and Typography, Thinking with Type and Oubunshotai provide a condensed history of typography, as well as excellent typographic instruction. All 3 books include highly practical software instruction, as well.

MAGAZINES

Keeping it real… bimonthly:
There were and are three design magazines that truly matter. The rest are pretty much fluff, trade journals, or so crammed with advertising and bad writing that they aren’t worth your time.

Emigre

Emigre ceased publication in 2005, but remains the leading voice for contemporary postmodern graphic design criticism. One would do well to peruse the Emigre back catalog, which is fraught with excellent essays from design critics such as Mr. Keedy, Lorraine Wild, Andrew Blauvelt, and many, many others.

IDEA Magazine

Idea consistently reproduces the most engaging, and challenging visual communication design for its international readership via its bimonthly showcase.

EYE Magazine

Rick Poynor and company’s publication has a steep shelf price in Japan, but is essential reading.

ONLINE

Where is the essential design reading located on the world wide web?

Further reading:

Practice and Theory by Jost Hochuli & Robin Kinross

The Solid Form of Language: An Essay on Writing and Meaning by Robert Bringhurst

I am Almost Always Hungry by Cahan Associates

The Stroke: Theory of Writing by Gerrit Noordzij

No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism by Rick Poynor

Metro Letters by Deborah Littlejohn, ed.

Grid Systems in Graphic Design by Josef Müller-Brockmann

The ABCs of ▴■●: The Bauhaus and Design Theory, Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott Miller, eds.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it will provide folks who haven’t read these texts with a very robust understanding of graphic design history, practice, and discourse.

Happy trails!

62 Comments

1. Fantastic Article. I think it took me about 3 years out of college before I really started to read and understand design.

   I would also recommend “Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop” by Timothy Samara

   There’s also a lot of great websites and blogs out there that are a wealth of visual ideas…pingmag included!

   Posted by: Jeff on January 23rd, 2007 at 12:53 am

2. What??!?! No Pocket Pal?

   Posted by: Charles on January 23rd, 2007 at 2:15 am

3. Thanks for this list !

   Posted by: Thierry on January 23rd, 2007 at 4:04 am

4. that’s a common problem around the world, most undergrad design students think they don’t need to get in touch with design/art history much less to read books.

   thanks a lot for this excellent list, i’ll check if i can get some of these in my country.

   Posted by: ß on January 23rd, 2007 at 4:24 am

5. Thanks for the list. Also check out Per Mollerup: Marks of Excellence

   Posted by: Mindaugas on January 23rd, 2007 at 4:34 am

6. THANK YOU SO MUCH! Someone who actually references material they deem good. I’m a fustrated student who is sick of reading articles about how students suck with no indication of where to go to improve.

   Posted by: Ben on January 23rd, 2007 at 4:54 am

7. i LOVE the History of graphic design book by meggs. when i was doing junior college i was fortunate enough to have that be the first textbook about graphic design that i studied from. to me it’s definitive and i still use it to this day now. i’m excited to check out the rest of those books though! every little bit helps. i also have to add that computer arts and computer arts projects are two magazines that have really skyrocketed my graphic design skills. in the us they are both like 16 bucks but it’s well worth the price.

   p.s. don’t forget to check out designiskinky.com AMAZING STUFF

   Posted by: Charlotte on January 23rd, 2007 at 5:33 am

8. No Grid Systems/Raster Systeme by the Brockmann?
   Surely some mistake

   Posted by: die neue modern on January 23rd, 2007 at 5:39 am

9. “Undergraduate design education often leaves much to be desired: no formal typography classes, some half-assed software instruction, no reality-based lessons in how to deal with clients or contracts, and beyond urging students to join JAGDA, AIGA, or ICOGRADA, no insistence upon interacting with your design community”.
   Graduating this year in Milan Polytechnic…if i set this in italy i see that what you write is terribly true…thank you so much for the list and for the wonderful magazine!

   Posted by: Roberto on January 23rd, 2007 at 5:56 am

10. [...] Im Artikel Toward Design Literacy: Essential Graphic Design Literature im PingMag listet Ian Lynam die, seiner Meinung nach, wichtigsten Publikationen für alle, die sich mit Grafik-Design beschäftigen auf. [...]

