Last week I was browsing at Barnes and Noble for design books. I went to school for Graphic Design but really haven’t been practicing it much so I wanted to see if I could find some books that would help get my mind back in the “designer” mode.
I love Barnes and Noble as much as the next guy, especially when it has a Starbucks in it, but I’ve found that you’ll pay nearly twice the price in the store as you can get the item on line. Now I know what you’re saying, “if everyone bought on-line, there wouldn’t be any retail store to look at those items.” To that I say, if the difference was only a few dollars, I’d buy it at B&N but when the difference was $30, I’ll go to Amazon, thank-you very much. At any rate, I found a set of books there that made me really start to think about how I was designing.
Jim Krause as an excellent set of books about sparking the designers creativity. “The designers complete Index” is a great set of books that gives a designer some food for creativity. From logo ideas, to page layout ideas and a wealth of color combinations, I found this set of books well worth it. If you buy the entire set, you get a nifty box to carry them in (okay, not much of a selling point) but you’ll pay nearly $70 for all the books individually. Buying the entire set only cost me $37 at Amazon which is a worth while investment if you need some creativity sparks like I did.
Mr. Krause also has several other books about type and general idea sparking which are great too. If you’re a designer or just wish you were, definitely take a look at these books at Barnes & Noble and buy them there if you only want one or two. If you want the whole set, definitely check out Amazon.
Here’s a link to Jim’s website.