I have several of Shaughnessy’s books and just picked up his latest, Graphic Design: A User’s Manual which offers students, novice designers, and battle-toughened professionals alike an insider’s guide to the complexities of current graphic design practice and thinking. Set out in A-Z style and written in a realistic, conversational, and insightful way, the book provides advice on the fundamental topics and issues that face designers in their daily lives. It looks at everything from kerning to presenting, from budgeting to dealing with rejection, from annual reports to interface design. Not to mention a forward by Michael Bierut.

Check out Fast Company’s recent Q&A with Adrian about his newest book, and be sure to grab a copy. I highly recommend it.

Creative Grab Bag is a collection of work from artists, illustrators and designers from around the world. Author Ethan Bodnar created over 30 unique tasks and gave each contributor a task that was different from their typical work. The book contains images of each artist’s creative task, typical work, and a biography and short reflection on the creative process. Together, they capture the spirit of exploration and innovation and challenge readers to break out of their usual work. The book includes both well-known and up-and-coming creatives. 101 contributors in total.

Available now through Amazon.

Lettering and Type : Creating Letters and Designing Typefaces
From authors and designers Bruce Willen & Nolen Strals with a forward by Ellen Lupton.

Lettering & Type is a smart-but-not-dense guide to creating and bending letters to one’s will.
More than just another pretty survey, it is a powerful how-to book full of relevant theory, history, explanatory diagrams, and exercises.

Bruce Willen and Nolen Strals examine classic design examples as well as exciting contemporary lettering of all stripes—from editorial illustrations to concert posters to radical conceptual alphabets. Featuring a foreword by Ellen Lupton and hundreds of images and examples of work by historical and contemporary designers, artists, and illustrators, including Marian Bantjes, Stefan Sagmeister, Matthew Carter, Christoph Niemann, Steve Powers (ESPO), House Industries, Christian Schwartz, Margaret Kilgallen, James Victore, Abbott Miller, Sibylle Hagmann, Ed Fella, and many more.

For nearly a decade, Bruce Willen and Nolen Strals have collaborated under the label
Post Typography on creative projects encompassing graphic design, illustration, typography, lettering, and printmaking with additional forays into art, apparel, music, curatorial work, design theory, and vandalism.