In the last few weeks I've had a few people ask me if I could recommend any books on design. The short answer is yes I can, but mostly only because I have a thing for books and I can't go into a bookstore without buying at least four, so I just happen to have a lot of books. (Yes, I have read them all, thank you very much.) The reason this is the short answer is because I'm firmly in the camp that to become a designer you simply have to start designing. A lot. A whole lot. It's a very learn by doing skill, even interaction and experience design. However, there are a lot of great books I've read that have added a lot of little interesting tidbits to the experience of just being a designer for years and years, so I thought I'd make that list and share it with anyone who was interested.

These are by no means the definitive reading list, just what I've read over the the years, or have on my current reading list. I've also thrown in some movies and a couple card decks that I really love. The best advice I can give any designer is the advice given to me during a junior year portfolio review by  John Jay, a creative director from Wieden + Kennedy (I majored in Advertising and Graphic Design for my undergrad, so I had mostly words of wisdom from designers working in advertising) and it is:

The great ideas are out on the streets, in a club or a bar or a park, not in your office or at your desk. Make sure you get up from your desk every once and a while and experience it.  

So read some of these books, but then go out and experience the world and find inspiration and solutions to your design problems in those experiences. If you want to be a designer, or you want to be a better designer, just start designing lots of stuff. Practice makes perfect.

The List

Interaction/Experience Design
  • The Design of Everyday Things - Norman
  • Designing Interactions - Moggridge
  • Sketching User Experiences - Buxton
  • Emotional Design - Norman
Design Basics
  • Design Basics - Pentak
  • Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative - Eisener (this is technically a book about making comics, but I've found it very helpful to know these concepts designing interactions, because I can use them to help tell other people about my ideas via storyboard)
Design History
  • History of Modern Design - Raizman (this is a must read in my opinion)
  • Dictionary of Design since 1900 - Julier 
  • Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers - Livingston
Design Documentaries
  • Objectified
  • Helvetica
Graphic Design Quickstarts
  • The Non-designer's design book - Williams
  • The Mac is not a Typewriter - Williams
  • Making and Breaking the Grid - Samara (this is a must have reference if you're doing any visual design)
  • Lettering for Production - Gates (out of print)
Ad books that could be helpful
  • Hey Whipple Squeeze This - Sullivan
  • Hoopla - CP+B
  • Pick Me - Vonk & Kestin
Other Fun stuff
  • Art and Copy (movie)
  • Please Exit Through the Giftshop (movie)
  • The Story of Stuff (the 2007 original) (movie)
  • Ideo Method Cards
  • Handbook of Usability Testing - Rubin & Chisnell
  • Mental Notes Cards
  • Control: A History of Behavioral Psychology - Mills
  • Emotions Revealed - Ekman
  • ReInventing Comics - McCloud
  • Comics and Sequential Art - Eisener 
Books I'm Currently Reading (but can't recommend beyond that because I haven't finished them yet) 
  • Living with Complexity - Norman
  • Unmasking the Face - Friesen
  • Behavioral Analysis and Measurement Methods - Meister
  • Ambient Findability - Morville
If you have any suggestions (stuff I could add to my currently reading list), leave them in the comments :)