I have been working in the design field since 1998, that is 22 years in the field. Throughout all these years I have had the opportunity to play different roles. From intern, to founder; from simply the lone designer on a team to owning my own design studio and finally working on a massive company like Google.
Here I am talking book recommendations after a long hiatus, not that I haven’t read any but simply none I felt worth sharing my thoughts here on Abduzeedo. A couple of weeks ago a co-worker recommended a book about the car industry in the US, pretty much the beginning of it, the book title is Fins: Harley Earl, the Rise of General Motors, and the Glory Days of Detroit by William Knoedelseder. At first, I was a bit skeptical but after a few minutes, I got totally hooked and I’ll be happy to tell you why.
There are many ways to find inspiration, especially if you are a designer. We tend to focus on visual inspiration, but when I say visual I mean more than visual design, it goes from branding to motion design. Those type of inspiration posts are good for references but for me the one of the best sources of inspiration is books. Not design books but finance & investment, biographies and science. I have been reading a lot of finance and investment books, a topic that I always avoid, probably due to my ignorance.
The past few months have been really difficult for me. My father passed away, suddenly at the end of August. He was my biggest inspiration, role model and mentor. It is hard to explain the void. There's a feeling that the things are incomplete.
Our good mate Radim Malinic has been promoting his new book and we thought it would be cool to share the news on ABDZ. Entitled: The Book of Ideas - Volume 2 , following on from the original series 2016 release and #1 Amazon bestseller in the Graphic Arts - Volume 1. We are really happy for Radim on his journey and expect to learn more about his experience from the last book along with case studies on the process of his illustrative work.
I love reading biographies because I love to know how individuals can break the status quo and go from ordinary to becoming truly extraordinary. A few weeks ago I finished reading one that has become my favorite, at least until I find a new one. However this one has many invaluable lessons for life. I am talking about the book title The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life written by Alice Schroeder.
We hoped that you have been enjoying our gift guides from the past week, let's keep the holiday spirit alive with another guide. But this time, we will stay away from the tech stuff and focus on books! With the holidays knocking at the door, it will be a great moment to enjoy a nice book next to a fireplace? In all seriousness, it's always good to go back to the basics for a change, we spend a crazy amount of time on our smartphones. Let's leave it on the coffee table for a change. I have to admit that I wish I was reading more books this year, it's on my things to do more for 2018.
Berlin Design Digest is a new design book that showcases work from 75 Berlin agencies. Berlin is a creative hot spot. With its remarkable history, its cosmopolitan attitude, and its many interdisciplinary experiments and trends, Berlin is attracting more and more creative-industry movers and shakers and startup founders from across the globe.
These past few months I've read quite a few books of varying topics, from simple fiction to alchemy. Among these books I've read two from Ryan Holiday, his latest I believe, Ego is the Enemy and the most popular The Obstacle is the Way. Both books are quite good but I'll focus this book suggestion post solely on The Obstacle is the Way.
I finally finished reading Sprint, a book published by the Google Venture designers Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky and Braden Kowitz. I knew about design sprints, and have had the chance to participate in a few, including one with Jake himself. The process works great if you have the right number of people that are excited about the endeavor of a week of intense and gratifying work.
I had such a great time reading the 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris that in the end I felt I was left with that little feeling of wanting a bit more. At least in the end of that book Tim recommends a few other books and I am now trying to tackle those. I just finished one of them, another excellent book, The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz. There are so many good tips in this book that I had to recommend it here as well.
It's been quite a while since the last time I recommended a book. It's not because I haven't read any new books lately, it's just because I felt that the books I read weren't exactly worth sharing here. That's not the case of the book I want to talk about today. It's The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss.
If you really love fonts and typography maybe there is a chance you already know the Little Black Font Book, by HypeForType Foundry. So now they are releasing the second edition, a beautiful book, full of inspiration, and of course, amazing fonts. Designers, typographers, magazines, blogs and networks will be excited to hear that the Second Edition of The Little Black Font Book is about to hit the shelves.
The book suggestion of this week is titled Exposing the Magic of Design: A Practitioner's Guide to the Methods and Theory of Synthesis. As the titled says the book is a good guid for young designers and enthusiasts but also for everyone that is passionate about the creative process. The author of the book is Jon Kolko, the Vice President of Consumer Design at Blackboard.
Maka Zedelashvili is an illustrator from Tbilisi, Georgia. In this post we will display her work for the book " Galaktionology " which refers to the bohemian life of XX century Georgian poet -galaktion tenants and activities. Enjoy! For more from Maka Zedelashvili visit behance.net/mzeart.
The book suggestion of this week is about design and how it has helped products to be more than just useful but also pleasant to use. Well-designed products create a emotional bond with the user and therefore distance themselves from the competitors.
The book suggestion of this week is a really nice read for those who are not only starting out their careers, but everyone in the creative industry. The book is titled Burn Your Portfolio by Michael Janda. About the book It takes more than just a design school education and a killer portfolio to succeed in a creative career.
Behance has been a source of inspiration on the web for the past 8 years, I remember when they first started back in 2007 and it's amazing to see how important it became to the design community. That's also one of the reasons that Adobe acquired them. Today we won't talk about web but Behance's first book, the Super-Modified: The Behance Book of Creative Work.
The book suggestion of this week is about how to create products that got people to use very often. The title of the book is Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal. As I said, the book ask the questions: Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit?
Every new year comes with new resolutions, among them at least for me there's always one that is always there at the top of the list, which is to read more books. This year my goal is to vary the styles and move away from design books to focus more on subjects that can improve my personal and work life.