Web Design Forums

bazzle · 06-01-2008, 20:31

Call me a traditionalist but i'm a big advocate of reading books. I can understand the advantages of the internet for the most up to date information but, to learn new skills, or get ideas nothing beats a good book.

Thats why i'm starting this thread, if you've got design related books that you recommend (or not) list them here and describe why they are useful or inspiring or wether they should be avoided.

I have:

Amazon.co.uk: Web Design: A Complete Introduction: Books: Nigel Chapman,Jenny Chapman
This is a good book for reference. Just about everything is covered. However, even though the book claims to be an introduction to webdesign, it is definately not for beginners. It is also full of sections that are unnecesary for web designers such as binary representations and harmonic compositions, there is also not a lot of seperation between valuable info and technical rubbish.

Amazon.co.uk: Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability: Books: Steve Krug
This book is a real help for any web designer. Purely about web usability, and contains interesting info about how people browse websites. I've only read the first few chapters but it's shaping up to being a really good read. It's well written and his points are well explained and backed up by examples. Highly recomended.

Amazon.co.uk: HTML for the World Wide Web: With XHTML and CSS (Visual QuickStart Guides): Books: Elizabeth Castro
This is a fantastic introduction to xhtml markup and CSS. This book helped me massively in mastering layout with CSS and is still a very useful for reference.

Tom_E · 06-01-2008, 21:02

I've got hundreds of art/design books, here a couple off the top of my head that I'd particularly recommend:

Type & Typography, Baines and Haslam

Simply a great, and fairly comprensive book about typography. Good reference if you unsure of a specific typographic convention etc, plus much more.

Grid Systems in Graphic Design, Josef Muller-Brockmann

A must have for obvious reasons really.

Design history books are a must as well really (too many to list here) but look into the Bauhaus, Futurism, Dadaism, Constructivism etc. Not only are these movements interesting they are also massively influential on graphic design/art/architecture and much more.

I'm more of a graphic designer and only really capable of building static CSS based web sites, but what I do know about web design has come from the XHTML book already mentioned by Bazzle, plus CSS Mastery, Web Standard Solutions (Dan Cederholm) and Designing With Web Standards, by Zeldman.

bazzle · 06-01-2008, 21:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom_E

Design history books are a must as well really (too many to list here) but look into the Bauhaus, Futurism, Dadaism, Constructivism etc. Not only are these movements interesting they are also massively influential on graphic design/art/architecture and much more.

I've been wanting to look into design history for ages but I haven't been able to find anything useful.

I'm looking to find a book that generally covers the movements that have influenced design today. I'm not a history buff but a bit of background knowledge and inspiration would be useful.

Any recommendations?

chriskalani · 06-01-2008, 22:44

I bought a CSS book a few years ago but that's it. That's just not my desired method of learning. Instead I like design and photography books a lot. I recently bought Nopatterns little design book. I like using stuff like that for inspiration opposed to learning. That's just me though.

freelancr · 07-01-2008, 04:18

At a quick count I have over 20, will list them on my site at some point if I ever get round to making it.

Larixk · 07-01-2008, 04:31

Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works (2nd Edition)
Basic introduction in typography.

Essential ActionScript 3.0 (Essential)
well, title says it all

puzzle · 07-01-2008, 05:17

HTML Dog: The Book | HTML Dog

If you want to learn XHTML and CSS with W3C standards in mind.

robin · 07-01-2008, 08:18

Not web based, but the book A Smile in the Mind is fantastic and it totally changed my outlook on design. Its been around a while now but definately one for any designers library

Mandy Moo · 09-01-2008, 08:10

Great thread, I love my design books...

Amazon.com: Graphic Agitation: Books: Liz McQuiston
A book on political designs - wars, Aids, human rights, environmentalism, anti-war and anti-nuclear protest, feminism, sexual politics, gay rights, AIDS awareness, the struggle for racial equality, the end to apartheid and poverty and drug abuse and homelessness. I love it!

Amazon.com: How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul: Books: Adrian Shaughnessy,Stefan Sagmeister
Just finished uni? This is a perfect book to get you ready for the real world, how to approach design agencies, which direction to go, freelance?, inhouse? everything you need to know... even some bits you'll never thing off yourself!

Amazon.com: Japanese Graphics Now!: Books: Julius Wiedemann
I like having a bulky book like this to get my teeth into.

