The worst mistake you can ever make in your career is to stop being a student. This is certainly true for most professions, but is particularly important for Web Design. This industry nowadays changes at a lightning-fast pace, and in order to keep your design chops in tip top shape, you should devote a nice chunk of your work week to reading books on the subject.
The problem is there’s a big ocean of books out there, so which ones should you invest your time (and money) in? I’ve compiled a handy list of 15 must-read books to improve your Web Design education.
This article is part of a series of three (here are Part 2 and Part 3), and this first one will focus on:
Design Fundamentals
This section is all about the basics of design. You can’t spell “Web Design” without “Design”, so you can probably see why it’s so important to brush up on your knowledge of grids, composition, colour theory, typography, and so on.
- How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul
- This book will teach you everything they refused to teach you at school. Topics like pricing your work, dealing with angry or non-paying clients, etc. are discussed in great depth. If you’re thinking about running a design studio or setting up for some freelance work, this is an obvious must-read. Oh and, apparently, you get to keep your soul, which is always a plus.
- Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop
- Layout is arguably one of the biggest components of design in any medium. Mastering the art of composing effective layouts is therefore crucial to your web design skills. This book teaches you the fundamentals of working with grids and then offers strategies to breaking those principles, in order to create interesting and compelling layouts.
- Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works
- Most of the content you find on the Web nowadays is expressed through written word. As such, it is only natural that a Web Designer should master the art of typography. This book will help you do just that, allowing you to enhance the readability, meaning and aesthetic level of your design work.
- Subject To Change: Creating Great Products & Services for an Uncertain World
- Subject to Change is an incredible lesson in the art of designing and developing successful products and services. It presents relatively novel concepts such as extreme flexibility and agile development techniques in order to respond to the ever-changing environment we live in today. This book will surely help you design great products by offering your customers awesome experiences.
I hope you enjoyed the first part of this article (in a series of three). While this post specifically focused on Design Fundamentals, the other two will focus on Web Design and Web Development, respectively.
If I missed a great book (and I’m sure I did), don’t be shy and let the world know through the comments box!
aaah, you just made me want to spend even more money on books… :)