My Top 17 Favorite Books for Design and the Business of Design
My favorite hang out has always been a book store – even before I had a business. I loved trolling the aisles looking for new things to learn and inspirational stories to read.
When my business changed from hand lettering to the early days of desktop publishing, I scoured the book stores looking for the latest book on the software I was using. Without Google, blogs or Linda.com it was hard to find resources for learning – so books were the main source for us technology newbies.
A few years ago I was challenged to read even more and I took on the challenge wholeheartedly. Reading has inspired me to stretch myself, grow my business and become a better leader. I encourage you to do the same.
The books listed below are some of my favorites specifically for creatives entrepreneurs. The section of DESIGN BOOKS for CREATIVES focuses on becoming better designers. The section BUSINESS OF DESIGN includes book that have helped me work ON the business. I read 30-40 books a year now in a wide range of subjects and love sharing a good book with my audience, especially the ones that inspire me to grow my businesses and design better.
JUST A NOTE – I often hear “I just don’t have the time to read” and I get it, but it’s amazing how quickly you can read a book even if you only spend 15 minutes a day. If you’re struggling to sit and read a book made of paper, I challenge you to purchase eBooks and read while you wait in line, buy audio versions and listen while you fold clothes. The only way I can stand exercising on the elliptical is listening to a book and sometimes I actually exercise longer to finish a chapter!
If you enjoy this list – follow me on Instagram, I post my newest favorites on my feed and often the quotes I post are directly from those new reads. I keep a highlighter next to my chair just for that!
Becky’s Graphic Design is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
DESIGN BOOKS FOR CREATIVES
How to Style Your Brand, Everything you need to know to create a distinctive brand identity
by Fiona Humberstone
If you’re looking for inspiration to create in the clean, flat design style – you have to get this book. But it’s much more than inspiring, the author walks your through a complete understanding of typography, color, and logo design creation and so much more. I recommend this book to all of my designers as an instructional resource as well as an inspirational tool!
Brand Brilliance, Elevate Your Brand, Enchant Your Audience
by Fiona Humberstone
The latest book in her brand series, Fiona offers another beautifully designed book full of detailed instructions for creating and elevating your brand. This modern marketing book combines brand strategy, essentials for today’s marketers and website design creation to give a blueprint for building a creative business today.
Steal Like An Artist, 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative
by Austin Kleon
If you have a family member who is a creative, this is a perfect gift. This little book is full of encouragement for those who design, write, create and lead a makers life. Mr. Kleon shares tips and tricks of keeping inspiration levels high and doing the work – every day. This can be absorbed on a plane ride and be read again and again!
Don’t Make Me Think! Revisited, A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
by Steve Krug
I think every designer should read this book on user experience. The artist in us tends to forget practical applications when we get into web design. This book gives you guiding principals for designing a web site, understanding mobile and even accessibility with a great sense of humor thrown in.
Vector Basic Training, A Systematic Creative Process for Building Precision Vector Artwork
by Von Glitschka
If you use Adobe Illustrator or any vector based program this book will help you create solid artwork with precision. He gives detailed explanations for using the software programs including Design Drills at the end of each chapter. Reading this will provide you with the foundation to be a digital artist with good creative habits.
Logo Design Love, A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities
by David Airey
This book is gold for anyone designing brand identities today. David Airey explains the importance of branding and the process of design from real life design experience. The end of the book offers design tips and answers to questions he has received over his career. Young designers as well as experienced creatives will learn much from his chapter on pricing design and working with clients.
BUSINESS OF DESIGN – BOOKS FOR CREATIVES:
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
by
I didn’t expect this to be a book about business – I picked it up because my son and daughter in law were able to visit Pixar last year and loved the creative energy in the building. I thought it’d be an interesting read, but I found a wealth of information about working with and managing creatives. It is also a unique insight into the history of computer animation and graphics, the Disney legend and building a for-profit business around new technology. Ed Catmull’s willingness to give such personal details of his part in Pixar made this a fascinating read.
These next three books can be bought as a set here
Manage Your Day-To-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus and Sharpen Your Creative Mind
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle
This set of three books will make any creative breathe easier. They are full of insights from the top leaders in the design world and give common sense wisdom for day to day activities. This one focuses on using your time wisely to make your best work. I love them for their beautiful design and inspirational quotes interspersed throughout.
Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks and Build An Incredible Career
Maximize Your Potential: 
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Peter Drucker
Taking risks is part of being an entrepreneur and I’ve pushed the envelope on risks this last two years. Reading this book encouraged me to keep moving forward. Step outside your comfort zone, bounce back from failure and build new skills. Tapping into your true potential is no idle behavior. It demands creativity, dedication, and a whole lot of hustle.