Do Gooder · 09-01-2008, 08:16

D&AD's
the art of looking sidways
banksey
graphis annuals from the 60's and & 70's
graffiti world

and a gaggle of those software and web design 'how to' books

Limbo · 09-01-2008, 08:21

To my right (rated):

***** Working with type - a critical guide.
***** A Smile in the Mind
***** How to be a Graphic Designer without losing your soul
***** Typography Workbook
**** Stop Stealing sheep and find out how type works
***** Notes on book design
***** Die Neue Architecture
** PHP & MSQL for Dummies (blech)
*** The Zen of CSS Design
** The Photoshop book for Digital Photographers
**** Making and Breaking the Grid
**** Pioneers of modern Graphic Design
**** The Designers Guide To Webtype
**** Experimental Formats

Mr Fred · 09-01-2008, 08:45

dont buy books anymore.

everything is online.

Do Gooder · 09-01-2008, 08:51

Oooh you can't beat a proper picture book freddy boy

Mr Fred · 09-01-2008, 09:01

yes you can.
for example a nice hat / or a set of gloves.

lkjklllkkklii · 15-01-2008, 09:41

i have only a single old book... the rest are pdf format stored on my mobile...

EmmaPhlema · 26-02-2008, 14:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by lkjklllkkklii

i have only a single old book... the rest are pdf format stored on my mobile...

looks like you'll be in the shit when your phone takes a dump.

I also have a lot of pdf books but don't put them all in one basket, I have enough books to get me through a wireless outage.

Mongoose · 26-02-2008, 14:21

Amazon.com: Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design (Voices That Matter): Andy Clarke,Molly E. Holzschlag,Aaron Gustafson,Mark Boulton: Books
Great book for those who already know their way around CSS. Wonderful insight on semantic css/markup and design heuristics

Amazon.com: The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web (Voices That Matter): Dave Shea,Molly E. Holzschlag: Books
Serves as both a showcase of great designs and a tutorial of good styling practices.

Dusteh · 26-02-2008, 14:39

Process Color Manual: 24, 000 CMYK Combinations for Design, Prepress and Printing

chaos.dave · 26-02-2008, 15:19

I've started turning to books for inspiration. I only have 2 though.

The Best of Business Card Design: No. 7

and

Contemporary Graphic Design

Dusteh · 26-02-2008, 15:41

Just realised the thread is in the web design section, so I quote a book for print. Doh.

06-01-2008, 20:31	#1 (permalink)
bazzle Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Derby uk Posts: 358	What design books are on your shelf? Call me a traditionalist but i'm a big advocate of reading books. I can understand the advantages of the internet for the most up to date information but, to learn new skills, or get ideas nothing beats a good book. Thats why i'm starting this thread, if you've got design related books that you recommend (or not) list them here and describe why they are useful or inspiring or wether they should be avoided. I have: Amazon.co.uk: Web Design: A Complete Introduction: Books: Nigel Chapman,Jenny Chapman This is a good book for reference. Just about everything is covered. However, even though the book claims to be an introduction to webdesign, it is definately not for beginners. It is also full of sections that are unnecesary for web designers such as binary representations and harmonic compositions, there is also not a lot of seperation between valuable info and technical rubbish. Amazon.co.uk: Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability: Books: Steve Krug This book is a real help for any web designer. Purely about web usability, and contains interesting info about how people browse websites. I've only read the first few chapters but it's shaping up to being a really good read. It's well written and his points are well explained and backed up by examples. Highly recomended. Amazon.co.uk: HTML for the World Wide Web: With XHTML and CSS (Visual QuickStart Guides): Books: Elizabeth Castro This is a fantastic introduction to xhtml markup and CSS. This book helped me massively in mastering layout with CSS and is still a very useful for reference.

06-01-2008, 21:02	#2 (permalink)
Tom_E 1.6180339887 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Kent, England Posts: 977	I've got hundreds of art/design books, here a couple off the top of my head that I'd particularly recommend: Type & Typography, Baines and Haslam Simply a great, and fairly comprensive book about typography. Good reference if you unsure of a specific typographic convention etc, plus much more. Grid Systems in Graphic Design, Josef Muller-Brockmann A must have for obvious reasons really. Design history books are a must as well really (too many to list here) but look into the Bauhaus, Futurism, Dadaism, Constructivism etc. Not only are these movements interesting they are also massively influential on graphic design/art/architecture and much more. I'm more of a graphic designer and only really capable of building static CSS based web sites, but what I do know about web design has come from the XHTML book already mentioned by Bazzle, plus CSS Mastery, Web Standard Solutions (Dan Cederholm) and Designing With Web Standards, by Zeldman. __________________ portfolio (v.3.0)

07-01-2008, 04:18	#5 (permalink)
freelancr Web Developer Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, UK Posts: 1,848	At a quick count I have over 20, will list them on my site at some point if I ever get round to making it. __________________ codekeepers \| web developer

