The best 23 Design books

The Laws of Simplicity consists of a set of “laws” formulated by the author to try to grasp the meaning and essence of simplicity. Along the way, it provides useful advice on how to introduce simplicity to our daily lives, business and product design.

• Anyone who wants to design successful products
• Anyone who wants to bring more simplicity into their lives
• Anyone in sales or marketing

Steal Like an Artist (2012) will help you unlock the secret to creating great art: theft. No artist creates their work in a vacuum: all art is influenced by the art that came before it. Steal Like an Artist teaches you how to “steal” from the work of your heroes, and use it to create something new and unique. It also provides important advice on using the internet to launch your career, so others can enjoy your creativity!

• Artists or other creative types
• Anyone struggling to find inspiration
• Any artist who needs advice on launching their career

Art, Inc. is a practical guide for artists who want to earn a living from doing what they love. Art, Inc. presents the business side of the art world in a palatable way, sharing useful advice and practical guidance.

• Artists who want to stop struggling and earn money from their work
• Artists who want to understand the business side of the art world

Make Your Mark features the wisdom and tips of 21 of the most successful entrepreneurs and creatives of the last few years. These artists, coders, developers and writers share the secrets and ideas that have helped them take their respective markets by storm.

• People working in the creative industry
• Anyone looking to turn their creative skills into a business
• Leaders, managers and CEOs

Creative, Inc. (2010) provides a handy step-by-step guide to setting up and running a freelance business. Clearly structured and packed with tips on everything from advertising and agents to portfolios and pricing, this is an indispensable guide for those considering turning their artistic talents into a freelance career.

• People who want to leverage their creative skills into a freelance business
• Creative freelancers who want to earn more

Happy City (2013) explains how urban planning can help us live healthier and more joyful lives in the big city. From the history of urban sprawl to design blunders, to strategies that encourage residents to socialize, relax and exercise, these blinks reveal the hidden features that can make or break city life.

• Readers thinking about moving to a new city
• Students of social psychology or urban planning
• People fascinated by the inner workings of urban life

The Innovator’s Hypothesis (2014) shows us how modern innovation no longer comes from big, costly, time-intensive research and development departments. These days, the innovation process is different. Big ideas come from business experiments being quickly conducted by small teams at little cost. It’s time to get on board and find out how your business can adapt for the future – before it’s too late!

• Futurists interested in how the next big idea will emerge
• Innovators interested in lean and agile systems of creativity
• Entrepreneurs trying to think outside the box

This is Service Design Thinking (2011) presents the core principles of service design. By providing tools and real-life examples, it’s a great introduction to this evolving and interdisciplinary approach to designing services. These blinks present the most salient information on the subject.

• Entrepreneurs and innovators
• Students and professionals of design
• Marketers and consultants

Do Design (2016) is a nifty handbook for designers, crafters, and creatives of every stripe who want to know what makes design great and how they can achieve it in their own work. Covering a broad notion of design, Do Design goes beyond the design of things to reflect on how we ought to design our businesses and even our lives. Ultimately, these blinks are a call for us to transform human lives for the better by creating more beauty in the world.

• Designers who want to improve their creative process
• Business leaders seeking to optimize their businesses
• Anyone who wants to create beautiful things

Start at the End (2019) provides a highly practical, step-by-step approach to designing products and services that make an impact on the world. Drawing on behavioral science, the process begins with a simple question: How do we want our potential consumers to act? It then works backward to figure out how to make that vision a reality. 

• Start-up employees looking for a way to shake up their industry’s playing field 
• Leaders of established companies looking for their next big idea 
• Entrepreneurs interested in applying behavioral science to their pursuit of business

Why Design Matters (2022) is a collection of some of the best interviews from Debbie Millman’s long-running podcast of the same name. It collects over 50 interviews from over 15 years’ worth of conversations. These talks not only explain why design matters, they also show how the principles of design extend to creativity in general and the ways in which we communicate and express ourselves.

• Anyone interested in the creative process
• People fascinated by design and marketing
• Artists looking for inspiration

Continuous Discovery Habits (2021) explores how product managers and designers can keep making a positive impact on their customers’ lives. It explores an optimal decision-making process for product teams, so that they can continue to improve their offerings. 

