Bookshelf
Russell’s Picks
A space for what I’m reading, re-reading, cross-referencing, or still going on about. Here is a list of a few of my favorite books that I would recommend to aspiring artists, emerging designers, or seasoned creative professionals looking to recapture that spark.
I playfully remixed each one as an homage to the cover design of the edition I own (and, let’s be honest, to make them look nice as a set here on my site). Take it only as a fun nod to each book’s design; honestly, most of their covers were already perfect to begin with.
4,000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
by Oliver Burkeman
Possibly one of the most helpful, freeing books about productivity—or, more accurately, anti-productivity—that I’ve ever read. A healthy reminder that our time is finite; therefore, everything must be prioritized based on our values and we will have to accept letting go of the tasks that don’t make the cut. The completion of our to-do lists is an impossible illusion—so make sure you’re doing things that matter.
The Creative Act: A Way of Being
by Rick Rubin
This is like a modern spiritual text about bringing art into the universe—deep, meditative, proverbial. It packs a punch, so read it slowly, and re-read it often. Even better: treat yourself to the audio book where Rubin reads the passages aloud himself accompanied by a singing bowl at the closure of each thought.
The Shape of Design
by Frank Chimero
As a fan of Chimero’s design work and writing through things like The Manual series, I backed this in 2012 when it was a Kickstarter. It turned out to be a silver bullet of design-thinking. The analogies around design as jazz hit home for me, and it felt like a pivotal book ready to shift the conversation around design—less about rigidity, more about fluidity—in a time when what we are designing is (continually) evolving and changing rapidly, and we need to stop and ask the bigger “why” questions around it all. Now, it’s available to read for free in its entirety.
Designing Brand Identity
by Alina Wheeler
This is like the canonical textbook around brand identity and strategy. It goes way beyond visual trends, and dives deep into the emotional and strategic qualities of why companies do what they do when it comes to the storytelling around their brand.
Thinking with Type
by Ellen Lupton
This is an essential for designers. It walks through the history of typography, as well as the nitty-gritty details. Ever wonder about the mechanics behind typography basics? This will be your starting reference point.
Principles of Two-Dimensional Design
by Wucius Wong
Fair warning here: this book is old. It’s pre-digital era, and its examples will reflect that. Yet while it misses the broader cultural context of design in the always-on, always-connected time today, it does still lay down a powerful foundation around the general principles of gestalt. If Chimero’s book hits on the why, then Wong’s explains the basic what: these are the concrete principles that bring form to design.
How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer
by Debbie Millman
Millman pulls the most interesting and impressive thoughts out of some of the best designers in the world, and then composes it into this book of interviews that is both informative and entertaining. She can ask questions that really open up the minds of the designers. Bonus: Brand Thinking is another excellent interview-collection by Millman as well.
How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul
by Adrian Shaughnessy
Another collection of essays and interviews, Shaughnessy’s book is one of the first that I started buying and handing out to young designers. It’s humorous and full of advice. Most of the advice I agree with; some of it, I don’t. But that’s kind of the point, too—to get people thinking about where this is all headed, and make them think critically about that path. A really good read for folks starting out their careers.
Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far
by Stefan Sagmeister
This is a book only in the way that it is generally the shape of a book and it is made of paper. Otherwise, it’s something else entirely and you need to play with the real, physical copy of it to fully appreciate it. It’s a collection of brochures and smaller booklets that are gathered into a diecut sleeve, allowing you to change the design of the cover itself. This collection of self-initiated projects really turned on a lightbulb for me when I was starting out; it made me excited to be a designer. I didn’t know that typography could be this expressive; that design could be this artistic; that creating work could be this experimental. This was the book that made me want to close my laptop, open a sketchbook, and say, “What if we did something crazy like this…”
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
by Gabrielle Zevin
Breaking from the norm for these recommendations: this book is purely fiction. There are no how-to’s or insightful essays about creativity inside. And yet it completely sucked me in and made so many facets of creative work-life “click” while I read it. Zevin weaves in and out of digital worlds and imaginary places as she follows to computer game designers navigating the creative process, selling their work, dealing with success and failure, and struggling to comprehend identity as creatives along the way and as the world changes around them.
The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images
This is an essential handbook for me, and I reference it very often. It is like an encyclopedia of visual concepts and the history and context behind them. Oh, you would like to learn about what a lotus flower means, where it first appeared as a symbol, and how it was drawn in early cultures? Here you go. I pull it off the shelf constantly.
The Cheese Monkeys
by Chip Kidd
I still don’t really know what this book is, per se, but I do know that I love it. Kidd is one of the greats; he is one of the world’s best cover designers, and this is his semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale of design school. It’s very fun to read, and makes you laugh out loud. I read it when I was in design school myself, so it has a special place in my heart because it made me feel “seen” at the time. I suppose, then, that’s why it is a good recommendation for design students today still: yes, your instructors are demanding, life is crazy, and college is wild—but you still have to figure out how to learn to create the best work that you can along the way.