07-01-2008, 04:31	#6 (permalink)
Larixk Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Utrecht, Netherlands Posts: 856	Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works (2nd Edition) Basic introduction in typography. Essential ActionScript 3.0 (Essential) well, title says it all __________________ larixk.nl/

09-01-2008, 08:16	#10 (permalink)
Do Gooder Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 3,322	D&AD's the art of looking sidways banksey graphis annuals from the 60's and & 70's graffiti world and a gaggle of those software and web design 'how to' books __________________ *my very own personal shite*

06-01-2008, 22:44	#4 (permalink)
chriskalani I have a computer Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Washington Posts: 98	I bought a CSS book a few years ago but that's it. That's just not my desired method of learning. Instead I like design and photography books a lot. I recently bought Nopatterns little design book. I like using stuff like that for inspiration opposed to learning. That's just me though.

07-01-2008, 05:17	#7 (permalink)
puzzle Puzzle Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: London Posts: 155	HTML Dog: The Book \| HTML Dog If you want to learn XHTML and CSS with W3C standards in mind.

07-01-2008, 08:18	#8 (permalink)
robin Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 28	Not web based, but the book A Smile in the Mind is fantastic and it totally changed my outlook on design. Its been around a while now but definately one for any designers library

09-01-2008, 08:10	#9 (permalink)
Mandy Moo Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Stoke on Trent Posts: 493	Great thread, I love my design books... Amazon.com: Graphic Agitation: Books: Liz McQuiston A book on political designs - wars, Aids, human rights, environmentalism, anti-war and anti-nuclear protest, feminism, sexual politics, gay rights, AIDS awareness, the struggle for racial equality, the end to apartheid and poverty and drug abuse and homelessness. I love it! Amazon.com: How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul: Books: Adrian Shaughnessy,Stefan Sagmeister Just finished uni? This is a perfect book to get you ready for the real world, how to approach design agencies, which direction to go, freelance?, inhouse? everything you need to know... even some bits you'll never thing off yourself! Amazon.com: Japanese Graphics Now!: Books: Julius Wiedemann I like having a bulky book like this to get my teeth into.

09-01-2008, 08:21	#11 (permalink)
Limbo On yer bike... Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 4,692	To my right (rated): *** Working with type - a critical guide. * A Smile in the Mind * How to be a Graphic Designer without losing your soul * Typography Workbook Stop Stealing sheep and find out how type works * Notes on book design * Die Neue Architecture PHP & MSQL for Dummies (blech) * The Zen of CSS Design The Photoshop book for Digital Photographers ** Making and Breaking the Grid Pioneers of modern Graphic Design The Designers Guide To Webtype ** Experimental Formats __________________ CSS Search Engine

09-01-2008, 08:45	#12 (permalink)
Mr Fred Magazines™ Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Glasgow.. Posts: 11,243	dont buy books anymore. everything is online.

09-01-2008, 08:51	#13 (permalink)
Do Gooder Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 3,322	Oooh you can't beat a proper picture book freddy boy __________________ *my very own personal shite*

09-01-2008, 09:01	#14 (permalink)
Mr Fred Magazines™ Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Glasgow.. Posts: 11,243	yes you can. for example a nice hat / or a set of gloves.

15-01-2008, 09:41	#15 (permalink)
lkjklllkkklii Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 29	i have only a single old book... the rest are pdf format stored on my mobile...

26-02-2008, 14:21	#17 (permalink)
Mongoose Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 141	Amazon.com: Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design (Voices That Matter): Andy Clarke,Molly E. Holzschlag,Aaron Gustafson,Mark Boulton: Books Great book for those who already know their way around CSS. Wonderful insight on semantic css/markup and design heuristics Amazon.com: The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web (Voices That Matter): Dave Shea,Molly E. Holzschlag: Books Serves as both a showcase of great designs and a tutorial of good styling practices.

26-02-2008, 14:39	#18 (permalink)
Dusteh Sir digby chicken caesar Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 3,596	Process Color Manual: 24, 000 CMYK Combinations for Design, Prepress and Printing __________________ unconsolidated isoparms

26-02-2008, 15:19	#19 (permalink)
chaos.dave Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Loughborough, UK Posts: 99	I've started turning to books for inspiration. I only have 2 though. The Best of Business Card Design: No. 7 and Contemporary Graphic Design

26-02-2008, 15:41	#20 (permalink)
Dusteh Sir digby chicken caesar Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 3,596	Just realised the thread is in the web design section, so I quote a book for print. Doh. __________________ unconsolidated isoparms

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