I don’t believe there is a magical silver-bullet list of books to read that will make you a great designer. There are a lot of books about how to get better at design. It becomes almost daunting. In my quest to become a better designer I have read a lot of books that were not very helpful. The following is a list of books that I have found to be invaluable. They are the books that I read over and over again. And while you shouldn’t feel limited to what is on this list, if these are the only books you read… I think you’ll be okay.

On Writing Well William Zinser Grid Systems in Graphic Design Josef Müller-Brockmann The Form of the Book Jan Tschichold Elements of Typographic Style Robert Bringhurst Interaction of Color Josef Albers