Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
Estimate time to read this page: 3 – 5 minutes Editions Reviewed: Hardcover, Audiobook Recommendation: Read it. Then, like Seth […]
Merlin Mann by his mom, I would imagine
Merlin Mann is a productivity guru that wants you to stop worrying about rearranging deck chairs and start finding the time and focus to do your best creative work. He’s funny, zany, and prone to a really obtuse but ultimately insightful analogy. He’s internet-famous for things like Inbox Zero and The Hipster PDA; but he’s also way awesomer than that.
100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People by Susan M. Weinschenk, PhD
100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People is a list of all the bits of psychology that they should be teaching in design school. It’s neatly organized, easy to refer to, and easily the best $30 I’ve spent on books in the last few years. If you’re even remotely interested in improving the effectiveness of your designs through an understanding of cognition, this is a great place to start.
A Smile in the Mind by Beryl McAlhone and David Stuart
A Smile in the Mind is an in-depth examination of the use of wit in graphic design. It’s also a cogent argument for wit as a technique for building mnemonic value. “The Gag” as I used to call it (before I learned fancy words like “mnemonic”) is a valuable tool in the job box in any good designer’s brain, and with good reason. A Smile in the Mind puts concrete names and concepts behind the hunches we all have about the most popular way to make things memorable.
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
Estimate time to read this page: 2 – 4 minutes Edition Reviewed: Paperback Recommendation: Read it if want a little summer fun […]
American Trademarks by Eric Baker and Tyler Blik
American Trademarks: A Compendium is just that, a compendium of trademarks from Blik and Tyler’s previous books, Trademarks of the 20’s and 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, and 60’s and 70’s. This book collects them all in one place, but also includes a series of fantastic essays by a dozen or so trademark design luminaries.
Off Book | Typography by PBS Arts
Type is everywhere. Duh. If you don’t know that, you’re not paying attention. But, ever since a little film called Helvetica it seems like people can’t miss the opportunity to bring it up. PBS Arts piles on with a very sweet, if not terribly insightful, mini-doc. At least it’s short. Maybe you can get your clients to watch it.
The Daily Heller—Swoosh: 40 Years Fly By by Steven Heller
The Nike logo is perhaps the most recognized logo in the history of trademarks. Here at DRL/ohTwentyone we use it as an example of branding neuroefficiency all the time. Over on ImPrint Steven Heller takes us through a brief history and shows some internal documentation that makes my heart sing. Did you know that the swoosh is 40 years old? Check the old girl out. She barely looks a day over 19.