In 2021, while I was rocking the role of Creative Director at iD EAST, I put together this list of reads for designers, splitting it between Russian and English gems. I aimed to dodge the usual snooze-fest stuff, bringing in some fresh, off-the-beaten-path picks that span the whole design universe. It’s all about connecting you to the trends and ideas out there, making sure every piece on this list lights up that creative spark.
Books in Russian
"The Book About My Letters" by Yuri Gordon
I've long been a fan of fonts and Yuri Gordon's work, and naturally, I was among the first to sign up for the crowdfunding of this book. I adore the author's voice, and the book's design truly kicks inspiration into gear, especially when you're stuck on a task, typically in graphics or searching for branding solutions, and the internet doesn't offer much to see, as usual, trend upon trend.
"Many Letters: The Best Interviews from 'Font' Magazine"
An impressively substantial and unique collection of interviews with top Russian and international typographers, calligraphers, and designers, not to mention the illustrations and the publication's design. Like any, I hope, good designer and art director, I consider it my duty to keep up with the evolution of typography, the font design industry, and related disciplines, primarily, for example, licensing.
The book provides a multifaceted view of where the field is headed, what trends can be observed in the future, and allows a little peek into the minds of all these wonderful people, learning how they find ideas, overcome their challenges, and build their own information field.
"Soviet Fashion 1917—1991: An Illustrated Album" by Megan Virtanen
In university, I studied the history and theory of fashion, and although I immediately moved into digital design and interface design afterward, I never lost my interest in fashion as a discipline and cultural phenomenon reflecting the life and moods around us, so I periodically explore new artifacts from this area.
Soviet fashion, as a phenomenon that formed in a rather closed country while simultaneously during the era of globalization, is of immense interest. On one hand, as if there was no fashion, on the other — there were clear trends, borrowings, and reflections on ideological themes. As far as I remember, this is the first such detailed study of the phenomenon from our past, and like Megan Wirtanen's lectures, I would recommend all designers looking for and wanting to find non-obvious cultural and visual codes in our past to explore it.
"An Essay on Typography" by Eric Gill
A concise yet fundamental work on typography, reflecting the musings of one of the industry's pillars. Eric Gill vehemently opposed rigid thinking, fought against the clichés in the graphics of his time—Victorianism and other "antique" styles—and believed in industrial progress and industrialization. Reading such thoughts is interesting now, almost a hundred years later, during a similarly pivotal period.
"The Personal MBA" by Josh Kaufman
As has become traditional in my second list of books, I include something for designers ready to leap beyond their limits. Of course, it's not a complete MBA program, but this book fully provides knowledge on business practices and a plethora of frameworks that can be immediately applied to pet projects. This book has been helpful in my periodic work with startups. I don't particularly want to delve into others' operational processes, but observing them from the outside and understanding them more deeply than before makes it easier for me to filter out potentially failing projects and gather the most suitable solutions for all the rest.
Books in English
"Super Normal" by Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa
An extremely useful book not only for industrial designers but for all designers in general. Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa explore the concept of super-normality through 204 objects created by various designers and beyond (like the noteworthy object No. 15, a goose egg). The essence is in finding the most normal household items from all objects based on their distinctive characteristics: a paper bin designed with a slight tilt for easier access; a calculator of optimal size, not too small, not too large, just as it should be, "maximally normal"; paper clips with balls at the ends to avoid scratching the paper.
Discovering such objects in one’s life, it becomes difficult to switch to less sophisticated alternatives simply because of how well "maximally normal" things perform their tasks. By embracing such tangible ideas, we too implement similar practices in our work—creating forms with a minimal number of layout switches, placing many interface controls closer to the screen center in mobile apps (not immediately obvious, but maximally convenient), and other similar micro-interactions.
"Designing Design" by Kenya Hara
Some designers in our team and I have long been fans of Muji, the Japanese company that produces almost everything needed for a normal life, with the mission of "quality goods without brand labels." Their products, whether toothbrushes, T-shirts compressed into a cube, or exquisite notebooks, attract us both aesthetically and functionally, making us want to learn what's behind it all. And behind it all is Kenya Hara, the creative director of Muji.
In this book, he discusses the philosophy of his brand, the approach to creating and manufacturing various items, searching for ideas worldwide, and design as a discipline in general. Like their products, we deeply resonate with their ideology of framing design as a means to significantly improve and simplify daily life without imposing a brand, parasitic marketing, and the like. I periodically revisit specific chapters to recalibrate my work on various products.
"Designing Japan" by Kenya Hara
Once again, Hara, but this time he delves into Japanese design as a whole and how, through various means and methodologies, they plan to move towards the future, especially now, with Japan's complex demographic situation. It's fascinating for me to get inside his head and see the world, the problems in accessibility of aesthetics, and the trends in technology development through the eyes of one of the most iconic Japanese designers.
"Martin Margiela: The Women's Collections 1989-2009" by Alexandre Samson
Let's return to fashion. Martin Margiela is one of the most enigmatic fashion designers in the world throughout the twentieth (and now twenty-first) century. He's been hardly seen by anyone (though, of course, there are plenty of random photographs), and this is part of his ideology, similar to ours, like Muji's—the work should speak for itself, and one's personality should not overshadow it.
This publication covers 20 years and 41 shows, vividly illustrating his aesthetics and ideas. What makes it unique is that Margiela himself commented on his works and designed the book. I understand there are two types of people, but even for those who find his work perplexing, I would recommend approaching the book with an open heart to truly understand it once and for all, as there's probably no other way, except for the extensive series by Bliss Foster on YouTube. For me, it's an inexhaustible source of inspiration and new ideas.
"Web Design. The Evolution of the Digital World 1990–Today"
It's symbolic to conclude the list with the origins of my career. I started in the early 2000s, having already visited the internet periodically in the late '90s, and witnessed all the events and websites described live. They pushed me towards choosing my profession as a lifelong endeavor.
The book is a review of key websites and phenomena that shaped both modern digital design and the internet as a whole. I've been eagerly awaiting its release for almost a couple of years, and now it's incredibly satisfying to occasionally dive into a particular year and, in particularly challenging moments, remind myself why I chose this path.
