Design Sojourn

Image Source: Listen to ME!

One of the key skills I noticed great designers have is the ability to engage in Active Listening.

I was lucky. I managed to pick up this skill 6-7 years ago in a training seminar and it has been vital in helping my access situations quickly, make good decisions, resolve conflicts, and even accurately read the emotions of people I am negotiating with.

So what is Active Listening? Here is what Wikipedia defines it as:

When interacting, people often are not listening attentively to one another. They may be distracted, thinking about other things, or thinking about what they are going to say next, (the latter case is particularly true in conflict situations or disagreements).

Active listening is a structured way of listening and responding to others. It focuses attention on the speaker. Suspending one’s own frame of reference and suspending judgment are important in order to fully attend to the speaker.

There are quite a few methods available to help people engage in Active Listening. I would like to share mine here.

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October 15, is Blog Action Day 2008! This is where bloggers from around the world get together to talk about a common theme or topic. This year’s topic is about Poverty, and as Design Sojourn is a design blog, it will be about Poverty and Design.

I’ve decided to do something different, rather than write a post, I though I’ll give some “social currency” to a great design for the BOP or Bottom of the Pyramid.

The Chulha – a low tech, low smoke biomass stove, an initiative from Philips Design’s ongoing Philanthropy by Design program which promotes social empowerment through knowledge sharing, creativity and co-design. Based on deep and specific insights gathered from and tested by users, the Chulha was co-developed by designers, an NGO and users in India. Its innovative design significantly reduces indoor pollution. This is particularly significant as respiratory illness affects the health of the huge number of people living in developing societies who still cook indoors with biomass fuels (e.g. wood or dung). It is estimated that over 1.6 million people die as a result each year.

This is how design should be! Looking at real world problems and dealing with it creativity. This stove not only is more efficient in burning, it helps ensures that the smoke is moved out of the home reducing house hold soot and contaminants. Finally in typical designer fashion it can be dissembled for cleaning and comes in a nice earthly orange!

If you are interested in more information, check out a full write up at the Philips Design page. Please do not forget to Stumble or Digg the main site not mine! Also here is The Blog Action Day site.

Edit 1: Improved grammar and phrasing.

I finally got the time today to sit down and really think about the impact of these troubled times.

It has been a very hectic month since I officially started my new role, as a result I really only hovered around the global impact from the US Sub-Prime Crises. With only snippets of news via early morning radio and the occasional Stock Market update on my iPhone, I never really had a chance to think about this crisis till today.

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We have an interesting Design Article contribution this week by Chris Nobles, an Industrial Designer working for HJC Design in the UK. He write today about Rapid Manufacturing and its impact on our product development process. A great read with lots of technical points, positives and negatives for our consideration should we need to specify such a process.

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In the world of today’s manufacturing industry where competition is fierce, there is ever mounting pressure on suppliers to meet the rigorous demands which the market presents. Manufacturers undergo the challenge of supplying customised products with increasingly stringent lead times to meet the consumer’s needs, and with increasing competition from the global economy delays can result in business failure.

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A couple of months ago we had an open call for guest bloggers, we had a few responses with some great ideas. This week’s Design Article, written by MB, was one of them.

MB has written a very powerful article on a side of design and product development that the majority of the Brands practices but few actually talk about. I myself have had similar experiences and can vouch for much of his. I am surprised that such product development strategies are not covered in many design education programs. So sit tight and welcome to The Underbelly of Design.

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I am a designer in a corporate consumer product company. A lot of my observations and commentary will be more on corporate design and product development. The business I work for has sadly become a commodity lately, driven by retailers forcing our company and our competitors into a price point erosion game. You would know these retailers I’m speaking of though they will remain anonymous. At this point of my company’s evolution, we are in a transitional phase with a lot of growing pains. Furthermore our new product gaps and business bandaging have led us to sourcing from China.

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Thanks for all the great comments and input you have left from Part 1. It has really given me a great insight to what you want to see here on Design Sojourn.

So onwards to Part 2!

In the Part 1 we looked at the hierarchy and life cycle of a design professional. Here in Part 2, we will take a deeper look at the roles and responsibilities of these design positions. I hope that at the end of the day, I can give you a small insight on how to prepare yourself for your next big position.

