My Favorite Design Books
Twenty-two design books I keep coming back to, on logos, brands, chairs, fashion, watches and space.
The NASA Archives
Piers Bizony, Andrew Chaikin and Roger Launius
A 512-page photo history of NASA, from Project Mercury to the Mars rovers, condensed from TASCHEN's XL edition, which was researched with NASA. Co-author Roger Launius was NASA's chief historian from 1990 to 2002.1
Buy on AmazonThe Elements of Brand Design
Jens Müller and Katharina Sussek
Jens Müller and Katharina Sussek sort 110 brands into 17 chapters, each on one element of identity, from logos and pictograms to sound and motion. Long interviews with Pentagram's Paula Scher and Michael Bierut frame the book.2
Buy on AmazonArtifacts: Porsche Motorsport
Type 7
More than 250 objects from Porsche's racing history, photographed by Thomas Walk inside Porsche's sites at Flacht and Weissach across 550 pages. Andy Cruz of House Industries worked on the package and drew two new typefaces for it.3
Buy from Type 7The Making of Prince of Persia
Jordan Mechner
Jordan Mechner's journals from 1985 to 1993, kept while he built Prince of Persia for the Apple II, a project he started at 20, fresh out of college. Stripe Press published this annotated, illustrated edition in 2020 for the game's 30th anniversary.4
Buy on AmazonThe Computer
Jens Müller, edited by Julius Wiedemann
A history of computing from the first ideas for a calculating machine to today's laptops and wearables, told through rare photographs and ad campaigns. It covers the work of Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage, Alan Turing and Grace Hopper alongside IBM, Apple, Atari and Google.5
Buy on AmazonThe Design Book
Phaidon Editors
More than 500 products from the last five centuries, one object per page, from Le Corbusier and the Eameses to the paper clip. At 163 by 123 mm it fits in one hand, and the 2020 edition adds 30 products from the previous 15 years.6
Buy on Amazon1000 Chairs
Charlotte and Peter Fiell
Charlotte and Peter Fiell's encyclopedia of chairs, from Thonet's bentwood chairs and Breuer's Wassily chair to Ron Arad's armchairs. First published by TASCHEN in 1997, it was revised and updated in 2017.7
Buy on AmazonNike: Form Follows Motion
Edited by Mateo Kries and Glenn Adamson
The catalogue for the Vitra Design Museum's 2024 exhibition curated by Glenn Adamson, which the publisher calls the first close look at Nike's archive of footwear and apparel. It runs 352 pages with 474 colour illustrations, bound in a seaweed-based cover with foil embossing.8
Buy on AmazonHerman Miller: A Way of Living
Edited by Amy Auscherman, Sam Grawe and Leon Ransmeier
Phaidon's history of Herman Miller, with the work of Ray and Charles Eames, George Nelson and Alexander Girard across 614 pages. The 2023 edition marks the company's centennial with a cloth cover and an updated timeline.9
Buy on AmazonYves Saint Laurent Catwalk
Suzy Menkes and Olivier Flaviano
Every Yves Saint Laurent haute couture collection from 1962 to 2002, shown through original catwalk photography across 632 pages. It includes Le Smoking, the first tuxedo suit for women, from 1966, with an introduction by Suzy Menkes.10
Buy on AmazonGucci: The Making Of
Edited by Frida Giannini
Rizzoli's history of the House of Gucci, edited by Frida Giannini and published alongside the opening of the Gucci Museum in Florence. It runs 384 pages with about 700 colour and black-and-white illustrations.11
Buy on AmazonDesign of the 20th Century
Charlotte and Peter Fiell
An A to Z of twentieth-century designers and design schools, from Art Nouveau and Art Deco through Pop and High-Tech to minimalism. Charlotte and Peter Fiell have written more than 70 design books, including 1000 Chairs.12
