Over the past couple of days I’ve been asking people in my corner of Twitter for suggestions for classic book titles from subject areas that are not data visualisation but that do hold many interesting related ideas, theories and concepts. Things that we can draw from and apply to our understanding of data visualisation.
This is a list of top 3’s based on responses on Twitter. I know that there is a good chance some purists or practitioners from these fields will likely sit their cringing at some of the choices, if that’s the case please help improve and refine via the comments section below!
Journalism
The Universal Journalist, by David Randall
The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect, by Bill Kovach, Tom Rosenstiel
Inside Reporting: A Practical Guide to the Craft of Journalism, by Tim Harrower
News/publication design
The Newspaper Designer’s Handbook, by Tim Harrower
The Best of News Design 34th Edition, by Society for News Design (Contributor)
The Modern Magazine: Visual Journalism in the Digital Age, byJeremy Leslie
Architecture
How to Read Buildings: A Crash Course in Architecture, by Carol Davidson Cragoe
Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan, by Rem Koolhaas
Precedents in Architecture: Analytic Diagrams, Formative Ideas, and Partis, by Roger H. Clark, Michael Pause
Game Design
What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy: Revised and Updated Edition, by James Paul Gee
The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses, by Jesse Schell
Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design, by Scott Rogers
Graphic Design
Graphic Design: A Concise History, by Richard Hollis
100 Ideas that Changed Graphic Design, by Steven Heller
Graphic Design, by Milton Glaser
Advertising Design
Creative Advertising: An Introduction, by Miriam Sorrentino
The Advertising Concept Book: Think Now, Design Later, by Pete Barry
Ogilvy on Advertising, by David Ogilvy
Product Design
The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, by Nir Eyal, Ryan Hoover
Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams, by Klaus Klemp, Keiko Ueki-Polet
Cartography
How Maps Work: Representation, Visualization, and Design, by Alan M. MacEachren
You are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination, by Katharine Harmon
Cartography: Thematic Map Design, by Borden D Dent, Jeff Torguson, Thomas W. Hodler
Cartoons
How About never – is Never Good for You?: My Life in Cartoons, by Bob Mankoff
The Naked Cartoonist: Exposing Your Creativity, Uncover Your Imagination, Bare Your Wit, by Robert Mankoff
Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers, by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Marcos Mateu-Mestre
Comics
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, by Scott McCloud
Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels, by Scott McCloud
Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative, by Will Eisner