Each role will start with a short description, then an expectation of the roles and responsibilities. The finally a list of what sort of work should be highlighted in your portfolio.

But before I go on, I like to make a disclaimer. These examples are based on both my personal experience, opinion as well as observations. They may differ to what you may or will experience as it depends a lot on individual capabilities, job environment and even the country you are in. However I will strive to make these descriptions as informational as possible, but should there be some inaccuracies or variations please do share your insights in the comments sections.

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Edit: Spelling and grammar checked and re-checked as per popular request!

One thing that I believe many designers, managers of designers, or buyers of design talent will struggle with, is the understanding of a Designer’s Lifecycle within the design industry.

Dealing with Lifecycle problems come in many forms. A few examples include, designers looking for the skills to get to the next level? Or even designers wondering why they are stuck in their career? Or even why can’t we hire the right designers for the job?

For designers looking to rise up in their career, it will be one of those hard facts of life they have to deal with. The requirements of our professions do change as we move up, and the problem I see with most designers looking to move to higher positions is that they fail to realize what skills are required to get there.

Another problem is also in the hiring of designers. The reality is that there are no job title “standards” and it is very common that “Creative Directors” in certain companies might be equivalent to Senior Designers in others. The old saying that titles don’t mean everything is quite true in this case.

Part 1 of this 2 part article will focus on the lifecycle and the different paths a designer can take. In part 2, I will do my best to describe the various design positions available, the capabilities and expectations, and the sort of work that should be highlighted in the portfolio. While the titles are there for organization and discussion purposes, don’t worry too much about. Focus instead on the years of experience and the sort of skills designers are expected to have.

In general most designers start their career as junior designers. Duh. However it is worth mentioning that are many paths into design. Many companies have entry level design positions that can be segmented. They could include sub-specialty areas of trend forecasting, colors and materials, technology analysis etc. This could well move into a full sub-specialty career of design. I know for a fact that BMW has some of the world’s best colors and materials experts working for them. But for the purpose of this discussion we will just focus on generic design.

After junior design positions, the next is what is sometimes called middle-weight designers. Middle weight designers have a few years of experience that will lead into that of a senior design position.

After this things start to get interesting. At this stage is it more about what a designer is more interested to do as the path sort of splits into 2 routes. There is the design and creative direction route and the other I will probably call the design management route.

Let’s start with the most obvious route, the design management route. This path leads into the Design Manager positions, and ultimately a Design Director or even VP of design. This role manages and considers design on a strategic business level.

The technical design continues into lead or principal designer positions. This path has been becoming popular of late as companies are finding that there are designers that just want to do design and not program/project or designer management. As a result their career comes to a halt as their advancement stops and so does the pay.

Another thing to note is that even thought the creative direction path follows after the lead designer position, it is sort of an in between the design management and technical deign career path. At this level there is the strategic application of a design’s form or look within a larger frame work or brand context. This career path also requires managing the designers of the technical design route and as well as ensuring the form requirements of the client are fulfilled or met.

So this is pretty much in a nutshell the possible career paths for designers. In Part 2, we will dive deeper in to the individual roles and explore the sort of requirements and expectations to have, so that designers can aspire towards it.

The Lifecycle of a Designer: Part 2 is up and running so see you there!

[Edited: Grammar and Phrasing]

I really was not going to write much this week, being sick and all. But after a blog post and comment exchange, I cannot help but feel fired up to share some of my thoughts here.

I’m sure by now most of you would have heard about Objectified, a documentary on Industrial Design by Gary Hustwit of Helvetica fame. News of it is running all over the design blogosphere, I caught wind of it from Core77.

When I first read about it, I thought “GREAT!” more exposure on our wonderful industry. But after reading about the list of designers being considered, I could not believe my eyes! The list seems to cover the stereotypes what Industrial Designers “are” or “should be”. Not surprisingly, the documentary picked a “sample space” of designers which were the usual list of design superstar suspects.

So I decided to visit the Objectified website, and to my surprised it was a blog. I though good, they want to talk, so I left a comment (reproduced here):

Great to see this and am excited on its release. However I did noticed a serious lack of viewpoints from Asian designers. As it is now, I think this would biased the film towards the usual designer suspects from the west, the majority of which the world already know a lot about. They are the so called “design superstars”.

