Let’s get this reading challenge started.

Design books from my college days.

I’ve been contemplating it for a while… I’m going to start a little personal project. I’m going to read a book about design (art, artists, designers, visual communication) once a month for a year and share my thoughts about what I read. It might be a review, a recommendation, or a smattering of random thoughts.

I think this idea was first sparked from reading Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. It’s been few months since I read the book, but I remember that he thought designers/artists should be sharing their work regularly - weekly, daily, etc - through channels like instagram, blogs, etc. It solves a few problems. It helps you stay connected (a.k.a. “network”) and gives you opportunities to self-promote without feeling skeezy. That all sounds great. But, one major problem when you apply this idea to design work is that much of my work is done under a non-disclosure agreement. (a.k.a. - I have a contract that says I agree not to share the work). Could there be something about my work I could share?

Here’s another factor feeding into this idea… For the last 8 years or so, I’ve been working part time and the rest of the time being a mom and taking care of my sons. During that time, I decided to homeschool my sons for preschool. And I also homeschooled one son for 1st grade during the pandemic. This experience has made it abundantly clear to me that you can self-educate. You can set up challenges and follow interests and learn a whole lot independently.

During those part-time years of work I learned a lot about managing time, focusing on what you value, having work/life boundaries, when to follow a routine and when to be flexible, maintaining work relationships, and more. But, I am itching to dive deeper into the part of my job that got me into it to begin with … art, design, artists, designers, and how visual stuff works.

Do you remember the few books you read in design school? (That picture above shows some of my personal design books, most of them from college.) I remember reading The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst, I remember reading Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works by Erik Spiekermann. I also read some design related fiction - The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd. And when I think about it now, those books set a precedent for how I think about design. How many design books did I read in college front to back? Uhm… 5ish? What if I just keep reading books about art and design. How will it change how I think about everything?

That’s the idea.

Now, what should I read? I’m open to design books, memoirs, biographies, re-reading things I read before.

What books have you been meaning to read?

What was a meaningful art or design book you’ve read?

What’s a design “classic” that everyone should read?