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Inspired by (ripping off) @maxleonard.bsky.social here’s a thread of books I’m reading this year (it will probably total what Max reads in a week). First up: Why history matters to graphic design by Clémence Imbert. A reexamination of why the history of the field is still relevant to students.

hands on research, Harma Staal, Miriam Rasch, Jojanneke Gijsen. This reinforces the importance of getting your hands dirty (physically and metaphorically), making, prototyping and doing

In Search of Berlin, John Kampfner (dust jacket lost somewhere). A beautiful, meandering book about the city, its history, people and psyche. Thoroughly recommend for my fellow Berlin fans

Through Witnessing. Threading the critiquing, making, teaching of design edited by Nida Abdullah, Chris Lee and Xiny Li. Exploring ways to decolonise the design curriculum through interviews and dialogues with those currently trying to do it. Really good!

Maisa in Webland. A curious and confusing book. There are some great ideas and interesting passages. The writing style is a bit off key (and riddled with errors in places). But I’m glad I read it. It also feels beautiful in the hand, as a book designer I found it weirdly satisfying to hold.

Killing Thatcher, Rory Carroll. If only that chimney stack had fallen another way…

Design Harder by @erikinternet.bsky.social A rallying call for more criticality and ethics in graphic design. A great read.

Blitzed by Norman Ohler. This was ok but fairly tedious. 150 pages of “the Nazi army did awful stuff on meth” followed by 100 pages of “Hitler’s doctor gave him another injection of opiates and crushed up animal spines again and then put cocaine in his ears”

Slow Reader: A Resource for Design Thinking and Practice, edited by Ana Paula Paid & Carolyn F. Strauss. This has some great ideas and thinking. It really resonates with me. Since having kids I seem to be trying to work 3 times as quickly as I want to. This has helped me start slowing down

Tools for Conviviality by Ivan Illich (forgot to take a pic of the cover). An interesting read. Some of the ideas have aged terribly while others are more pertinent than Illich could ever have foreseen!

What is a designer by Normal Potter. Rereading this (for the 3rd time I think) after loving it as a design student. Essential reading for anyone interested in developing a healthy mindset towards design of any kind. Interesting that he mentions the last book I read a lot, which I didn’t spot before

It’s great isn’t it.

Love Goes to Buildings on Fire by Will Hermes. This is amazing, such a rich account of an insane period of music and social history in NYC. My reading is back up to speed after the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France ate up my reading time

Low Tech Magazine, The Compressed Edition by Kris De Decker. Taken a while but I’ve really enjoyed reading this tome over the summer. It’s had a massive impact on my thinking and day to day live, hopefully lasting impacts too!