    Posted by: TechNovelty » Literatur für Grafik-Designer(innen) on January 23rd, 2007 at 4:23 pm

11. This list definitely is great. Some of these books I’ve heard about from my graphic design professers but it’s great to see them listed. I didn’t really start understanding graphic design until my junior year in college and I sometimes felt that I didn’t have as much of an advantage of other undergrads who may have went to art schools. These types of books are definitely helpful to help students play catch-up like I did and sometimes still do…

    Posted by: Jonelle on January 24th, 2007 at 5:19 am

12. I don’t know what kinds of schools you all are referencing, but at ECIAD half of those books are required reading and the other half are strongly recommended. We start working with real flesh-and-blood clients (local, small budget non-profits) in third year. Our professors act as mediators and consultants in the process, rather than authoritative Winter Sorbeck types. Though we have a little of that too. ECIAD is the only design school I’ve experienced so I thought it was fairly unremarkable. Maybe I’m wrong? Is everyone else still living in the Bauhaus?

    Posted by: kblank on January 24th, 2007 at 6:25 am

13. [...] Essential design literature on Ping Mag. I actually disagree with most of the choices made by this article, I have a lot of the books listed gathering dust. Here are a couple of great books which I do look at Frost, House Industries, typography now and tellmewhy. [...]

    Posted by: SERIF » Blog Archive » Literacy on January 24th, 2007 at 6:44 am

14. [...] PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” » Archive » Toward Design Literacy: Essential Graphic Design Literature [...]

    Posted by: - - anpanpon :P - - » Blog Archive » เรียน design จำเป็น(เหรอ) ?? on January 24th, 2007 at 7:30 am

15. There were and are three design magazines that truly matter.

    No “Dot Dot Dot”?

    Posted by: Ahrum Hong on January 24th, 2007 at 9:50 am

16. Great article!
    We need more people in hong kong to think this way. No soul or meaning in most of the design here, feeling the emptiness.

    Posted by: Nigel on January 24th, 2007 at 10:50 am

17. Hello from Vasea!
    I love this forum

    Posted by: melnics on January 24th, 2007 at 2:05 pm

18. Magazine in Czech and English language:
    http://www.typo.cz/euro/

    Posted by: Another nice Typography magazine on January 24th, 2007 at 11:45 pm

19. [...] Una biblioteca suggerita da PingMag (magazine) ricca di spunti per i nostri prossimi acquisti. [...]

    Posted by: H-ART Pink Maniacs » Essential Graphic Design Literature on January 25th, 2007 at 1:02 am

20. [...] El artículo en detalle y extensión pueden revisarlo aquí. [...]

    Posted by: Rodrigo Walker » Biblioteca Esencial del Diseño Gráfico on January 25th, 2007 at 4:51 am

21. [...] Ping Magazine just posted a great article on design books worth reading and if you are interested in design at all, I highly suggest taking their recommendations. Mind you, this is coming from a person who read a total of two books in high school… Whenever I have broken down and opened up the design books I own (yes, I buy many, many books and read basically none of them), it is both an immediate and constant learning process (until I inevitably quit reading halfway through). [...]

    Posted by: Daily Delicious - Design Books You (and I) Need To Read » SOME RANDOM DUDE on January 25th, 2007 at 4:35 pm

22. [...] PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” Toward Design Literacy: Essential Graphic Design Literature (tags: design history reference graphics typography Education book books graphic) [...]

    Posted by: Smorum » links for 2007-01-24 on January 25th, 2007 at 10:09 pm

23. picked up the edward r tufte books recently they are so good. really revelant to all graphic design not just charts as its all about getting the information across to the reader.

    Posted by: j bennett on January 26th, 2007 at 4:40 am

24. [...] El diseño gráfico es unos de mis temas recurrentes en la lectura. Su historia, crítica, práctica y discurso me ayudan muchísimo a entender lo que uno hace como profesional y como individuo al ser parte del desarrollo cultural e histórico. Encontré una buena selección de libros para que los interesados en el tema se los compren y me los presten porque no los tengo todos. Ian • Jan 25 / 07 - 3:43 pm • [...]

    Posted by: El Blog de Modafoca » LA BIBLIOTECA DEL DISEÑADOR on January 26th, 2007 at 5:44 am

25. Hey, what a great list of books–a graphic designer’s own Great Books Program. gracias, Guillermo.

    Posted by: Ian Lynam on January 26th, 2007 at 7:43 am

26. Fortunately there are good books on design theory!

    Reads that provoke thought! The design process is both an intuitive approach and a research empirical aproach.

    I just started this book and is loaded with essays about design research!

    Design Studies: Theory and Research in Graphic Design freshly squeezed from the presses

    Posted by: Johan on January 26th, 2007 at 8:20 am

27. “Universal Principles of Design” by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler.