Asian design will be a strong player in the next 5-10 years or less, and I would have liked to see a revolutionary film such as this, cover a truly global view of design.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would be interested in some recommendations or viewpoints of designers trying to make a difference in the East.

Regards
dt

About a day later, here was my reply from Gary Hustwit.

DT – Ditto. Asian design and designers definitely factor into our discussion in the film. I think Naoto Fukasawa is doing some amazing work. And if we felt we had to showcase a designer from each country in the world with an active design scene/history, we’d only be able to spend a minute with each person. This isn’t that kind of film.

Perhaps I have misunderstood the reply? But suffice to say I was a little surprised and disappointed at this comment reply. Does this mean that Gary considers Naoto a representation of Asian design in general? Or was Naoto only worthy enough to be included?

Let us now look at the about page for a little more information on the documentary.

Objectified is a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the people who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. It’s about our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them.

Through vérité footage and in-depth conversations, the film documents the creative processes of some of the world’s most influential designers, and looks at how the things they make impact our lives. What can we learn about who we are, and who we want to be, from the objects with which we surround ourselves?
(Bold text are mine.)

I have nothing against Gary, and I do not intend to demean all the fantastic work he has put into both his films and its betterment of the design industry.

However from my stand point there is so much more Asian design can offer the world, and this documentary has an opportunity to share the complete picture rather than the usual choice stereotypes which will unfortunately biased the production.

What about Niti Bhan’s work focusing on the Bottom of Pyramid (BOP)? What about Yao Ying Jia, Lenovo’s Director of Design, looking at new computing archetypes? Or Haier’s White Goods taking the world by storm, but still finding time to connect with the local Chinese farmers with vegetable washing machines?

While we are at it, lets not just only focus on Asian design, what about other aspects of Industrial Design that are not quite entirely mainstream but equally as important?

What about the future of our designed and materials ecosystem? Notably missing are designers leading the forefront of sustainable design such as Janine Benyus. What about the impact of Industrial Design by rapid prototyping technology as explored by Gershenfeld and reBang? How about Brands such as Philips and their efforts in future probing so that our lives with technology can so much better? This is by-far not an exhaustive list, but granted, not as sexy as Objectified’s list that contains the superstars like Bangle from BMW, Ive from Apple or the Bouroullec brothers etc.

So as Gary said “This isn’t that kind of film”, so I like to ask just what kind of film should it be?

All that being said, I am looking forward to the documentary. There is not enough being done to expose the industry in this way, but I cant help feeling that it could have been just this much better.

Image source: Cab Ride (Ecstasy)

So what, you may ask, is “Mental Masturbation”?

Well the first logical assumption that comes to mind is procrastination. Actually, though, it’s not quite what I would call procrastination. Let me explain.

A design lecturer friend coined that term over a lunch chat after a major design critique. We noticed that both design students and design professionals have a bad habit of getting into a mode of what he calls “Mental Masturbation”. Though “tongue in cheek” at that time, I have since encountered it over and over again on many different levels.

My friend describes it as follows:

I guess “Mental Masturbation” is a luxury only safe, secure well-to-do adults have time to actually do. I doubt it would lend itself to someone stuck in one of the many wars raging around the world.

86% of the worlds population sadly do not share the luxury of the first world. If I lived on less than $2.50 a day, then I doubt whether I could procrastinate over the merits of a 3mm radius or a 3.5mm radius.

In regard to design and designers, the creative thought is a high level of consciousness which without our profession would not function. It is the Rolls Royce of cognitive energy.

A space where the mind needs to run free, free from pain, hunger, conflict and guilt. As designers we take it for granted that we can generate this mood at the flick of a switch as we enter the office every morning. (Some may do it all the time! ~ DT)

Is “Mental Masturbation” a posh way of saying procrastination? If a decision is difficult to make then normally there is no decision to make. I cant decide between this shirt or this shirt well, the outcome is the same, it’s negligible.

Great explanation and intentionally written to reflect the subject we are discussing.

I would rate this Cognitive Level, my friend is describing, as the next step after procrastination. Where I would define procrastination as the inability to get started on anything, “Mental Masturbation” would be about designers up and running but in a tight repetitive loop.

