A COMPENDIUM OF MEDIA that I find inspire me as a designer, illustrator + professor.

My attempts to directly relate all books, films, periodicals + websites on this list to visual art do not belie the validity of some media. You will find something that applies to or enriches your understanding of art + design in each of these items. 

I do solemnly swear to keep this list as up-to-date as I, a human, possibly can. 

…

books + artist books

The Maker’s Hand

Ken Campbell

The Red Square

El Lizistky

Bon Bon Mots

Julie Chen

Entropy and Art

Rudolph Arnheim

Mythologies: The Complete Edition, in a New Translation

Roland Barthes

Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography

Roland Barthes

On Photography

Susan Sontag

Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture

Sturken & Cartwright

Things I have learned in my life so far

Sagmeister

The Education of an Illustrator

Arisman, Heller

Making and Breaking the Grid: A graphic Design Layout Workshop

Samara

Grid Systems in Graphic Design

Josef Muller-Brockmann

Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible

Lovell, Kemp, Ive

Designing Design

Hara

Visible Signs

Crow

Massive Change

Mau

Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature

Benyus

Force of Nature: Site Installations

by Ten Japanese Artists

Mark Sloan, Brad Thomas

Creative Confidence

Kelley, Kelley

Visual Intelligence

Barry

Designing Type

Cheng

Chasing the Perfect

Ilyin

Don’t Make Me Think

Krug

Everything is Illuminated

Foer

Crisp: Universal Traveler

Koberg, Bagnall

Brand Thinking

Millman

Outliers

Gladwell

Paper Prototyping

Snyder

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits 

and the Art of Battling Giants

Gladwell

Thinking in Systems

Meadows, Wright

Unjustified Texts

Kinross

The Artists’ + Writers’ Cookbook

Beryl and Barbara Turner Sachs Barr