Recommendations for your library.
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
Written by my two favorite columnists from Fast Company magazine, this book is great for any firm’s undergoing change. The book “addresses one of the greatest challenges of our personal and professional lives — how to change things when change is hard. In Switch, bestselling authors Chip and Dan Heath tackle perhaps the single greatest issue of our lives: how hard it is to bring about genuine, lasting change, in our work lives, in our social endeavours and in ourselves.
You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation
Written by noted linguist Deborah Tannen, this classic book discusses gender-based differences that define and distinguish male and female communication. I strongly recommend this book to all business owners, as it provides insights about these gender-differences that can in turn improve how we communicate and negotiate with staff, clients, and vendors alike.
Designing Brand Identity, third edition
With an easy-to-follow style, step-by-step considerations, and a proven, universal five-phase process for creating and implementing effective brand identity, this book offers the tools you need, whether as a brand manager, marketer, or designer, when you’re creating or managing a brand. Written by my friend and colleague, Alina Wheeler, this book also includes wonderful case studies, many of which feature projects created by several of my clients!
AIGA Professional Practices In Graphic Design
This compilation of short essays written by leading designers and related professionals includes some insightful views and advice on professional practices — including, but not limited to, management, negotiating, marketing, legal topics (copyright, permissions, privacy, trademark), contracts, and ethics. Don’t miss the article on Payment Strategies and an expanded resource section — both penned by yours truly!
Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace
This one of a kind, deeply funny book is a must read for any in-house corporate designer or creative manager. Written by Gordon McKenzie, who worked at Hallmark Cards for thirty years, the Giant Hairball refers to “a tangled, impenetrable mass of rules, traditions, and systems — all based on what worked in the past — that exercises an inexorable pull into mediocrity.” In his own voice, Gordon explains his own “mode of dreaming, daring and doing above and beyond the rubber-stamp confines of the administrative mind-set.”
The Business of Graphic Design: A Sensible Approach to Marketing and Managing a Graphic Design Firm
I can’t say enough about this book, which unfortunately is out of print. However, I still consider it to be the bible for our industry as it contains “everything the novice or the experienced professional wants to learn about managing projects, time, people and money.” This book is an invaluable resource that should be read and re-read from cover to cover.
Business And Legal Forms For Graphic Designers
This great book, published by one of the leading publishers for the creative community (Allworth Press), includes a complete set of business and legal forms needed to run a successful business. Helpful checklists and additional information make this book a must-have for any library.
The Business Side of Creativity: The Complete Guide for Running a Graphic Design or Communications Business
A compilation of articles previously published in Foote’s Creative Business newsletter that is a good, basic how-to guide. While not as clear and concise as Ed Gold’s book, it includes answers to many issues and questions that affect our industry.
The Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing And Ethical Guidelines
The Graphic Artists Guild (GAG) is a wonderful organization that all designers and creative professionals should join. Its handbook, updated annually, surveys and distills the experience of thousands of “graphic artists,” and is a compilation of professional business practices and pricing ranges. It is a good reference book, though I often find the pricing suggestions erratic, inconsistent, and inappropriate for high-profile design firms with national clients. However, the advice is solid, especially on issues relating to usage/ ownership/copyright.
The Graphic Design Business Book
The author teamed up with eleven of the design industry’s leading experts (including yours truly) to show beginning and seasoned professionals everything they need to know to start and run a successful business. Don’t miss my own updated article on Payment Strategies!
What Is Graphic Design For?
This book “starts by exploring the issues that shape design today” and breaks down the discipline into elements. If your at a loss for words to describe what we do and how we do it, this book is for you. It describes and gives an examples of the range of design services offered by our industry – with clarity and real world examples.