    Posted by: Erica on January 27th, 2007 at 3:26 am

28. [...] Toward Design Literacy: Essential Graphic Design Literature from PingMag. A great list of essential books and magazines for visual design and typography! [...]

    Posted by: Essential Graphic Design Books : PingMag | SoulSoup: e-learning blog, elearning blog, knowledge management, e-learning strategy, learning experience design, usability on January 27th, 2007 at 10:50 pm

29. i’ve been obsessed with idea ever since i stumbled upon it about 5 years ago. is there anywhere that has more information on its history? for being 320 issues strong, any information outside of their website is rather elusive.

    Posted by: mike on January 28th, 2007 at 11:35 am

30. [...] I was searching online earlier, through the archives of the Design-feed.net aggregator. I found a great compilation of essential graphic design literature posted at PingMag by Ian Lynam. Topics range from typography and graphic design history to some valuable magazines and regular reads. [...]

    Posted by: Graphic and web design literature : Creative Design :: on January 30th, 2007 at 12:40 am

31. “the education of a graphic designer”

    Sorry but I find the view that designers need a formal design education a bit pretentious. There are many designers working today that are hugely prolific and didn’t go to University or College.

    Most of them think that University is a waste of time, myself included.

    Posted by: hawken king on January 30th, 2007 at 5:48 pm

32. [...] PingMag’s Guide to Essential Graphic Design Literature. (via David Airey) [...]

    Posted by: fade theory » essential graphic design literature on January 30th, 2007 at 8:14 pm

33. Good work Ian.
    I pass along my fav typography book letters on America by Edward Fella. i think maybe he teaches at Cal arts too.

    Posted by: bwana spoons on February 6th, 2007 at 4:48 am

34. love the reading list! thanks!

    Posted by: pyl on February 8th, 2007 at 4:33 pm

35. I recomment The Complete Graphic Designer: A Guide to Understanding Graphics and Visual Communication
    by Ryan Hembree. It came out in October of 2006. I wish I had a book like this when I was still in school.

    Posted by: rjr on February 14th, 2007 at 12:41 am

36. “Most of them think that University is a waste of time, myself included.”
    That’s why you an uneducated fool with a biter-ass visual style, chumpo.

    Posted by: Gerry on February 19th, 2007 at 1:33 am

37. Great book list, can’t wait to start reading, BUT

    you missed a great online design journal! If Typophile’s in there (not updated enough!), you shouldn’t skip

    http://www.designobserver.com

    Posted by: Leslie Kuo on February 22nd, 2007 at 4:03 am

38. Grande sito!!

    Posted by: poesia on February 23rd, 2007 at 12:02 am

39. Desidero appena dire che e un luogo ben cotto

    Posted by: nata on February 25th, 2007 at 5:35 am

40. I think Graphic design manual by armin hofmann is a must read too.

    Posted by: Joshua on March 8th, 2007 at 7:38 pm

41. [...] artículo en detalle y extensión pueden revisarlo aquí. Filed under Uncategorized, Diseño having Leave a [...]

    Posted by: Aspiración Visual » Blog Archive » Biblioteca Esencial del Diseño Gráfico on March 14th, 2007 at 3:44 pm

42. For Graphic Design books I recomend you to visit this website: Index Book.

    Posted by: Index Book on March 20th, 2007 at 12:40 am

43. http://www.vectorvault.com

    Nice site.

    I just wanted to tell you about my vector art collections.
    This is not spam. I’m just trying to reach out to designers the old fashioned way - by introducing myself.

    Recently, I have launched a software collection called VECTORVAULT, and I am trying to connect with as many designers and digital illustrators as I can find.

    VECTORVAULT™ is a series of royalty-free vector art collections created for professional designers who work in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Flash, Corel Draw and many other cross-platform graphic apps.

    I designed it to be the best collection for price and quality on the market today. I also rotate 6 weekly downloads and a weekly contest giveaway that has really helped. However, I have a long way to go.

    Adam

    http://www.vectorvault.com

    http://Www.myspace.com/vectorvault

    Posted by: VECTORVAULT on April 20th, 2007 at 2:34 am

44. Every month, a new site is rotated for vector art collections.
    Good resource.
    Translated into several languages.

