Reading for Graphic Designers
Recently, I compiled a recommended reading list for graphic designers on listgeeks.com that have nothing to do with graphic design. Here are the reviews:
1. 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
This book has affected me as a designer and person more than any other book. The writing and metaphors are so visually stunning that while in school, many of my projects used them as a basis of inspiration. It’s about the history of the Buendia family and their founding of the town of Macondo. The individuals of the family and their pattern behavior over the course of 100 years is the crux of the novel. Every designer has to read this book.
2. Boo, Forever by Richard Brautigan
It’s a poem from The Pill Versus The Springhill Mine Disaster. The entire book is recommended. Brautigan is a succinct poet with a flair for abruptly apt metaphors. As designers, we have a tendency to either be terribly inarticulate or terribly superfluous. Brautigan is the excact opposite of both vices. Here is the poem:
Spinning like a ghost
on the bottom of a
top,
I’m haunted by all
the space that I
will live without
you.
3. The Portable Dorothy Parker
Parker was a sarcastic, droll, and incredibly smart writer. Her wit is prevalent in so much of our culture without much realization. As designers, wit and humor is important for survival and for injecting our work with an entertainment value. If your ego needs you to rise above any and all entertainment, you need to rethink your definition for beautiful. Quotes for instance, “This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.” Another good quote, “I can’t look you in the voice.”
4. War Talk by Arundhati Roy
By far one of the most dangerous political beliefs in this country is which religion is conservative and which is not. It trickles into our false beliefs that people can be easily categorized. It’s not limited to the toothless Nascar lover who thinks Sikhs are Muslims worth burying with bullets, but that liberal vegan who thinks all Buddhists are empathic. The dangers of religious fundamentalism is not limited to white Christians or the Taliban and can exist in any organized religious dominance.
I want designers to read this book because our community is homogenous at times; “you’re a fixed-gear owning, artisanal liquor drinking, type-loving guy in a plaid shirt? No, fucking way. ” While designers aren’t going to systematically oppress the poor because karma put them there the way conservative Hindus or Buddhists might, we do subscribe to fundmental beliefs that are dangerous to our development and industry because we believe they are immovably fundamental.
5. How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read by Pierre Bayard
The book isn’t actually about trying to convince people you’ve read things you haven’t. It’s not a book I’d recommend to a slacker kid who wants to pass a class. It’s about the cultural significance of books and how when we talk about them, we’re actually talking about how they relate to ourselves. For instance, you may have only read a couple of pieces by Shakespeare, but you could probably talk more about him than you think. He’s still important to you and your life because of his cultural contributions. As designers, communicating the cultural value of a product is such a huge factor in the success of our work. It’s important to learn how to verbalize the cultural significance of things, even if you’re not intimately involved. It’s bullshit that we necessitate involvement for understanding. See: politics.
6. Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut
A short story by Vonnegut. Our industry relies on creative competition. It’s tough to find peers who are superior to you and want them to do better than you. It’s a huge driving force in my career to improve myself. This short story tackles the idea of living in a world without the allowance of creativity or individualism. For the record, I have literally read everything by Vonnegut. My favorite novels by him are Cat’s Cradle and God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, but this piece has influenced me more.
7. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
This is arguably the best piece of American Fiction written this last century. It almost never saw the light of day. The author committed suicide. Every designer should read this book because it is a perfect description of New Orleans and cultural types in New Orleans. The colloquialisms of characters is nailed perfectly. It will help you to cope when you feel like you’re not being recognized because you’re surrounded by idiots or all the account people don’t get what you’re trying to do. The fact of the matter is, it’s not entirely true, but you’re surrounded by a confederacy of dunces. Haha. Yeah no, but read the book.
8. A Perfect Day for Bananafish by JD Salinger
This is a shorty story from 9 Stories. It’s absolutely heartbreaking. If you design for emotion, you understand that there is a twist to every thing. You can’t be superrational and expect your design to reach people. You can’t expect everyone to react in a logical manner. This story is irrational but rationally written.
9. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry
It’s a book chock full of cultural allusions but also talks about classism by culture. It’s a gentle jab at something that abounds in our industry—certain people come from certain places and we’re not expected to do more or less than our presumptions. It’s written like essays and is narrated by the two main characters.
10. The Sushi Economy by Sasha Issenberg
Designers like sushi. Sushi in our culture is riff with unexpected causes and affects. For instance, the blue fin tuna now nearly extinct was a fish that Americans hunted for goof-sport. They would catch them and just throw them out because they thought they were disgusting. The california roll was originally designed to ease Americans past their disgust of sushi. Even if you’re not about the politics of this particular food, designers have the power to change cultural perception. It’s good to read a case of that occurring.
