Setting the Table by Danny Meyer, famed restauranteur. It's an excellent treatise on the mindset of hospitality, which I believe has a hell of a lot in common with good design.
Notes on the Synthesis of Form by Christopher Alexander. Kind of a design book, but early enough and conceptual enough that I think it counts. A brilliant and cerebral exploration of what the mind of a designer must engage with and accomplish.
Someone else already mentioned Daniel Kahneman, but also pick up the books by Dan Ariely, another smart cookie in the world of cognition and behavior, and while we're on the subject Cognition and Reality by the "father of cognitive psychology", Ulrich Neisser, is totally worth your time. It lays out the basics of cognitive psych and makes the case for evaluating and measuring cognition in "ecologically valid" scenarios (prototyping with real users/data, anyone?).
Daring Greatly by shame researcher Brene Brown is an accessible and compassionate book describing the power of vulnerability and shame. This one can seem a little self-helpy from the outside, but I promise it's worth engaging with your ability to be vulnerable and be resilient in the face of shame if you're in or want a creative career.
Setting the Table by Danny Meyer, famed restauranteur. It's an excellent treatise on the mindset of hospitality, which I believe has a hell of a lot in common with good design.
Notes on the Synthesis of Form by Christopher Alexander. Kind of a design book, but early enough and conceptual enough that I think it counts. A brilliant and cerebral exploration of what the mind of a designer must engage with and accomplish.
Someone else already mentioned Daniel Kahneman, but also pick up the books by Dan Ariely, another smart cookie in the world of cognition and behavior, and while we're on the subject Cognition and Reality by the "father of cognitive psychology", Ulrich Neisser, is totally worth your time. It lays out the basics of cognitive psych and makes the case for evaluating and measuring cognition in "ecologically valid" scenarios (prototyping with real users/data, anyone?).
Daring Greatly by shame researcher Brene Brown is an accessible and compassionate book describing the power of vulnerability and shame. This one can seem a little self-helpy from the outside, but I promise it's worth engaging with your ability to be vulnerable and be resilient in the face of shame if you're in or want a creative career.
That's all for now!