Cool and Helpful Books about Design

When I starting writing this page, I decided to write about basic design books that I love. I did not want to write about books that are Masters or PhD level, even though I’m sure most of us crafters could understand and benefit from such books. But no, my goal here is to help but also to keep it fun. The following books do both. I only wish there could more like them.

Picture This: How Pictures Work by Molly Bang (what a great name!) was originally published as Picture This: Perception and Composition. It was then republished by Chronicle Books. Bang is a notable children’s book writer and illustrator. She relates the story of how she didn’t understand how pictures work. She then began experimenting with graphic shapes in construction paper to break down and define why we feel what feel about pictures. She uses the story of Little Red Ridinghood as illustrations. It’s quite illuminating. As a crafter, I think this book is valuable because it helps us think about what we feel about shapes. This is something we probably haven’t considered since pre-school, if we even remember. There is a definite psychological analytical aspect to this book. So, it is valuable in that it can show us why we gravitate towards certain elements, but it does not infringe on our creativity.

A Book about Design: Complicated Doesn't Make It Good and Another Book about Design: Complicated Doesn't Make It Bad are both by Mark Gonyea. Gonyea comes from more of a comic book/graphic design background. (It's quite apparent from his website Mr. Oblivious. It's a great site; I love "Rock and Cloud Meet Flame.") The styles of both books are bold, graphic, and uncomplicated. Besides being fun to look at, what he asserts is helpful as well: "Design is all about the perception of size, shape, and color". He clarifies the interrelationships between elements...in a fun way. These two books can improve crafting by helping us in the planning stages of especially complicated projects. The two books helped me to loosen up and get creative, and to arrange things in more artful, universally accepted ways. A book on color is coming out in 2010; I'm looking forward to it. All three books can be found on Amazon.