Emigre: graphic design into the digital realm - Rudy VanderLans, Zuzana Licko

Emigre retrospective. Available at the SFPL.

The ecological approach to visual perception - James J. Gibson

Found in the footnotes of “The Coming Age of Calm Technology” by Weiser/Seely Brown. At the SFPL, available for checkout.

Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams - The MIT Press

“Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams describes innovative new computational tools that can help people (even young children) explore the workings of such systems and help them move beyond the centralized mindset.”

Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Angeles


The human factor: revolutionizing the way people live with technology - Kim Vicente.


Home by Design: Transforming your house into home - Sarah Susanka

Book by Susanka at SFPL

Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature - Janine M. Benyus.

Recommended by Hav, and available at the SFPL.

Industrial design - John Heskett

Lib use only

A history of graphic design - Philip B. Meggs

Library use only

Stop stealing sheep and find out how type works - Erik Spiekerman

Library use only (special typography collection)

Toothpicks and logos: design in everyday life - John Heskett

From Jeff Howard’s CMU “Communication Design” reading list. Checkout at the SFPL.

Thinking with type: a critical guide for designers, writers, editors & students - Ellen Lupton


Visual explanations: images and quantities, evidence and narrative - Edward R. Tufte


Envisioning information - Edward R. Tufte


The visual display of quantitative information - Edward R. Tufte


Understanding comics: the invisible art - Scott McCloud


Grid systems: principles of organizing type - Kimberly Elam


The power of followership - Robert Earl Kelley

From Jeff Howard’s “Design Management” reading list from CMU. Avail. at the SFPL.

The art of the long view - Peter Schwartz


Designing business: multiple media, multiple disciplines - Clement Mok

From the “Design Management” reading list

Meditations for the humanist: ethics for a secular age - A.C. Grayling

Random find in the SFPL online catalog.

Now don’t try to reason with me; essays and ironies for a credulous age - Wayne C. Booth.

From Jeff Howard’s CMU “Interaction Design” reading list

Technopoly: the surrender of culture to technology - Neil Postman

At the SFPL.

The design of everyday things - Donald A. Norman

Available at the SFPL.

Identity and the life cycle - Erik H. Erikson

From Jeff Howard’s “Interaction Design” reading list while at CMU.