35 Best Graphic Design Books in 2024

The most comprehensive work explains the fundamentals of brand, the creative process, and examines the real cases. With such thorough definitions, a solitary specialist or a team of professionals will become capable of swiftly and successfully going through the five-stage process of developing and implementing an entire brand.

One of the most useful books for designers of logos contains a minute analysis of the modern tendencies and solutions that shape contemporary corporate identity. The three sections dissect geometric, effect, and typographic types of logos, combining educational and inspirational content that will guide and support your work.

A manual that preserved its value due to a masterful compilation of the practical, academic, and historical material on the subject. If you want to fully master the subjects of type and typography, there isn’t a better option to begin with.

The study of typefaces is a substantial part of any designer’s workday. With this graphic design book, you can follow the intricate history of this element and learn the numerous powers it holds. The book will make sure you know how to use this tiny but mighty tool for the most striking effect.

The book that grows in significance with every edition must be perused by every student of the discipline. The latest version received 500 new images, extensive study of the latest trends, and a more nuanced introduction. Having this volume will help you with both knowledge and impression since keeping it on your desk will be regarded as a token of professionalism.

Academic theory is important in any subject but it is how you understand it that matters largely. This is one of the best graphic design books to explain the correlation of scriptory communication and imagery together with audience comprehension.

One of the most important works in the industry, which features 21 phrases to set you thinking. Those revelations have been turned into artful pieces of design, so that the implementation is more interesting than the idea. This new edition features the experiences of a 20-year long career and is a worthy piece of literature for any aspiring specialist.

A widely-used digital font typically consists of over five hundred symbols. If you intend to be a typographer, this would be the best graphic design book.

Examine the most successful designs as well as the background of each, get rich with notions and ideas, and proceed with the first attempts in your software that enables any designer to create typefaces.

Here is a work that collects all the relevant knowledge on typography, both printed and digital. You can study any section of this discipline: visual communication, reduced against enlarged capitals, lining and non-lining digits, font ornaments, and anything else. It even contains practical guidance on licensing, combining typefaces, and creating handwritten lettering.

One of the best graphic design books for professionals helping new companies to create their identity. The work is broken into five sections: analysis, strategy and narrative, design, performance, engagement.

This is an indispensable work for any student or first-timer but many professionals also keep it around. Using a step-through routine helps to organize the work and make sure the best results are achieved in identifying a new brand.

It is important to know how to design a font but it is even more so to understand the influence of various nuances of typefaces on the target audience.

This work explains the impact of fonts on the decisions of readers and their progress through the text, plus even their ability to alter the perception of taste. After reading this, you will know everything about causing the right influence on your audience.

This could be classified as easy reading but it is also helpful by letting you understand the creative industry and the way it functions better. Few books touch on subjects mentioned here, mainly pitching, giving feedback, navigating agency life, etc. If you are after relevant advice from a successful colleague, here it is.

One of the best books for graphic designers containing career advice for ordinary staff members, freelancers, and those setting up their own business. If you need some practical information on how to plan your day, communicate with clients, or some other insightful elements, look into this intelligent work.

To know the nitty-gritty details of this sphere of activity, you should read the following book. It will enlighten you on the importance and impact that graphic design obtained in the contemporary world, plus explain why certain things work and others don’t.

An even more important work looks into the very mechanism of this industry, helping you stay afloat in its complex and metamorphous world. The unappealing but crucial things like recurring reports, financial planning, accepting rejection will be sorted out for you, which makes it is impossible to ignore the material.

Many professionals will name this among the best graphic design books that you will keep coming back to. From the artistic chapters about the light, color, and perspective to the more business-like sections on law and marketing, it will make you feel prepared for any task ahead and remain your most valued investment in a piece of knowledge.

For those working with grid systems, there is hardly a better source of knowledge available. Whether you’re a beginning typographer or a knowledgeable 3D designer, the conceptual work deserves your attention. Students absolutely need this book, but even practicing specialists would benefit from it.

