DESIGN BOOKLIST

The following list is a collection of books recommended by Tim Vlamis, Managing Director Business Development, Pioneer Balloon Co., representing various disciplines that relate to design and art and how to analyze, interpret, and understand it. Tim’s thoughts on each book are also included.

Most books should be available on Amazon except the privately published books from the American Institute of Floral Design and Pioneer Balloon Company. Please contact Marty@ibaonline.net if you have a book that you would like to add to this recommended reading list.

1. American Institute of Floral Design, Book of Floral Terminology, AIFD 2000

The official compendium of the leading design association in the floral industry, it contains very clear definitions of the principles and elements of design along with more information about flowers, plants, and designs than you ever thought possible.

2. Krome Barratt, Logic & Design in Art, Science, & Mathematics, originally published in 1980 in G.B., 1989 Design Books

An absolute tour de force of a book. There are LOTS of pictures and visual explanations of concepts connecting mathematics, art, composition, and design. If you’re only going to read one of the books on this list, I’d probably recommend this one as the best overall that combines various disciplines.

3. Stephen Few, Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten, Analytics Press 2004

Exceptionally good guide to developing effective communication tools for businesses and other organizations who need to share and present quantitative information. Few is a prominent “evangelist” in the world of Business Intelligence software (BI) in the development of management reporting tools and dashboards.

4. Rita Gilbert, Living With Art, McGraw Hill 1997

Superb book on fine art covering all the major media, movements, and artists with a particularly strong summary of the principles and elements of design. It’s like a History of Art survey course.

5. Nathan Goldstein, Design and Composition, Prentice Hall 1989

Excellent basic analysis of “fine art”, i.e. paintings. Strictly deals with the in depth analysis of work on canvas. Has extensive explanations of many concepts, although the author doesn’t follow the traditional “principles and elements” lingo.

6. Donald D. Hoffman, Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See W.W. Norton & Co. 2000

Hoffman offers a foundation in the cognitive processes which underlie our ability to see and interpret the world around us. Filled with clear explanations, examples optical illusions, and insights that are practically useful in design settings, Hoffman’s work is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the principles of design.

7. Douglas R. Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, Basic Books 1979

Pulitzer Prize winning book integrating the number theory of Gödel with the art of Escher with the music of Bach along with a healthy dose of Zen philosophy, formal logic, and the dialogues of Lewis Carroll. Ranging from haiku to typographical number theory and from computer compilers to DNA and genetic structures this book will blow you away with its depth and its genius. A beautiful, beautiful creation.

8. H. E. Huntley, The Divine Proportion: A Study in Mathematical Beauty, Dover Publications 1970

Interesting treatment of phi, aka the golden proportion, and its universal appeal. This book ranges across math, music, geometry, nature, art, and more.

9. Wassily Kandinsky, Point and Line to Plane, originally published in 1926.

Dover Publications 1979

THE seminal explanation of modern art or as it also known, non-objective painting. Kandinsky analyzes and explores paintings that include abstract figures, motifs, and markings. This book had a profound influence in 20^th century art and music and helps the reader understand how to appreciate modern art that doesn’t “look like anything”. Like the art it serves to explain, the pleasure in reading it comes from the effort required to work through the text and visual samples. Challenging but very educational.

10. Mario Livio, The Golden Ratio: The Story Of Phi, The World’s Most Astonishing Number, Broadway Books 2002

Fascinating account of the number phi, aka the golden ratio, golden mean, golden section, extreme and mean ratio, ф. The author walks the reader through the derivation and history of the number and spends quite a bit of time “debunking” enthusiastic supporters of phi who find it in almost every famous work of art. Well written and accessible although in my opinion the author spends too much time smugly correcting what he thinks are inaccurate analyses.

11. Jane E. Miller, The Chicago Guide to Writing About Numbers, University of Chicago Press 2004

Could serve as a “style guide” for publications and editors and writers from all backgrounds who have to design graphics that present numbers. Practical and approachable.

12. Donald A. Norman, The Design of Everyday Things, Doubleday 1988

One of my favorite books that teaches us that “design” is not just for paintings, but is all around us. Anyone who creates anything, from software to equipment and from marketing programs to cost systems, can learn from the concepts presented and explained in this book. Get ready for a lot of “psychology of the user”.

13. Dan Pedoe, Geometry and the Visual Arts, Dan Pedoe, Dover Publications 1976

If you like math, and in particular, geometry, and want to learn more about the structure of fine art you’ll love this book. The author explains how the famous “Renaissance” artists combined their knowledge of mathematics with their art. It also includes a good chapter on Euclid and the foundation of geometry. Perhaps not for the mathematically shy.

14. Clifford A. Pickover, Computers, Pattern, Chaos, and Beauty: Graphics from an Unseen World, St. Martin’s Press, 1990

Really challenging book in which the author combines chaos and complexity theory with programming graphics on a computer. It’s filled with fractals, iterative sequences, feedback loops and the like. The pictures are amazing and many of the ideas are very interesting. Includes programming code for different images and has a lot of challenging math (for example, it covers osculatory packing of finite areas using circles and spheres and 4-D Quaternion Julia sets.) The pictures are really cool, but please don’t ask me to explain the math in this book.

15. Leonard Shlain, Art & Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, & Light William Morrow 1991

The author puts forward the idea that all developments in physics have been anticipated by developments in art. Fascinating juxtaposition of history, science, art, and philosophy. Great way to expand your knowledge of history and see an excellent example of transferring concepts from one discipline to another.

16. Joshua Taylor, Learning to Look: A Handbook for the Visual Arts, The University of Chicago Press 1981

Introductory overview of analysis of the composition of works of “fine art” along with some basic architectural analysis. Includes a section on techniques including lithography, wood blocks, etchings, painting techniques, etc.

17. Edward Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information 2^nd Edition”, Graphics Press 2001

The definitive, classic work on how to design effective tables, graphs, and charts. Brilliant and ground breaking work that is beautifully published. If you have ever produced an Excel graph or a PowerPoint slide, you need to read Tufte’s stuff (he’s also published several follow-on titles which expand upon the foundational premise of TVDoQI).

18. Gary Wells and Gill MacGregor, Design Basics with Balloons, Pioneer Balloon 1996

Pioneer Balloon’s take on the principles and elements of design as they apply to balloon arrangements and balloon decor.

19. Robin Williams, The Non-Designer’s Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice, Peachpit Press 1994

Superbly written, easy to understand, simply the best basic book I’ve come across on basic layout and design with typography. If you’ve ever been tempted to break out all the fonts on your computer and design your own brochure, this book will show you how to be effective and avoid the mistakes most beginners make.

20. Howard Wainer, Graphic Discovery: A Trout in the Milk and Other Visual Adventures, Princeton University Press, 2005

Entertaining read about the graphic presentation of numbers. Not as powerful as Tufte’s work, but offers some different insights and observations.

21. Colin Ware, Information Visualization, Second Edition: Perception for Design, Morgan Kaufman Publications 2004

Ware explains the scientific foundations of visualization. Comprehensive in its scope, it doesn’t exemplify the same principles in its own form that it attempts to explain.