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Books & Resources for Creative Minds
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items You don't need a formal art degree to build a career in design, but having the right toolkit definitely speeds up the process. 🛠️ Whether you are entirely self-taught or just looking to upgrade your workflow, these are some of the highest-rated book...
Sections
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The Mindset & Creativity Vault
Design Fundamentals & Typography
Business & The Creator Hustle
The Ultimate Digital Resource Roster
The Mindset & Creativity Vault
Books to read when you are completely creatively drained or dealing with imposter syndrome.
Hands down the best book for overcoming imposter syndrome. It proves that nothing is original and takes the pressure off staring at a blank canvas.
Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things About Creativity
If you struggle with procrastination, this is the kick in the pants you need. I would read this a million times over whenever I feel stuck.
The War of Art: Break Through Creative Blocks
Because relying purely on "motivation" as a digital creator is a trap. This helped me actually build the daily systems I need to design.
Atomic Habits: Easy Way to Build & Break Habits
I totally reco this for those days when you feel totally burnt out. It completely changes how you look at the creative process.
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
This book literally saved me the hassle of trying to figure out how to build an audience. It teaches you how to get discovered just by sharing your messy process.
Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Creativity
A must-read that shifted how I approach problem-solving, not just in design, but in managing all my different social channels.
Creative Confidence: Unleashing Creative Potential
Design Fundamentals & Typography
The actual theory that makes your work look expensive and professional.
This will ruin badly designed doors for you forever, but it will make you a significantly better designer. An absolute essential.
The Design of Everyday Things: Revised Edition
If you struggle with pairing fonts, get this. Typography makes or breaks a design, and this book breaks it down perfectly.
Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide
The holy grail for web and UI design. It's all about making interfaces that don't annoy people.
Don't Make Me Think, Revisited (3rd Ed)
The title basically says it all. This is essentially a survival guide for staying sane while working in the creative industry.
How to Be a Graphic Designer without
I keep this on my desk. It provides bite-sized, punchy design inspiration for when my brain is completely empty.
The Graphic Design Idea Book: 50 Masters
For when I'm staring at a screen and need color palette ideas fast. Saved me so much time guessing if colors match.
Palette Perfect: Colour Combos & Meanings
Business & The Creator Hustle
Because we are actually trying to make money off our art.
Stuff they absolutely do not teach you in art school. It’s all about dealing with clients, pricing, and the actual business of design.
Burn Your Portfolio: Design School Lessons
I'd totally reco this to anyone building a personal brand.
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire
Proof that you don't need a massive agency or team to make a living as a creative. Super validating for solo creators.
Company Of One: Why Staying Small Matters
Punchy, aggressive, and incredibly inspiring. It’s a super fast read but packed with gold.
Damn Good Advice: Unleash Your Creative Potential
The Ultimate Digital Resource Roster
The websites and tools I actually have bookmarked and use daily.
It generates perfect color palettes instantly and saves the hassle of doing color theory math in your head.
Coolors
Hands down the best place to find UI design inspiration from real, successful apps. I live on this site when doing digital product research.
Mobbin — UI & UX design inspiration for mobile & web apps
I would totally reco this if you want to know what fonts are actually trending right now instead of just guessing.
Typewolf
I love Pinterest but this is way better for designers. It's incredibly clean, very aesthetic, and doesn't push random ads at you.
Savee
The curation here is top-tier.
Recent
Literally every icon you could ever need.
The Noun Project
The absolute lifesavers for when you need a high-quality texture, mockup background, or stock video for free.
Pexels
My actual home on the internet for finding deep, case-study level branding inspiration from top global agencies
Behance
If you want to see the absolute bleeding edge of web design and interactive animation, this is the only site you need.
Awwwards