A Curriculum for General Design
- Published
- Apr 30, 2026
- Reading time
- 1 min
- Study
- General Design →
It's hard to come up with a comprehensive list of books on design. So, consider these a starting point for a long, long journey of exploration.
No other list of books feels as incomplete to me as this one does. Obvious omissions are books covering the works of esteemed designers or of significant artistic periods. In time, I'll close those gaps. This list also tilts a bit too much towards graphic design. Perhaps I should break that out into its own field of study. Anyway, let's get started and make those decisions as we go.
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| Book | The Non-Designer's Design Book |
| Book | The Design of Everyday Things |
| Book | Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things |
| Book | Graphic Design: The New Basics |
| Book | Universal Principles of Design |
| Book | Interaction of Color |
| Book | The Elements of Color |
| Book | Making and Breaking the Grid |
| Book | Layout Essentials: 100 Design Principles for Using Grids |
| Book | Art and Visual Perception |
| Book | Design Is Storytelling |
| Book | Color Works: Best Practices for Graphic Designers |
| Book | Grid Systems in Graphic Design |
| Book | Designing Visual Interfaces |
| Book | Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming |
| Book | Not Here, Not Now: Speculative Thought, Impossibility, and the Design Imagination |
Did I miss any books worth reading? If so, let me know.