All graphic designers have one thing in common – in order to gain insight on tackling a design project, they often resort to books. These books are guides and how-to manuals, guiding designers in their daily work. For many, these books are worth their weight in gold.

Today we’ll highlight the five most recommended books that all graphic designers can benefit from. For simplicity sake, we will mention books that cater to designers new to the graphic design field.

1. The Elements of Graphic Design

Author: Alex White

Price: About $17

The author, Alex White, discusses the basics of graphic design in easy to understand English without too much technical jargon. Key concepts such as space, unity, typography and page architecture are covered in great detail. It also goes back in time and briefly highlights the history of graphic design. A must buy for new designers!

2. How To Be A Graphic Designers Without Losing Your Soul

Author: Adrian Shaughnessy

Price: About $17

This book received critical acclaim ever since it made its debut. The catchy title of the book compliments the smooth writing style of the author, Adrian Shaughnessy. In the book, Shaughnessy covers topics that are typically ignored in graphic design schools, such as building a career as a graphic designer. While there aren’t any tips or suggestions, the philosophy of the graphic design business is discussed to help new designers understand the practical side of the design world.

3. The Art of Color

Author: Johannes Itten

Price: $349

Although this book is slightly pricy for design students, it’s worth the money! Not many graphic design books cover the topic of color in detail; this book is devoted completely to color. Color theory is discussed in detail along with concepts like color effects, impression, mixing etc. What’s really exciting is the way the author, Johannes Itten, approaches the entire concept of coloring. Itten makes a very good point of how the mind and the eye are always working together to strike a balance when analyzing a sketch. Truly a valuable resource for the graphic designers!

4. Thinking with Type

Author: Ellen Lupton

Price: $8

There are dozens of books available on typography, but none of them talk about typography in as much depth and detail as this gem from Ellen Lupton. Easily affordable, the book offers a practical approach to using typography. Lupton references many real-life examples from numerous graphic designers. I highly recommend this book for students and undergraduates.

5. Making and Breaking The Grid

Author: Timothy Samara

Price: About $75

No one can deny the importance of grids and layouts. Many designers see it as the most crucial of all design elements. Others despise it and believe it makes all layouts look the same. This book will set the record straight about grids including what they are, how they work and how they can be best utilized in graphic designs. For $75, this book is a steal!

Though there are many more books on graphic design, these five have been handpicked by many new designers as their favorites. Designers should get hold of these books at their earliest convenience – trust me, its money worth spent!

A way for designers to keep up-to-date on the latest trends is to read graphic design books! Luckily, there are many affordable and quality design books to choose from.

Let’s highlight a few books that designers should get their hands on. Not only are they informative, they are also quite interesting. And best of all, they cost less than $25!

1. Graphic Design: The New Basics

Author: Ellen Lupton & Jennifer Cole Phillips

Price:  About $24

This book by Ellen Lupton is a great revisit to the basics that designers often overlook. Through visual representations, the writer encourages designers to abandon the cut and paste mentality and instead offer something unique. What I liked most about the book was the brief commentary that demonstrates design fundamentals. Both professionals and students can benefit from this book.

2. Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium All-in-One for Dummies

Author: Jennifer Smith, Christopher Smith & Fred Gerantabee

Price: About $24

I just love some of the dummy guides! They are especially great for new designers and students. This one is a must-have for graphic designers who have are learning to use Adobe’s Creative Suite or are currently exploring its various individual programs. This book essentially contains essentially 8 books in one and reviews each program of Creative Suite individually. If you are a beginner with using Adobe Creative Suite then this is one book you do not want to miss out on!

3. Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills

Author: David Sherwin

Price: About $16

This book has the right inspiration for turning ideas into designs. Designers that want to experiment with new ideas and concepts to impress clients will find this book a great read. It is full of exercises that graphic designers can use as homework to broaden their skills.

The 80 challenges are essentially mini-design projects that are meant to challenge designers to think outside the box and to also give them a taste of real life design projects. Each exercise includes visual solutions from other designers, including their background experiences to further enhance the reader’s creative arsenal.

4. Graphic Design, Referenced

Author: Bryony Gomez-Palacio

Price:  About $24

To get a better grasp of things, it is always better to get a good understanding of its history which is the objective of this book. Designers will find historical moments in graphic design arena and landmark projects in this book. They will also get to meet some of the gurus of the graphic design industry. There are over 2000 design projects mentioned in the book, thus there’s a lot to learn from!

The author has divided the book into four sections including: Principles (discusses graphic design ideas and concepts), Knowledge (lists resources, online and off, related to graphic design), Representatives (designers, graphic gurus) and Practice (illustrates practical, real life design examples).

5. How To Think Like a Great Graphic Designer

Author: Debbie Millman

Price: $15

The author of this book, Debbie Millman has been in the design industry for over 25 years. How do successful graphic designers think? What skills do they have and how they acquired them? This book peaks inside some of the most creative minds in the business. It is filled with detailed interviews of prominent design gurus such as David Carson and Milton Glaser. They both share their thought process, design approaches, opinions and experiences. This is an invaluable guide for any designer.

6. Color Design Workbook: A Real World Guide to Using Color in Graphic Design

Author: Adams Morioka

Price: Under $15

Not many books talk only about colors; most that do only devote a couple of chapters to it. Adams Morioka saw the need and put together an entire book on this very important subject. Graphic designers need to understand color concepts from the very beginning. Topics like color theory, color index, color mixing and color composition should be all too familiar to them. In this book, the reader gets a detailed account of all things related to color including the foundation concepts.

7. The Little Black Book of Design

Author: Adam Judge

Price: $10

Flipping through the pages of this book, readers will find specific design principles shared by the author along with some common client issues that designers run into. For example, the book talks about client’s persistence on things they may not be familiar with it. This book will help to explain these types of situations, which is something all graphic designers can relate to.

There are a multitude of inexpensive design books and we could go on forever discussing them. No matter the book, the thing to take away is the practical experiences mentioned along with the in-depth technical explanation. These have broadened by mind and I am sure readers will feel the same way. Bottom line, you will be a better designer after reading these books.