Make Your Mark: The Creative’s Guide to Building A Business With Impact
Make Your Mark:“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage” Anais Nin
“Defining your purpose – How to uncover your mission in the world and define your modus operandi” – That’s the first chapter of this book. Discover how your story, your talents and your expertise align with what this world needs. Entrepreneurship is full of discovery and this book helps clarify your mission.
Dear Client, This book will teach you how to get what you want from creative people.
Dear Client, This book will teach you how to get what you want from creative people.
by Bonnie Siegler
This humorous and colorful book (only a designer would use CMYK hues to speak to a design audience) will encourage creatives everywhere – we all suffer from demanding clients. But it’s also helpful for those who are work with creatives to understand how to communicate effectively with an artist to complete a project successfully.
Work For Money, Design For Love
Work For Money, Design For Love
Answers to the most frequently asked questions about starting and running a successful design business.
by David Airey
One of my favorite self-employed graphic designers, David gives great advice about launching and running a design business. Do you have a young creative in your life? THIS IS THE BOOK FOR THEM! I wish I had this book when I began my business – it is practical advice from lessons he learned. It’s difficult to find books on solopreneurs in the design field as most creatives don’t last that long before moving on to an agency. He shares his experiences but also lessons learned by other creative pros from around the world.
Business Boutique, A Women’s Guide for Making Money Doing What She Loves
Business Boutique,
by Christy Wright
In 2016 my daughter-in-law and I attended the Christy Wright Business Boutique Conference in Nashville, TN. She and my son were starting a production company and I thought this event would be perfect for her. It was an impressive conference encouraging women to build their businesses. Two weeks later I received a call from the Ramsey organization asking if I’d like to be part of the 2017 cross country tour as Christy’s Connection for Brand Design. I accepted (of course!) and traveled to all four one-day events across the country that year and then joined them in Nashville for the three day event in November. It was an awesome opportunity to speak one-on-one with 100’s of women. I recommend this book because it is the handbook I wished I had when I started and also because it has helped me grow my business beyond what I ever imagined. I’ll always be grateful to Christy Wright and Dave Ramsey for giving me an opportunity to be part of their conference.
Profit First, Transform your business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine
by Mike Michalowicz
This book completely changed how I manage my business finances and how I thought about money coming in. This isn’t an accounting book, it’s a system of managing your business cash flow with step by step advice to achieve long-term growth. “The path to financial freedom is paved with simple, small habit changes that become systematized and apply to both your business and personal finances.”
If you’re trying to build a business this book explains profit, owner’s compensation, tax and operating expense in a way I could finally comprehended and it has allowed me to build a better business.
Built to Sell
Built to Sell
by John Warrillow
I was sent this book by a good friend and client when she heard I had the opportunity to be part of Christy Wright’s Business Boutique in 2017. It’s a story about business growth from the eyes of a business owner. What made it fascinating to me was the business was very similar to mine. For 25 years I’ve grown my business on my own and now I knew I needed to hire help. This book helped me deal with the emotion of letting someone else into my business and think differently about growth.
Master Content Marketing, A Simple Strategy to Cure the Blank Page Blues and Attract a Profitable Audience
by Pamela Wilson
This book gives you the basic understanding of what you need to do to effectively build an online business. Those words “online business” used to scare me because I thought it meant NOT doing my regular creative design work. Rather this idea of content marketing online can be an extension of my business. It gives me a place to share my business and design experience with my audience which builds trust before we ever work together.
Pamela does a great job in this book removing the fear of how to get it all done with her “Lazy Approach to Content Creation” She breaks it all down into manageable steps and sets you up for content creation success!
Master Content Strategy, How to Maximize Your Reach and Boost Your Bottom Line Every Time You Hit Publish
by Pamela Wilson
Pamela’s newest book (October 2018) is your road map to strategically publish the right content to grow your business! She does a fabulous job of giving the BIG picture of building content for your site which will grow your business. Then she gets down to the details! I really like how she gives instructions for every level of content building – from the newbie site to one like mine that is established. Her detailed maintenance plan helped me clean up my old blog posts with a fresh look and updated content. I feel much more confident in my understanding of what I need to write, how often to publish and finding the time to do it. If you’re tired of trying to figure out content strategy yourself – this is the book you need!
THE REASON I READ
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn,
the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss
I believe reading has encouraged and inspired me to grow as a person and as a business owner. Motivation to work as a solopreneur takes discipline, but it also requires positive influence on a regular basis – books provide me with that. I hope you can find the same positive results by reading these books. Please share your favorite business or design book in the comments below!
“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through,
but rather how many can get through to you.” – Mortimer J. Adler
