Reading list

Home » Reading list

A design-thinkers library

An alphabetical reference list for a great design-thinker’s library.

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, Daniel H. Pink, Riverhead Books, 2005
Art of Innovation, The: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm, Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman, Currency/Doubleday, 2001
Artscience: Creativity in the Post-Google Generation, David Edwards, Harvard University Press, 2008
Brand Apart: Insights on the Art of Creating a Distinctive Brand Voice, Joe Duffy, One Club Publishing, 2005
By Design: Why There Are No Locks On the Bathroom Doors in the Hotel Louis XIV and Other Object Lessons, Ralph Caplan, St. Martin’s Press, 1982; new edition, Fairchild Books, 2005
Change by Design: How Design Thinking Can Transform Organizations and Inspire Innovation, Tim Brown, HarperBusiness, 2009
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, William McDonough and Michael Braungart, North Point Press, 2002
D.I.Y.: Design It Yourself, Ellen Lupton (editor), Princeton Architectural Press, 2006
Design and the Elastic Mind, Paola Antonelli (editor), MoMA, 2008
Design Encyclopedia, The, Mel Byars, MoMa, 1994, 2004
Design for the Other 90%, Cynthia Smith, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, 2007
Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change (second edition),Victor Papanek, Academy Chicago Publishers, 1984
Design Is . . .: Words, Things, People, Buildings, and Places, Akiko Busch (editor), Princeton Architectural Press, 2001; Metropolis Books, 2002
Design Life Now, National Design Triennial, Barbara Bloemink, Brooke Hodge, Ellen Lupton, Matilda McQuaid, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, 2007
Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises, Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr, Metropolis Books, 2006
Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design (second edition), Steven Heller, Allworth Press, 2004

Design of Everyday Things, The, Donald A. Norman, Basic Books, 1988; 2002
Design of Future Things, The, Donald A. Norman, Basic Books, 2007
Designing Brand Experiences: Creating Powerful Integrated Brand Solutions, Robin Landa, Thomson/Delmar Learning, 2005
Do You Matter?: How Great Design Will Make People Love Your Company, Robert Brunner and Stewart Emery, with Russ Hall, Pearson Education/FT Press, 2008
Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn, Fritz Haeg, Metropolis Books, 2007
Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, Donald A. Norman, Basic Books, 2005
Flow: The Classic Work on How to Achieve Happiness (second edition), Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, Rider, 2002
Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, The: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits, C. K. Prahalad, Wharton School Publishing, 2006
From Edison to iPod: Protect Your Ideas and Make Money, Frederick W. Mostert and Lawrence E. Apolzon, Dorling Kindersley, 2007
Gadget Nation: A Journey Through the Eccentric World of Invention, Steve Greenberg, Sterling, 2008
How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer, Debbie Millman, Allworth Press, 2007
In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World, John Thackara, MIT Press, 2005
Information Anxiety 2, Richard Saul Wurman, QUE, 2001
Innovation Killer, The: How What We Know Limits What We Can Imagine—and What Smart Companies Are Doing About It, Cynthia Barton Rabe, AMACOM, 2006
Laws of Simplicity, The: Design, Technology, Business, Life, John Maeda, MIT Press, 2006
Life Style, Bruce Mau, Phaidon Press, 2000
Long Tail, The: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More, Chris Anderson, Hyperion, 2006
Make It Bigger, Paula Scher, Princeton Architectural Press, 2002; Springer, 2005
Massive Change, Bruce Mau and the Institute without Boundaries, Phaidon Press, 2004
Michael Graves Designs: The Art of the Everyday Object, Phil Patton with Michael Graves Design Group, Melcher Media, 2004
Objects of Desire: Design and Society Since 1750, Adrian Forty, Cameron Books, 1986; second edition, Thames & Hudson, 1992
Opposable Mind, The: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking, Roger Martin, Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design, Michael Bierut, Princeton Architectural Press, 2007
Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design, Bill Buxton, Morgan Kaufmann, 2007
Subject to Change: Creating Great Products and Services for an Uncertain World, Adaptive Path: Peter Merholz, Todd Wilkens, Brandon Schauer, David Verba, O’Reilly Media, 2008
Substance of Style, The: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture & Consciousness, Virginia Postrel, HarperCollins, 2003
Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far, Stefan Sagmeister, Harry N. Abrams, 2008
Toothpicks & Logos: Design in Everyday Life, John Heskett, Oxford University Press, 2002
Understanding HealthCare, Richard Saul Wurman, TOP, 2004
Universal Principles of Design: 100 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach Through Design, William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler, Rockport Publishers, 2003
Visual Thinking for Design, Colin Ware, Morgan Kaufmann, 2008
Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, Dev Patnaik, with Peter Mortensen, FT Press, 2009