Favourite Design Books

Ambrose / Harris : The Basics Design

A fantastic set of books that focus on describing, unpacking and giving examples of a specific design element. These books include Format, Layout, Typography, Image, Colour, Print & Finish and Grids amongst others. A very good start to understanding different graphic elements and their communicative importance. They lead you the reader through a gradual unpacking to the more advanced usages of the specced device. giving examples along the way.

Kathy Abbott : Bookbinding a step-by-step guide

As its title very eloquently explains, this book leads you through uses of a wide variety of bookbinding tools and techniques. It then unpacks a mixture of styles of bookbinding and containers, taking you through an illustrated step by step process from start to finish. Some of these include single-section bindings, multi-section bindings and various portfolio cases.