I would now like to expand it and be a little more specific by giving some situational examples:

1) A designer obsessing over a design concept trying to get it to work and as a result ends up blowing the schedule and budget.

2) Endlessly trying to justify the merits of your design and why it is the best thing to every happen to mankind.

3) Trying to convince even yourself that your design is a good one.

4) Sitting around and discussing the merits of a design, and supporting it by referencing great works of other designers, and/or successful design theories.

5) All the while feeling good and secure and enjoying your new found mental superiority and a sense of achievement.

I think you get the picture? Honestly, this is one of the root causes of very inefficient and ineffective designers.

So how do we get out of this?

1) Write your own design brief.
I have already written about how great a design guide the brief can be for a designer here. Do have a look?

2) Work in a team.
Creative energy and conversation, helps spur a design onwards. Alternative insight helps closes the design options quickly as well.

3) Set tight schedules to avoid Parkinsons Law.
The famous adage that describes how “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. This is very true with designers, especially during the concept phase. We have a bad habit of sketching ideas over and over again. Check out my “10 Tips for Guaranteed Concept Development Success” for more information for efficient sketching tips.

4) Get feedback and listen to advice.
If A does not like B and vice versa, it is subjective on who the the bad one is. However if A does not like B, and C does not like B, and also D does not like B, then we know the problem lies with B. This same goes for a design. Trust me if most people don’t seem to like it, it is probably not very good. What every it is, get it critiqued anyway. At the very least you will get a different perspective on your work. Oh, do listen to the advice, even if you don’t like what you hear.

5) Support your design through research.
There should be a reason why your design looks/works/feels as such. If there is no reason why, then you better figure why. Use everything you lean in consumer behavior research to help you determine the right path for your design.

6) Get real quick to verify your idea.
Designers suffering from “Mental Masturbation” tend to be all talk and no action. Often times the only way to verify a design is to get real quick. Jump into 3D to resolve a quick detail, or even better, get into the workshop and build a model. It does not have to be a good looking one, but at least a sketch model to get your proportions right. Check out >Think>Draw>Make> to see how this can help you along your way.

7) Big picture thinking but details orientated.
Finally, take 2 steps back, and take a look at the bigger picture objectives. This takes us into a loop, and back to point 1. Having a big picture awareness helps you be aware of what your design needs to do and when.

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While this article is targeted to Industrial Designers, I think these principles can apply to designers of other professions as well. In fact, I believe anyone involve in creative thinking, can benefit from these tips. If you like to share your experiences or advice, please do not hesitate to leave a comment?

Image Source: Books by ijsendoorn.

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As requested and suggested by a few loyal Design Sojourn readers, I have compiled what I think are the essential books that Industrial Designers should either own or read.

Now I have one disclaimer, and that is I have intentionally left out the design yearbooks or the ever popular coffee table picture book collections. Simply put, these books don’t do much for you except provide visual eye candy. In fact I would go as far as advising you to dump them!

The reason is that if you are looking at such books for inspiration, you will likely be recreating the same looks in one form or another. Not only that, because it is a publication, it takes time to get printed and out there. So by the time you are reading it, it is already outdated.

So going forward, I have divided the books into 3 categories, namely Thinking, Process and Designer Skills. So without further adieu here is the list, in no particular order of importance, for you to enjoy!

Edited: I’ve added direct links to Amazon so its easier for you to get more information. Do note it’s an affiliate link that won’t cost you anything more.

Thinking

1) The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman

Not only can it be a great source of information on usability and product ergonomics, it is also a fantastic source of learning how to be sensitive to the product’s user experience. If it is not a textbook or required reading for your design school, make it so!

2) The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life) by John Maeda

Celebrated former MIT Media Labs professor and now Head of the Rode Island Institute of Design, shares his principles of design in this book. However most of it can be found in his equally beautifully simple website: Laws of Simplicity.

3) Fab: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop–from Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication by Neil Gershenfeld

Also an MIT professor, Neil spends most of his time as The Director of The Center for Bits and Atoms. While not really about Industrial Design, Gershenfeld’s vision of the future in manufacturing, will change the way we design and make things. The impact to our future of our careers is so important that I recommend that all Industrial Designers read this book as soon as possible.

