Universal principles of design Must have
William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler,
originally published in 2003
Cal Poly Library AmazonMeggs’ history of graphic design Must have
Philip B. Meggs, Alston W. Purvis, 2011
Cal Poly Library AmazonSigns and symbols: Their design and meaning
Adrian Frutiger, originally published in 1989
AmazonLess and more: The design ethos of Dieter Rams
Klaus Klemp and Keiko Ueki-Polet, 2011
AmazonUniversal methods of design
Bruce Hanington and Bella Martin, 2012
AmazonGraphic design theory
Meredith Davis, 2012
AmazonJosef Muller-Brockmann: Pioneer of Swiss graphic design
Lars Muller and Paul Rand, 1994
AmazonDesign is a job
Mike Monteiro, 2012
AmazonThe form book
Borries Schwesinger, 2010
AmazonPaul Rand
Steven Heller, 2000
AmazonEnvisioning Information
Edward R. Tufte, 1990
AmazonVisual explanations: Images and quantities, evidence and narrative
Edward R. Tufte, 1997
AmazonThe visual display of quantitative information
Edward R. Tufte, 2001
AmazonBeautiful evidence
Edward R. Tufte, 2006
AmazonPrinciples of two-dimensional design
Wucius Wong, 1972
Amazon
Note: The links on this page are not affiliate links. My only purpose for this page is to help design students, from Cal Poly or elsewhere, find information about the field. The reason all the books are linked to Amazon.com is convenience. Amazon sells virtually any book and it has very helpful user reviews for most of their products. I encourage you to read the reviews and even borrow the book from your local library before making a purchase decision. Furthermore, you should always look for the best price, online and offline. Don’t forget that Amazon (as well as other websites) sells used books too.