Not directly on the subject, this work is still important as the most extensive one on color theory and it touches upon a variety of subjects. The basic things like color relativity, intensity, and temperature are explained alongside the more in-depth color interaction notions like vibrating and vanishing boundaries, the illusion of sheerness and many more.

Being the oldest listed edition, this is also one of the best design books of all time. On its pages, some glorified works of Neville Brody are explained and commented on. That features a part in the direction of The Face magazine, whose art was defining the genre.

The hand-lettering techniques described in this book start from the simplest and go toward rather complex works. The book is supplemented with numerous suggestions and tips produced by the author’s personal experience, giving assistance even to professionals.

To learn what to expect and how to succeed in this sphere, students should read this entertaining, and insightful book. Here, you will get first-hand experience, useful advice and criticism, even creative ideas. Topics such as creating portfolios, doing your work as a self-employed or a team-member, learning new skills and becoming a better professional, are laid out in a straightforward, joking, and sometimes even frivolous way, so appealing to the youth.

This graphic design handbook touches on a topic that’s not largely covered but is exceptionally important for those, who create and those, who order such works. This is a guide on all sorts of business, ethical, and legal issues that arise in the marketplace and require careful consideration.

Social media are an important element of the modern world and many businesses develop their own strategies in finding and keeping their audience interested. This book considers beginning, carrying out, and finishing a project successfully. In addition, it helps to sort out the process of posting, processing feedback, and moving on with new projects.

This book is a digest of 50 most successful logo designs ever, put together by the prominent leaders of the sphere. The work provides knowledge of the clockwork of creating worldwide recognition for a trademark and allows you to enjoy the genius and beauty of each design.

For all the professionals who are about to launch on an independent career, this is one of the most helpful books for graphic designers. It covers all the crucial components of turning a designer into a businessman, starting from the proper mindset and tactics, proceeding toward the first steps and the basics of conducting business.

This involving book is concentrated at investigating the designers’ perception of color, composition, and other elements of their work. It is a worthy contribution to a specialist’s education that helps train the portions of the mind that are at work with games and puns. The insightful information is the result of the author’s own discoveries.

An interesting point is discussed in this book. Since graphic designers create things for other people to see, the very mechanism of seeing becomes highly relevant. Having become a bestseller, this book, based on a BBC documentary, takes a very deep look into how people perceive art.

One of the best graphic design books, which appeared thanks to the constant attempts of the author to build a successful career. Consisting largely of his reflections on the past experiences and the art in general, it bears some scientific studies, too, but the silver lining is meant to show how important humor is through the twists and turns of such a career.

It is apparent even from this list that many works have been written on the subject but the author of this book made it a point to write about things uncommon to the subject but still relevant and his career suggested many such topics.

Any creative specialist has ever faced the type of day when nothing works. When you’re lost, stuck, or down, one of the ten techniques from this book is sure to help you overcome this condition and remain productive. The amusing diagrams and drawings, combined with the cheerful tone and helpful suggestions, make it the most useful everyday book.

This would be one of the best books on graphic design to dwell upon the seminal works in the industry. It can be insightful with all the analysis of techniques or it could simply provide inspiration with all the beautiful use of color, illusions, ornaments, and other interesting elements that make or break a design.

Being a true representation of the industry, this book has a great cover that features a unique combination of stickers placed manually. It represents the idea uncovered within, the explorative approach of the professionals discussed in the text.

Another inspirational work outside the theory of design asks queer questions about popular works like Batman or The Walking Dead. The infographics that contain answers are the way to inspire you to something new, something any designer occasionally experiences the need for.

One of the most inspiring digital design books, which bears a counter-intuitive message that nothing is original. The author’s point of view is that collecting influences and reimagining existing works is the way to be creative. You are encouraged to follow your train of thoughts wherever it takes you and let the experiences of life shape your work. The ten transformative principles described here are to assist in this journey.

The industry has existed long enough to have its own history of twists and turns provoked by the most innovative minds of their period. In this book, you will have a chance to examine and collect inspiration from the most provocative works of graphic design the last century produced.