30 Books Every Designer Should Read

Tanner and Jasmine share their must-read books for designers. Spanning everything from how to conduct design critique or present your work, to what makes a good manager and how learning about org design can help your understanding of the work you do. The full list of books mentioned are: 1. The Design Method, by Eric Karjaluoto 2. The Shape of Design, by Frank Chimero 3. The Design of Everyday Things, by Don Norman 4. How Design Makes the World, by Scott Berkun 5. The Creativity Challenge, by Tanner Christensen 6. The Making of a Manager, by Julie Zhuo 7. Org Design for Design Orgs, by Kristen Skinner and Peter Merholz 8. Sprint, by Jake Knapp 9. Radical Candor, by Kim Scott 10. The Advantage, by Patrick Lencioni 11. The Messy Middle, by Scott Belsky 12. Redesigning Leadership, John Maeda 13. Discussing Design, by Aaron Irizarry and Adam Connor 14. Don't Make Me Think, by Steve Krug 15. About Face, by Alan Cooper 16. The User Experience Team of One, by Leah Buley 17. TED Talks, by Chris Anderson 18. Loonshots, by Safi Bahcall 19. Just Enough Research, by Erika Hall 20. Principles, by Ray Dalio 21. The Dance of the Possible, by Scott Berkun 22. The Elements of Typographic Style, by Robert Bringhurst 23. Thinking With Type, by Ellen Lupton 24. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, by Edward Tufte 25. Why are we Yelling, by Buster Benson 26. Resilient Management, by Lara Callender Hogan 27. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni 28. Articulating Design Decisions, by Tom Greever 29. Start With Why, by Simon Sinek 30. Mastering Collaboration, by Gretchen Anderson If you pick just four books to read from the list, Tanner and Jasmine recommend: The Design of Everyday Things, Org Design for Design Orgs, Discussing Design, and The Making of a Manager (even if you're not a manager!).