25 Books for Design Inspiration

Im always looking for new sources of inspiration. While I mostly do web design related work, I find just about every form creativity inspiring. Anything from photography to digital inspiration can help inspire me. If nothing else, looking at these variety of inspirational sources at least gets my creative juices flowing. There are tones of great galleries online that showcase anything from business card designs to great website designs, but nothing really compares to a great coffee table book or design reference book.

Im a sucker for great inspiration book. So, I thought I’d share some of my favorites with. While all of the below books are pretty good sources of inspiration, my favorite are the Expose book of digital art and the photography of Mark Seliger.

What are your favorite books for inspiration?

Digital Illustration

These books include some of the best digital art in the world. Many of the books listed below are aprt of a series that come out every year or so. I highly suggest checking out the Expose books.

Comic Art Now

Expose: Digital Art in the Known Universe

Exotique: Worlds Most Beautiful Characters

Painter: Worlds Finest Art

D’artiste: Matte Painting : Digtal Artists Master Class

Logo Design

Having a handful of logo design books to reference can be a great way to give creative block the boot. These books not only showcase plenty of great logos, but some also explain the thoughts behind the logo.

Logo Design

Really Cool Logos Explained by Professionals

LogoLounge: 2,000 International Identities by Leading Designers

Los Logos 4

Logology

Business Card Design

Recently I did a post on 23 Essential Resources for Business Card Design. I just thought I would share some more great books on the topic of great business card design.

Best of Business Card Design 8

Business Cards: The Art of Saying Hello

The Design Box Letterhead Design Cards: 50 Graphic Design Layout Ideas

The Big Book of Business Card

Print’s Best Letterheads & Business Cards 5

Letterhead Designs

Its amazing how much great print design can inspire great web designs. Im always looking at letterhead and other print related books for ideas on layouts and design for websites.

Big Book of Letterheads

Graphis Letterhead 7

The Big Book of Designs for Letterheads and Websites

Design Rules for Letterheads: Over 75 Examples from the Simple to the Spectacular

Letterhead and LOGO Design 9

Photography

When all else fails I turn to these photography books. These images are so powerful and filled with color and creativity that you can help be be inspired by them. If you need some bold color inspiration, I suggest and of the David LaChapelle books.

Through the Lens: National Geographic’s Greatest Photographs

Physiognomy: The Mark Seliger Photographs

Vanity Fair: The Portraits: A Century of Iconic Images

David LaChapelle Stern Portfolio

Hotel Lachapelle