Books that shaped this year of work

A short list of books that earned their place on the studio shelf this year. Some are recent. Most are not. Listed in the order I happened to pick them up.

Designing Brand Identity by Alina Wheeler, sixth edition. The standard textbook for a reason. The sixth edition is the one to keep on the shelf.

The Vignelli Canon by Massimo Vignelli, free PDF from Lars Müller. A 100-page argument for restraint. Re-read it once a year and it is shorter and sharper every time.

Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. Short, illustrated, a bit twee. Useful corrective for any week of writing too little and posting too often.

Geometry of Design by Kimberly Elam, revised edition. The book to hand to junior designers who are confident on type and weak on layout. It is a full design education on its own.

How to Write a Sentence by Stanley Fish. Not a design book. The single most useful book on craft I have read. The chapter on the additive style alone is worth the cover price.

The Typographic Desk Reference by Theo Rosendorf. Reference rather than reading. The book to open three or four times a week to remind yourself of a term you have forgotten. The second edition is current.

Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky. Not a design book, but a useful corrective to the studio’s tendency to fill the calendar with things that are not the work.

How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler. From 1940. Holds up. The chapter on syntopical reading should be required for anyone who has to write a literature review on tight deadlines.

If you had to pick one book to start a studio with: Wheeler’s Designing Brand Identity, with a copy of the Vignelli Canon next to it. The two together cover most of what is worth knowing.

A note on shopping. None of these links earn anything. Buy from a real bookshop where you can.