4) Designing Design – Kenya Hara

Part design theory, part philosophy and part culture, Japanese designer Kenya Hara shares in this book his thoughts and unique approach to design. A beautiful book design that is a reflection of his theories and is on my must read list. Unfortunately, to date, I can’t seem to get my hands on one as it is sold out every where, including Amazon.

5) Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jill Butler.

This great book contains a collection of design principles that makes it an essential “cheat sheet” for designers wanting to look at a design problem from different angles.

6) Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart.

I can’t emphasis enough the importance of sustainable design and this book will get you ahead of the majority of designers already out there. If not, it will at least encourage you to start taking baby steps in that direction.

7) It’s Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want to Be: The World’s Best Selling Book by Paul Arden

Well it might not be the self proclaimed “World’s best selling book” it does have plenty of insights on how Designers can compete in today’s over saturated creative industry. It is a nice and quick read that you could chew through in 2 train rides. However I do suggest you take twice as long and spend a few minutes in between to digest Paul’s thoughts.

8) The Lovemarks Effect: Winning in the Consumer Revolution by Kevin Roberts

There are quite a number of books about branding or how to go about it, unfortunately most of it tell the same story. What I believe is more important is the future of branding in today’s market of consumers suffering from information overload. Personally, I prefer the second book, which describes creating the Lovemark effect, as it has a greater gelling with Industrial Designers trying to create equally positive experiences with their products. For more information check out the official Love Marks Website.

9) Small Is the New Big: and 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas by Seth Godin.

Written in a “bite size” format this book, from Marketing guru Seth Godin, explores how our marketing environment has changed with the influence of the internet. I’m about half way, and looking to finish it.

10) Design (Tom Peters Essentials) by Tom Peters.

While Tom is not a designer and often seems to come across ranting to many people, this book is a neat little design guide targeted to Business leaders or owners. While much of it might not be new to a designer, it does give a huge insight on how to pitch your design work in a language that the business people can understand. That itself is worth its weight in gold.

11) Journals from the Design Management Institute by DMI members.

While not technically a book, I encourage designers to channel some of their library funds into a DMI membership so that they can get access into some of the best and latest Design Management thinking out there. I cannot begin to articulate how much I have learned through their Journals.

12) The Creative Priority : Putting Innovation to Work in Your Business by Jerry Hirshberg

A great read for Industrial Designers and Auto fans. The Creative Priority, written by the founder of Nissan Design International, was one of the first books I read about managing the innovation and creative process with in an organization. I particularly found how he managed hyper-creative design professionals very insightful and the basis of my designer management practices today.

13) Designing Interactions by Bill Moggridge.

These days Industrial Designers will find it hard press to find any product they work on that does not have an interface. Furthermore as a result of digital technology, interaction design via either the hard keys and that of the graphic interfaces is becoming an integral part of the design process. This book shares the work of many designers and how they made a difference.

14) Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step by Edward De Bono.

The classic and often a tough read due to the very academic language he uses. But regardless the exercises he advices are just priceless! I just now need to get into my copy a little more!

15) What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School: Notes From A Street-Smart Executive by Mark H. McCormack.

Probably one of my favorite business books, especially the part on business negotiation. No, I did not need to go to business school with this book and neither should you. Check this book out, if you have problems convincing management why they should go with your design.

16) The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene.

This book is good in a scary way, especially in a corporate environment where you need to get things done. It can be applied for good or bad, but I leave that decision to you. If it is too big, you can get the concise edition, which focuses more on the Laws rather than the historical context they were derived from.

17) The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm by Tom Kelley.

I have to admit that while this book does sometimes comes across as a sales pitch, the depth of coverage of IDEO’s culture and design process can be a great source of learning. Also some designers might not find any of the information to be groundbreaking as it is targeted to buyers of design, but it does hammer home that these processes are what makes IDEO one of the world’s best design consultancies.

Process

18) Design Secrets: Products 1 and 2: 50 Real-Life Product Design Projects Uncovered by Lynn Haller and Cheryl Dangel Cullen, and edited by Industrial Designers Society of America.

A great resource that shows you how products are developed from a sketch idea all the way to the final product, however there seems to be a little more emphasis on the Industrial Design phases and how they turned an idea in to a final product, rather than the down stream development work.

19) Process: 50 Product Designs from Concept to Manufacture by Jennifer Hudson.

