25 Aug
I’m going to review five books today that have been beneficial to me as a brand strategist, web designer, and developer. So let’s go!
1) Book of Branding | Radim Malinic
I’m going to start with this book called The Book of Branding first, before anything else. It was created by Radim Malinic and does a fantastic job at demonstrating the foundations of branding and design. As you can see, every page is entirely visual, and I’ve included a ton of tabs for information that has particularly resonated.
It discusses what should be included in your final deliverables for your branding, such as color scheme, branding costs, and how much to charge. It’s just a really well-written book that you can finish in, say, an afternoon.
2) Show Your Work! | Austin Kleon
The next thing, which is certainly among the top 5 or 10 of all time, dramatically altered the way I view branding and design in general. Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon is the title of this. Once more, a coffee table book that you can read in about an hour.
He stresses that everything you do in terms of the procedures and activities you are engaging in with regard to branding, design, and development should be documented and made public. I am a tremendous fan of Austin’s work and cannot say enough wonderful things about this book, which is undoubtedly second on my list.
3) Chris Do’s Pocket Full of Do
Chris Do, also known as Pocket Full of Do, is up next. I recently had the chance to meet this man, and when it comes to digital, he is pretty much my spirit animal. On the West Coast, he founded the highly successful agency Blind, where they collaborated with some very outstanding businesses, including Xbox.
Another fantastic creative is Matthew Encina, who is also his creative director and whom I recently met. But in the end, this individual compiled all of the most important lessons he had learned about entrepreneurship, teaching, and creative during the previous ten years. Chris is quite strong.
Check out his content under the name The Futur if you get a chance; he has an agency. Additionally, he discusses the commercial and branding aspects of design. I can’t rave about this book enough; it’s yet another easy read that you can get through in an afternoon.
Visually, it’s stunning, and he basically condensed everything he had learnt over the previous 10 to 20 years into a nice-sized book called Pocket Full of Do. Pick up that book as well, I say.
4) Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited | Steve Krug
The following appears to be a little dated, but use caution. You will gain a thorough understanding of UI/UX. Don’t Make Me Think is the title of the song, and this is the Revisited version.
In short, this is likely one of the best sources for information on a practical approach to web usability. Therefore, it discusses what you should do to maximize the amount of time people spend on your website, great ways to frame content, and the function of navigation.
Even if some of the information in this article is a little out of date, it will still offer you the building blocks you need to create a fantastic website that works well. Check it out once again; it’s a fantastic read with lots of illustrations; as you can see, I’ve underlined this thing like crazy. I frequently go back to it while developing new builds, site maps, and websites.
5) Value Proposition Design
The last but not least edition is called Value Proposition Design, and I completed it a year or so ago. It’s about how to construct a value proposition that the end user would like to have or include in their overall experience and how to frame material accordingly.
Just a really beautifully done graphic book. It discusses business structure, how to develop workable technology, data, how to use data in website design, and how to shape your ideas. As you can see from these two covers, the book is also very visually appealing.
Really well done, but at the end, it will teach you how to establish a website and produce goods that customers actually want, using the web.
Conclusion
You all have my list of five books. They are listed below. As you are all aware, I read a lot, so if you have any recommendations, please list them below.
All five of these works can be read fairly rapidly, to reiterate. You could definitely complete these in a few of weeks, after all. But again, have a look at these: Designing a value proposition, Make sure you purchase the Revisited edition of Don’t Make Me Think. Book of Branding is another classic, followed by Show Your Work and Pocket Full of Do.
