5 must reads for every designer

Not the usual design book recommendations

Hi, I’m Maureen and I work as a product designer and design content creator. The Cursor Magazine is my online publication on design, workshop facilitation and career.

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I have a confession to make. I have read very few ‘must read’ designer books. In fact, I’ve never even read The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman. That might be a sin in the designer world.

I prefer to learn about design in a hands-on way. I have a hard time reading theory about a certain design method or tool and then applying that knowledge.

That’s not to say I don’t like reading - I love it! I’ve found that many books that actually helped me in my career aren’t necessarily design books but rather books that teach me about product and ways of working.

Here are my 5 favorite reads…

1. Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule by Paul Graham

This article by Paul Graham has been around for a good while and I’ve read it in the beginning of my UX career. I still return to it every once in a while because the more I progress in my career, the more it strikes true.

In this blog, Paul Graham explains how “makers” (like developers, designers) work differently than managers. To get into the flow of creating, you need blocks of time to think, focus, create. This is different for managers, who use their meeting time to make decisions and are not as strongly affected by a day broken up in a series of 30-minute meetings.

Read the article on Paul Graham’s blog: Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule

2. The People Vs Tech: How the Internet is killing Democracy by Jamie Bartlett

This book really made me question if pursuing a FAANG job or other high profile tech job is something I’d actually wanted or would feel comfortable with. This book argues that digital innovations are undermining democratic values and empowering authoritarian tendencies (for example the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal). Jamie Bartlett urges for a reassessment of our relationship with technology to preserve democratic principles.

Even though the book is written with a very critical view on tech and I don’t agree with everything the author writes, it has been a very insightful and impactful book to read. I think it’s a must for every designer working in tech - or considering it.

The People vs. Tech on Goodreads

3. The Culture Map by Erin Meyer

Though this book might be a bit overgeneralising whole nations and cultures, I found it a very insightful read on how different cultures communicate, make decisions, build relationships and regard authority. Especially when working in an international team this can shed some light on why your colleagues act the way they do.

The Culture Map on Goodreads

4. The Case Study Factory by UX Collective (Fabricio Teixeira, Caio Braga)

This is an essay that I’d recommend to every designer who’s building or updating their portfolio. It lays out common mistakes with portfolios and case studies and why so many portfolios look the same today.

If you’ve heard about ‘cookie-cutter portfolios’ before and you want to know how to do things differently, this essay is a great place to start.

Read the essay on UX Collective: The Case Study Factory

5. Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want by Alexander Osterwalder

I’m a big fan of the books that Strategyzer puts out, because they’re all very hands-on but this book really made an impact on me as a designer. The Value Proposition Canvas is not just a handy tool to build customer profiles and arrive at new value propositions, but personally I think the real benefit is that it gives you a tool to talk the language of non-designers.

Value Proposition Design: How to Create Product and Services Customers Want on Goodreads

✨ Bonus: Good Services by Lou Downe

This is a bit of a cheat, because it actually is a design book. One about designing services. Now you might be thinking: what is a service and how do you design it? That’s exactly the question Lou Downe answers in this book. To give you an example: if you ever struggled filling out taxpapers or lost your way on the website of your local municipality (shout out to all my readers who have first-hand experience with the German Burgeramt) you already experienced what a bad services looks like. What can we do to make those better or even good?

Visit the website good.services

🩷 PS: None of these titles are affiliate links or sponsored. If you’re looking to buy one of those books, why not support your local bookstore? They can oftentimes also order books for you if they don’t have it in the shop.