Good book on Design Theory?

condra

Hello everyone.

I'm looking for a good book on design theory which focuses on:
Layout
Colour theory
.. and possibly typography and logos.

I'm not looking for technical books on Photoshop, CSS etc..
____

Thanks for any tips...

peejay1986

I'll post some book recommendations later this evening

joconnell

Layout:

Suzanne west - working with style (goes through the method for both modern and classical layout)
Josef Muller-Brockmann - Grid systems - The definitive book on modern design and grids.

Colour:

Johannes Itten - The Elements of Color

Typography:

Carl Dair - design with type - Gorgeous little book and has a lot of other design basics in there too - really nice to read.
Robert Bringhurst - the elements of typography - It's a right stuck up bastard of a book, quite hard going but probably the most authoritative text on the subject. Easy to find too.

If you had to get one thing overall, http://www.gdbasics.com/ is a great start - all of the elements of design discussed, and practical examples / exercises to get you using them. Get that then the josef muller brockmann book. A lot of these books are from the 50s / 60s so you're gonna have to look at second hand places / ebay / the amazon.com market place. If you've got a friend in dit they've most of them in the print section in the mountjoy square library.

Good luck!

condra

peejay1986 thanks for your reply. I'm looking forward to checking out your recommendations if you get time to reply again.

joconnell
Thanks a million!
I'm downloading the PDFs from gdbasics.com right now, and will look into ordering at least a couple of the other books from Amazon.

:):)

peejay1986

Sorry my reply is later than expected. Hope these are of use to you.

Logo design / Typography / Design process / Understanding clients: 'Logo Design Love' by David Airey
I found this to be a brilliant book, probably my favourite. It's got a very personal feel to it, as if the author is speaking directly to you. David seems to write from a designer's point of view and not a writer so that's perfect for me. Speaks about the do's and dont's of logo design as well as sharing the process he uses when creating designs. He also talks about how he deals with clients wishes. Can't recommend this book enough.

Design Theory: 'Problem Solved' by Michael Johnson
This is a great all-rounder. Touches on loads of problems that designers face. For example; 'how to design for children', 'how to pull off a minimalist design with maximum effect', and loads more. If you're simply looking to read up on design basics then this is a great book.

Design inspiration / theory: 'The Art of Looking Sideways' by Alex Fletcher
This is a huge book filled with weird, wacky and wonderful designs. There are also loads of thoughts and opinions from a design perspective in the book which is great. Some of the work in the book is amazing and definitely provided me with some good inspiration.

condra

Thanks a million Lots of recommendations now. I better get saving.

Chochese

Check out Grid Systems in graphic Design by Josef Muller-Brockmann and also Making & Breaking The Grid by Timothy Samara. Both very good books on the subject of layout.

Also, Erik Spiekermann's Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works is a good read on Typography.

As recommended in above posts, definitely have a look at Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style and Itten's The Elements of Colour, both on my college reading list in first year and still used as points reference to this day.

condra

Thanks for the heads up Chochese.
I'll check them out now.

I've a huge list now

Thanks again everyone.
.

aja72

There is two new books comes in the market for designing.

The book is -
1> How Designers Think
2> The Design Way - Intentional Change in an Unpredictable World

Brookstone

I seemed to read a thread about a list of books on design theory in some forum, that is really an awesome resource. But I could not remember it right now. Once I get it, I will paste the link here.