Design Books I Keep Coming Back To
I don’t have a huge collection of design books. Most of the ones I’ve picked up haven’t lasted, they looked nice but didn’t offer much once the gloss wore off. These three are different. I’ve kept them close and gone back to them many times, usually at the start of a new job or when I’m stuck in the middle of one.
1. The Design Manual – David Whitbread
This one’s dense, more like a textbook than a coffee table book. It breaks down structure, spacing, accessibility, and all the things that help make large documents readable. I’ve read it front to back more than once. Sometimes you just need to read something you already know to lock it in again. Especially when working on multi-page layouts, this is the one I pull off the shelf.
2. Grid Systems – Josef Müller-Brockmann
This is the classic and for good reason. I find myself going back to it whenever I pick up a big layout job and want to get the spacing feeling sharp and deliberate. It’s not really about rules, but about mindset. It gets me thinking about how to use alignment and white space with intent, and helps me get out of a cluttered headspace when a layout’s feeling off.
3. Extracts from Visual Identities – North
This one’s much more visual, clean, restrained, and well put together. I flip through it when I’m starting a branding project or revisiting a visual system. There’s no fluff just really strong identity work laid out with care.