• Product managers looking for a new way of working
• Entrepreneurs seeking a fresh perspective on creativity
• Product designers

The Home Edit (2019) proposes a straightforward formula to organize any part of the home in a way that is functional, classy, and easy to maintain. The technique it teaches is equally easy for other members of the household to learn and apply, so that everyone can enjoy a calm, happy home environment.

• Anyone trying to maintain order and beauty in their homes
• Parents teaching their kids good housekeeping habits
• Interior designers trying to help clients maintain the spaces they create

Sell Like Crazy ( 2019 ) is a comprehensive guide that unveils step-by-step strategies for attracting your ideal customers and converting them into loyal, high-paying clients. It presents a proven blueprint for escalating your customer acquisition efforts and outlines a consultative approach to significantly enhance conversion rates.

• Entrepreneurs seeking sales growth
• Marketers seeking conversions
• Business owners looking for new customers

Visual Thinking (2022) offers an authoritative view on different ways of thinking, and how those differences have been crucial to many of our biggest creative advancements. It shows how society tends to be biased toward verbal thinkers – and how visual thinkers, albeit typically underserved in society, bring an array of crucial skills to various domains.

• Anyone curious about autism
• Artists and creative minds
• People interested in team-building

Well-Designed (2014) is about the transformative power of empathy in product design. It explains how understanding and empathizing with users can lead to innovative and beloved products. The book offers practical advice on observing user behavior, understanding their needs, and creating products that resonate deeply with them.

• Product designers
• User experience professionals
• Innovative entrepreneurs

Emotional Design (2003) delves into how emotions influence our interactions with everyday objects. It explores the three levels of design – visceral, behavioral, and reflective – and how they affect our perceptions, use, and memories of products. This book reveals the importance of these elements in creating designs that not only function well but also create emotional connections with users.

• Design enthusiasts
• Marketing professionals
• Product developers

Brave Together (2024) explores the transformative potential of cocreation for sparking innovation and driving leadership success. Through practical advice and insights, it demonstrates how to harness collective creativity to shape a visionary future and foster a culture of collaborative achievement.

• Corporate leaders and management teams
• Creative professionals and innovators
• Anyone interested in enhancing creativity and collaboration

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1935) is a pioneering examination of how mechanical reproduction – particularly via photography and film – transformed the nature, value, and perception of art. It explores the concept of the "aura" of a work of art and how this aura diminishes in a reproduced work.

• Art history students
• Modern artists and critics
• Scholars interested in media theory

Get the Picture (2024) turns an investigative lens on the complex and often insular world of contemporary art along with its quirks and contradictions. It explores the obsessions that drive artists and collectors, sheds light on the personal and sometimes irrational reasons that art becomes meaningful, and unravels the motivations and passions of artists and collectors to uncover how deeper engagement with art can be achieved.

• Art enthusiasts curious about the inner workings of the art world
• Aspiring artists seeking insight into the contemporary art scene
• Fans of deep dives into niche cultural topics

Designing Brand Identity (2003) breaks branding down into a simple five-step process that helps teams build a clear and confident identity. It shows how research, strategy, design, touchpoints, and long term management fit together, and it uses real examples to make the ideas feel practical and doable. It gives anyone working with a brand a straightforward way to bring focus and consistency to their work.

• Brand managers seeking a structured process
• Designers building or refreshing identities
• Entrepreneurs clarifying how their brand should show up

Visual Thinking for Design (2025) turns years of neuroscientific research into practical advice for anyone who creates visual information. Bridging the gap between laboratory discoveries and real-world design challenges, this guide will help you understand exactly how people see and process what they’re looking at – giving you the tools you need to make your work truly effective.

• Graphic designers and visual communicators who want to understand the science behind effective visual design
• UX/UI designers looking to create interfaces that work with how people naturally process visual information
• Students and educators who need to present complex information in ways that enhance understanding

The Design of the UNIX Operating System by Maurice J. Bach provides an in-depth look at the inner workings of the UNIX operating system. It delves into the design principles, data structures, and algorithms that make UNIX a powerful and flexible system. Whether you're a student, developer, or system administrator, this book offers valuable insights into the foundation of modern operating systems.

• Computer science students and professionals interested in understanding the inner workings of UNIX

• System programmers who want to gain a deep understanding of operating system design principles

• Developers who want to enhance their knowledge of UNIX system calls and kernel-level programming