Aarron Walter

Resources | Bookshelf

These are some of my current and all-time favorite books on my shelf that I continue to consult for design and development guidance.

• Universal Principles of Design William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler One of my all-time favorites! A visual encyclopedia of basic design principles and how to apply them.
• The Elements of Typographic Style Robert Bringhurst Since its release this book has become the typographic bible for professional designers. Aside from being filled with excellent information, it is beautifully produced.
• Making and Breaking the Grid Timothy Samara A great introduction to layout concepts using the grid with a handsome gallery of examples.
• Grid Systems Kimberly Elam This inexpensive book does a great job of teaching designers how to use a grid system to improve layout, walking the reader through layout exercises while offering critiques of all possible solutions.
• Grid Systems in Graphic Design Josef Muller The secrets to precision grid layout systems are hidden within..
• History of Graphic Design Meggs A great reference to understand the history of type in design, and to get inspiration.
• The Visual Display of Quantitative Information Edward Tufte Part one of Tufte's 3 part series. This book investigates human perception and methods of displaying content.
• Envisioning Information Edward Tufte Tufte's second in a three part series, this book teaches designers about human perception and methods for presenting content to communicate effectively.
• Visual Explanations Edward Tufte Part three of Tufte's 3 part series. This book investigates human perception and methods of displaying content. Great diagrams!
• Thinking With Type Ellen Lupton A comfortable introduction to typography techniques, history, and nomenclature. A great place to start your typographic education.
• Transcending CSS Andy Clarke Clarke challenges his readers to think beyond the grid and the limitations of web design to create more compelling, ground breaking web sites.
• DOM Scripting Jeremy Keith A great book to introduce you to the contemporary approach to JavaScript in an unobtrusive way.
• Bulletproof Ajax Jeremy Keith The follow up book to DOM scripting exploring how to use Ajax so that the interface will work in most situations.
• Bulletproof Web Design Dan Cederholm Practical advice and techniques for building a web site that will withstand all possible display situations.
• Ambient Findability Peter Morville A great primer on the concepts of how we search for and find things.
• Designing Interfaces Jenifer Tidwell Contains a great visual listing of all user input elements, and a library of interface design patterns for page organization, navigation, and more.
• CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions Andy Budd, Simon Collison, Cameron Moll Advanced concepts in CSS from experts on the topic.
• Defensive Design for the Web Matthew Lindeman, Jason Fried A brilliant assessment of how to effectively handle user feedback, errors, forms, and general usability crisis points to make your site or web application work for your audience.
• The Complete Manual of Typography James Felici An Adobe production, this book, as the title suggests, delivers an in depth look at the history, anatomy, and art of typography.
• Pause and Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative Mark Meadows Meadows brings classic concepts of narrative to the field of interactive story telling.
• Designing with Web Standards Jeffry Zeldman An essential book for any web designer worth their salt.
• HTML for the World Wide Web with XHTML and CSS Elizabeth Castro A wonderful primer for learning XHTML and CSS.
• Reinventing Comics Scott McCloud An insightful look at the future of digital narrative as seen through comics.
• The Soft Edge Paul Levinson A look at the history of communication, the evolution of media, and their futures. Culture is communication.
• Understanding Comics Scott McCloud This book is really more about human perception and the visual display of narrative than creating a comic. Presented in the form of a comic.
• The Age of Spiritual Machines Ray Kurzweil Anticipating the dawn of Artificial Intelligence and its ramifications on the evolution of humanity.
• Snow Crash Neil Stephenson This Cyber-punk novel was the inspiration for the creation of VRML and the further development of Virtual Reality technologies.
• Neuromancer William Gibson The birth of the Cyber-punk movement, and the first use of the term "cyberspace". A must read novel for any Interactive Designer.
• Physical Computing Tom Igoe, Dan O'Sullivan A wonderful introduction into how to build interactive art using sensors, motors, and microcontrolers.