Buy on AmazonThe Monocle Guide to Better Living
Monocle
The Monocle team's first book, published by gestalten in 2013, with chapters on the city, culture, travel, food and work. It surveys products and ideas built to last across 408 pages in a linen hardcover.13
Buy on AmazonThe Interior Design Handbook
Frida Ramstedt
Frida Ramstedt's rulebook for rooms, covering the golden ratio, coffee-table sizing, light-fixture heights and mood boards, with illustrations by Mia Olofsson. Ramstedt founded Trendenser, one of Sweden's largest interior design blogs, and the book first came out in Sweden in 2019.14
Buy on AmazonThe Package Design Book
Pentawards
Hundreds of Pentawards-winning packages from 2008 to 2016, sorted into five categories, from beverages to luxury, and 50 sub-categories. Pentawards runs an international competition for packaging design.15
Buy on AmazonThe Watch Book: Rolex
Gisbert L. Brunner
Gisbert L. Brunner's illustrated history of Rolex, from its founding in 1905 to 2025 releases such as the Land-Dweller. The fourth edition, redesigned in English and German, marks 100 years of the Oyster case in 2026.16
Buy on AmazonLogo Beginnings
Jens Müller, edited by Julius Wiedemann
More than 6,000 logos from 1870 to 1940, sorted into pictorial, form, effect and typographic categories, with ten case studies including 3M, Shell and Olivetti. Author Jens Müller is a professor of corporate design in Dortmund.17
Buy on AmazonNASA Graphics Standards Manual
Richard Danne and Bruce Blackburn
Danne & Blackburn's 1975 manual for NASA's identity, the one that introduced the worm logo, scanned from Richard Danne's own copy. Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth funded this reissue on Kickstarter in 2015.18
Buy on AmazonParks
Brian Kelley
More than 300 US National Park Service maps, brochures and ephemera from Brian Kelley's collection, spanning more than 100 years. It ends with Massimo Vignelli's Unigrid, the system behind the Park Service's black-banded brochures.19
Buy on AmazonThe Art of Noticing
Rob Walker
Rob Walker's 131 short exercises for paying closer attention to everyday life. Walker teaches in the Products of Design MFA program at the School of Visual Arts and has written for The New York Times and The Atlantic.20
Buy on AmazonDesign for the Real World
Victor Papanek
Victor Papanek's case for morally and environmentally responsible design, first published in 1971. Thames & Hudson says it has been translated into more than twenty languages.21
Buy on AmazonVirgil Abloh. Nike. ICONS
Virgil Abloh
Virgil Abloh's record of The Ten, his reworking of ten Nike sneakers including the Air Jordan 1 and Air Max 90, built from prototypes and his text messages with Nike designers. It was designed with London studio Zak Group.22
Buy on Amazon
Sources
- 1The NASA Archives: taschen.com
- 2The Elements of Brand Design: taschen.com
- 3Artifacts: Porsche Motorsport: type7.com
- 4The Making of Prince of Persia: press.stripe.com
- 5The Computer: taschen.com
- 6The Design Book: phaidon.com
- 71000 Chairs: taschen.com
- 8Nike: Form Follows Motion: shop.design-museum.de
- 9Herman Miller: A Way of Living: phaidon.com
- 10Yves Saint Laurent Catwalk: thamesandhudson.com
- 11Gucci: The Making Of: rizzoliusa.com
- 12Design of the 20th Century: taschen.com
- 13The Monocle Guide to Better Living: gestalten.com
- 14The Interior Design Handbook: penguinrandomhouse.com
- 15The Package Design Book: taschen.com
- 16The Watch Book: Rolex: us.gestalten.com
- 17Logo Beginnings: taschen.com
- 18NASA Graphics Standards Manual: standardsmanual.com
- 19Parks: standardsmanual.com
- 20The Art of Noticing: penguinrandomhouse.com
- 21Design for the Real World: thamesandhudson.com
- 22Virgil Abloh. Nike. ICONS: taschen.com