A fantastic resource and in my opinion another “must buy”. Unlike Design Secrets which focus on the creation process, this book is all about getting to the finishing line, something many design stories miss out. I find that innovation and inspiration can be found in every aspect of the product development process, this book shows you how these 50 products found theirs during the manufacturing stage.

20) Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals by Rob Thompson.

Suitably inspired by the last book? Well this book gets you into more detail. By the clever use of pictures, technical illustrations and descriptions, design opportunities and considerations, over seventy manufacturing processes are explained. This book intends to give designers a greater understanding of what actually happens during a manufacturing process.

21) Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine M. Benyus

What better way to get sustainable design into the core of your product, be getting your design inspired by nature, and making sure it is also is able to replenish itself. For more details on Biomimicry, check out our extensive article on this revolutionary design process.

22) Product Design and Development by Karl T. Ulrich and Steven D. Eppinger.

Now into its 4th edition, this is one of the few supplemental books that I bought that focused on Industrial Design as part of a bigger process. This is something that you don’t get to see much of at design school even the more multi-disciplinary focused ones. The tendency at school is to focus on the design and creation process, and this book’s coverage of the entire product development process plugs in a lot of the gaps. While a little textbook-ish at times, it still is a great reference guide for designers finding that they have to wear many hats.

23) Managing the Design Factory by Donald G. Reinertsen.

Do you need more good stuff on product and project management? Take a look at this book’s collection of successful of design process models. This is on my books to read, and will get to it as soon as I finish my other 5 that I’m juggling!

Designer Skills

24) Presentation Techniques by Dick Powell.

Yep, it’s that Dick Powell. I believe this became an instant classic as it was probably the first of its kind in the sketching or presentation category. This all-rounder book covers all presentation techniques in general starting from sketch, to marker rendering, and finally to the presentation boards. I actually got a chance to speak to Dick about his iconic book, and after his long groan, he told me that every Industrial Designers he has met has read it. You should too.

25) Creative Marker Techniques: In Combination With Mixed Media by Yoshiharu Shimizu

While Dick Powell’s book is an all rounder, this book specifically focuses on marker rendering and illustration techniques. If I recall, it also brings into the equation techniques using computer programs. The reality is rendering in Photoshop or Illustrator is no different from old schools markers.

26) Sketching: Drawing Techniques for Product Designers by Koos Eissen and Roselien Steur.

This book houses a great collection of sketching and drawings contributed by Industrial Design professionals from all over the world. Not only that, there is a great collection of drawing tutorials like varying the line widths, vanishing points, and shading etc. at the beginning of the book.

If you are interested in more recommendations for sketching books, check out our earlier post that covered Good books on Design Sketching.

27) Architecture: Form, Space, & Order by Francis D. K. Ching.

Something slightly off the beaten track, but I think also equally important. Already into the third edition, Francis Ching’s beautifully hand lettered book for his Architecture students, remains one of the best examples of teaching the principles of design. My first edition copy, completely yellow with age, is one of my all time favorite books. I got it as a gift from my parents when I told them that I wanted to be an Architect when I grew up.

28) Elements of Design: Rowena Reed Kostellow and the Structure of Visual Relationships by Gail Greet Hannah.

A must buy for all Industrial Designers as it is the reproduction of Rowena’s Form theory class at the Pratt institute of design, which I actually got accepted to but never went. (Long story that one) Basically it teaches designers how to be sensitive to the manipulation and control of forms so that they can solve complex design problems.

29) Basic Visual Concepts And Principles For Artists, Architects And Designers by Charles Wallschlaeger and Cynthia Busic-Snyder.

This fantastic resource that covers Visual principles in general and a great reference guide for all designers.

30) Digital Lighting and Rendering (2nd Edition) by Jeremy Birn.

This is probably one of the best books on Lightning and Rendering I have read as it does not focus on any program in general but instead on fundamental techniques of lightning. With techniques similar to what photographers or movie makers use, you will never have to wonder why your CAD rendering looks so odd.

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I hope you enjoy this list as much as I did compiling it! I’m sure some of my suggestions would be familiar to you, but I hope you would have uncovered some gems here as well. Also if I have missed out any of your favorite’s books, please do not hesitate to let me know what they are by leaving a comment?

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