One of life’s great simple pleasures is flicking through the pages of a well designed book, at least from the perspective of a graphic designer.

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In the interest of shining a light on the beauty of design related publications, we’ve asked our design team to let us in on what books they’ve recently added to their collections:

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Nick, Lead Graphic Designer

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New Utilitarian, Viction

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New Utilitarian curates the work of designers and studios approaching their practice from a trend-devoid, holistic perspective. Utilitarian design draws from classic design principles such as form follows function, and merges simplicity, technology and futurism into a strong and striking contemporary visual language.

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Charles, Senior Graphic Designer

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Shape Grammars, Jannis Maroscheck 

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An amazing insight into the power of technology and production systems. This book has been a reference point for a bunch of different projects, sketches and even motion pieces of mine during the past year. It’s a great example of how far production and systematic graphic forms can be taken.

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Simon, Graphic Designer

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The Book of Signs, by Rudolf Koch

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The book of signs provides a great collection of primitive and mediaeval symbols collected, drawn and explained by typographer Rudolf Koch. It shows a graphic history of the development of written communication and offers a great insight into the psychology of the primitive mind.

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The book is divided into 14 categories ranging from Medieval church monograms to house and holding marks. 

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Amy, Junior Graphic Designer

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U.K. Rave Flyers 1991-1996 & New York Rave Flyers 1991-1995, Colpa Press

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These two books form part of a wider series documenting early to mid-90s rave flyers. What I love most is how well they capture the evolving landscape of design during this period, marked by the increasing prevalence of digital techniques alongside analog and handmade imagery. Moreover, the contrast in styles between regions is fascinating. UK posters often delve into surrealism and draw from sci-fi, while those from New York heavily incorporate consumerist and commercial elements, featuring iconic brands like Absolut Vodka, Lego, and Marlboro.

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