    FREE stuff as well.

    http://www.free-vector-graphics.com

    Posted by: David on April 20th, 2007 at 2:39 am

45. I think you did a great job choosing books for this blog entry. I like that you included typography books. I also compiled a list of essential graphic design books made up of from the opinions of fellow graphic designers - http://allgraphicdesign.com/graphicsblog/2007/04/22/list-of-top-essential-graphic-design-books/ . Thanks for the great post.

    Posted by: Rachel Goldstein on April 25th, 2007 at 11:39 am

46. I just checked out:

    http://www.vectorvault.com

    thanks for posting it.
    It’s a great resource.

    Steven

    Posted by: Steven on April 26th, 2007 at 2:42 am

47. Vectorvault was a good find.
    Not all of it is great.
    But the prices are certainly affordable.

    http://www.vectorvault.com

    I reccommend it.

    Alice
    : }

    Posted by: Alice Bronson on April 30th, 2007 at 11:35 pm

48. [...] PingMag-designlehden artikkeli Toward Design Literacy: Essential Graphic Design Literature antaa hyvän yleiskatsauksen graafisen suunnittelun perusteoksiin. Ian Lynamin kirjavinkeistä [...]

    Posted by: am Design » Arkisto » Artikkelikatsaus: Tammikuu 2007 on June 1st, 2007 at 11:35 pm

49. [...] Toward design literacy: essential graphics literature from PingMag [...]

    Posted by: David Airey :: Graphic Designer » What’s your favourite graphic design book? on July 25th, 2007 at 9:57 pm

50. [...] http://www.pingmag.jp/2007/01/22/toward-design-literacy/ [...]

    Posted by: Advanvements in Instructional Design on August 29th, 2007 at 6:25 pm

51. [...] http://www.pingmag.jp/2007/01/22/toward-design-literacy/ [...]

    Posted by: Advanvements in Instructional Design » Design Links on August 31st, 2007 at 4:39 pm

52. [...] … at least according to PingMag. If you want to learn more about design, you can’t go wrong with any of these. Link [...]

    Posted by: Gillico » Design Blog Archive » Essential Design Texts on September 27th, 2007 at 4:50 am

53. Well, Philip Meggs’s Book is a classic, J. M. Brockman too. I read that him wanted to draw like Picasso but he couldn’t so he begun to develop his geometrical style. If could draw swiss style would be other! By the way: Education of an Illustrator by Steven Heller is a very good book about illustration today. It speaks about Image Banks, illustration analogy and digital and his future in digital world. Excellent your article!!

    Posted by: Alfredo Aguirre on October 25th, 2007 at 12:43 am

54. Well, Philip Meggs’s Book is a classic, J. M. Brockman too. I read that him wanted to draw like Picasso but he couldn’t so he begun to develop his geometrical style. If could draw swiss style would be other! By the way: Education of an Illustrator by Steven Heller is a very good book about illustration today. It speaks about damage of Image Banks in industry, illustration analogy and digital and his future in digital world. Texts of Bard Holland, Milton Gleaser, etc. Excellent your article!!

    Posted by: Alfredo Aguirre on October 25th, 2007 at 12:45 am

55. Any suggestions for learning more about grid systems?

    Posted by: Autumn on November 18th, 2007 at 3:38 am

56. [...] http://www.pingmag.jp/2007/01/22/toward-design-literacy/ [...]

    Posted by: Advancements in Instructional Design » Design Links on January 14th, 2008 at 2:36 am

57. [...] PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things … Toward Design Literacy: Essential Graphics Literature. 22 Jan 2007 Category: Features, Worldwide, Graphics, Typography, Illustration … [...]

    Posted by: PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things | ooglewindowblinds.com on March 22nd, 2008 at 5:09 pm

58. Graphic design studio from Barcelona. aloha!!!

    Posted by: Sebas on August 17th, 2008 at 7:33 am

59. [...] Toward design literacy: essential graphics literature from PingMag [...]

    Posted by: Adept > What’s your favorite design book? on May 30th, 2009 at 5:18 am

60. I sent to yours a interesting spanish blog of literature alternative and literary knowledge. Inside this, the admin publish articles, poems and tales of the readers.
    You don’t forget to look it!

    Posted by: Zenius on August 13th, 2009 at 10:25 pm

61. I annex the link of the last commented blog:

    http://www.literaturadart.blogspot.com

    Enjoy it with literature!

    Posted by: Zenius on August 13th, 2009 at 10:28 pm

62. [...] Essential Graphics Literature [...]

    Posted by: « Toward Design Literacy: KCAI Blogs on October 29th, 2009 at 6:53 am

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