25 must-read Graphic Design Books to Inspire Innovation in 2015

The Graphic Design Reference and Specification Book by Aaris Sharin

Template layouts to metric conversion charts, the all-in-one reference and specification book for designers.

by Aaris Sharin

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Graphic Icons: Visionaries Who Shaped Modern Graphic Design by John Clifford

What’s in it?Feast your eyes with a visual history tour that is filled with great work of multimedia, typeface, logos, ads and posters of some renowned designers in history.

Give a Type a Face: 80 artists give a face to the most popular fonts by M Elena Gonzalez Ygoa

What’s in it?

An astounding joint venture in which 80 artists contributed to put up stunning pieces for Arial, Verdana, Helvetica and 78 typeface more

What’s in it?

Graphic Design Journals is a unique collection of the most influential magazines devoted to graphic design, advertising and typography.

100 Classic Graphic Design Journals by Steven Heler & Jason Godfrey

What’s in it?

David Carson was accused and criticized designer of his time. But countless designers imitated his techniques and now they dominate the advertising and design industry.

The End of Print: The Graphic Design of David Carson by Lewis Blackwell

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Just My Type: A Book about Fonts by Simon Grafield

What’s in it?A hugely entertaining and revealing guide to the history of type that asks what your favorite font says about you?

What’s in it?

A must-have for graphic design students to get a little edge in their career and learn what is not taught at school.

How to be a Graphic Designer without Losing your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy

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A Designer’s Art by Paul Rand

What’s in it?The leading graphic designer Paul Rand describes his work with acute precision and passion and this book sets an aspiring example for upcoming designers.

• What’s in it?

• This book deconstructs 300 plus logos from around the world, clear understanding of how to target your market and convey brand values.

Design DNA – Logos: 300+ International Logos Deconstructed by Matthew Healey

What’s in it?

An effective layout makes or breaks a design. This book is a guidance for the conventional grid designs so that the designers can apply those rules in mainstream projects.

Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop by Timothy Samara

Logo, Font & Lettering Bible by Leslie Cabarga

What’s in it?Not every designer can create logos, fonts and lettering. Logo, Font and Lettering Bible is a textbook of type for the experienced graphics professional as well as the beginning student of design.

What’s in it?

Pantone, the worldwide color authority offers an elaborate view on the color transformations through the years and this book covers its official color palettes to reveal the trends and radical shifts.

Pantone: Twentieth Century in Color by Leatrice Eiseman & Keith Recker

Designing the Editorial Experience by Sue Apfelbaum and JuietteCazzar

What’s in it?Explore different mediums that display content including traditional book formats to mobiles and tablets. Find out how designers, editors and digital analysts exploit these mediums.

The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher

What’s in it?It is an inexhaustible mine of anecdotes, quotations, images, curious facts and useful information that explores the working of the eyes, the hands, the brain and the imagination.

How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer by Debbie Millman, and Steven Heller

What’s in it?Take a peek inside the heads of the world’s greatest living graphic designers. How do they think, how do they connect to others, what special skills do they have?

Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe by Tim Leong

What’s in it?

An inspiring infographics based comics for designers of all ages. Most of your comic book questions are answered here plus a variety of infographic styles bring tons of inspiration.

What’s in it?

Infographics are the best means to display crude data visually. This book showcases examples of infographics and encourages and advices designers on how to create their own unique visual displays of language.

Infographics & Data Visualizations by Tang Art

Illustration: Meeting the Brief by Alan Male

What’s in it?

This book is aimed at students and illustrators who are looking for inspiration to create artworks to fulfill a specific brief, as part of their course, job or career.

Graphic Design Thinking (Design Briefs) by Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips

What’s in it?

Creativity is a skill that improves with practice. Graphic Design Thinking explores a variety of informal techniques and formal research methods for stimulating fresh thinking and providing viable solution.

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The End of Print: The Grafik Design by David Carson

What’s in it?An iconic designer, David Carson steps forward to reveal an unconventional approach to display design in distorted type and fragmented imagery.

What’s in it?

To build a charismatic brand, a design needs to apply creative as well as strategic approach. The Brand Gap is a must-read for every designer because it reunites both strategies.

The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design by Marty Neumeier

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Creative Advertising: An Introduction by Miriam Sorrentino

What’s in it?This book explores the fundamentals of advertising and branding. It’s clear and concise guide for designers who wish to build portfolios and craft new ideas.

What’s in it?

This book covers the fundamental areas of graphic design but besides that the author manages to pin point the layouts that work in the design industry.

Layout Workbook: A Real-world Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design by Kristin Cullen

What’s in it?Explore the thinking behind some of Rand’s best-known identities. In this book, he has illustrated his ideas with examples of his own graphic work as well as with the work of artists he admires.

Design, Form and Chaos by Paul Rand

The Little Know-It-All: Common Sense for designers by Robert Klanten

What’s in it?It’s an amazing reference guide for all designers. Even after becoming a professional designer, you can always refer back to this guide making it a winner on all levels.