Books Recommendation for Graphics Design?

[ali83]

I'm seriously considering to be at least self-sufficient when it comes to graphics designing (I work mostly with Designer - I go through a bunch of tuts everyday and practise them again and again).

 

Being an absolute novice, I would love to understand the principles of graphics design, about color combos/selection, typography, about the right balance in one's designs etc (basically the foundational theory).

 

Would be really grateful if you could recommend me some books I MUST go through if I ever wanna pursue graphics designing as a career.

[Bobaffinity]

Hi ali83,

A great start can be made with the following books:

Before & After Page Design by John McWade

Before & After for Graphics and Business by John McWade

The Non-Designers Design Book by Robin Williams

The Non-Designers Type Book by Robins Williams

Both author's books are easy reading and give excellent information for newbies. Also, you might want to subscribe to John McWade's Before &  After Newsletter. It is outstanding.

Good Luck on your new quest,

Bob

 

[ali83]

Thank you @Bobaffinity for the recommendations.

[photogeek]

Ali83 thank you for asking this question and Bobaffinity thanks for the recommendations.

[Bobaffinity]

You are very welcome!

Bob

[verysame]

Other than books, you can also take advantage of some (very good) online courses and nowadays you can find some of them for free.

Here are some recommendations:

https://www.coursera.org/

I'm taking a look at the typography course and it seems well organized, I'm not sure how good is the graphic design but considering the teachers are from Calarts I expect these to be good.

On Coursera you can find courses about graphic design principles, typography, layout.

You can follow the courses for free, as long as you don't need a certificate. Just ignore the trial offer and choose Audit this Course.

Here are some of the courses:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/presentation-design

https://www.coursera.org/learn/fundamentals-of-graphic-design

https://www.coursera.org/learn/typography

 

https://alison.com/course/graphic-design-visual-and-graphic-design

I didn't check the quality of this course. It's free, you can check it with no stress of paying a dime

 

https://www.openlearning.com/canva/courses/IntroToGraphicDesign

Canva it's building a reputation, I personally didn't check it. Again, free course.

 

A couple of readings I'm saving myself for later:

https://practicaltypography.com/

http://thinkingwithtype.com/

About the latter, it's a sort of compendium to the book:

http://trix.ws/d5yYL

 

One book that to me it's been fundamental, is this

Point and Line to Plan, by Wassily Kandinsky
http://trix.ws/fe9cn

 

It's one of the bibles of graphic design, published in 1926.

There are all the basics one may need. The movement a designer can create by just using lines, how to balance the space in order to drive the viewer's eye, how to create dynamism or calm.

Now I actually want to read it again

I personally appreciated another book by Kandinsky:

Concerning the Spiritual in Art

http://trix.ws/A9JdX

Despite the title that can sound a little intimidating or not exactly related to the topic, I still find this book rather interesting with good insights about the use of form and color. Some may find his conclusions very personal, but personal or not, it's the type of solutions we've been seeing in paintings for centuries and that still applies nowadays.

 

Hope that helps and that you'll find some useful information and inspiration as they inspired me.

[ali83]

Thank you @verysame for your recommendations, checking them out. Thanks again.