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Reading is an essential part of staying sober as a designer. However, it is extremely important to read books that are outside of the design genre. We often gravitate toward our favorite magazine or fiction book to escape, but it is equally important to read about business. Hitting up the business section for books on leadership, management, and the marketing section to learn about consumer insights and selling tips can really help you manage your team, sell in the boardroom and your thought process right at your own desk.

Don’t forget to read to remember: take notes, use a highlighter, and most importantly take your time. After each chapter think about how the information in the book can help your business and how can things be tweaked for the better.

That’s what we did, and this is how it helped:

The 4 Hour Work Week - This book by @tferriss has been a bestseller for nearly two years now. Sure, it may seem like another get rich quick scheme, but it isn’t. It challenged us with new ideas around process, email, and design management, leading us to implement Highrise by @37signals. Highrise streamlined our selling process and keeps us all on the same page whether we’re in or out of the office. This new addition has saved us hours of management time which helps us be far more productive.

GroundSwell - Having been out for just over a year now, this book has become a daily reference for how we talk about social technologies and new ways to market them. Since reading this book, we have gained an understanding and subsequently landed new business in creating social communities & blogs around our clients’ products. Now we have an additional product offering and understanding that all started with simply reading one book.

As you can see, just these two books alone helped us grow our business and we are consistently looking for new titles to learn and grow more. Explore these sections of Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble and give it a shot!

Other titles we suggest -

World Wide Rave

Outliers / The Tipping Point / Blink

Stumbling Upon Happiness

Never Eat Alone

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8 Responses to “A Couple Books That Jump Start New Thinking”

  1. Lauren Castady
    on May 6, 2009 at 7:30 am |  Reply

    If you need motivation and ideas these are the book to get:

    “Self-Promotion for the Creative Person” by Lee Silber is one of my favorite books.
    http://tinyurl.com/cm4xyo

    This book is filled with hundreds of very useful suggestions and ideas, all centered on creativity. It is helping me with my design business as well as my husband with his rock band.

    —–

    Another book I am currently reading is “The Designer’s Guide To Marketing And Pricing” by Ilise Benun & Peleg Top : http://tinyurl.com/d7w8jg

    This book has tons of information and worksheets that can help you to build a great business.

    • Joe
      on May 8, 2009 at 7:31 am | 

      That sounds like a great book Lauren!

      I’ll have to see if I can pick it up off of amazon.

      Thanks!

      Joe

  2. Tim Blair
    on May 8, 2009 at 5:51 am |  Reply

    Two books on brain science and positive emotions: “This is Your Brain on Joy” by Dr. Earl Henslin and “Spiritual Evolution” by George Vaillant. While neither is business/marketing specific, they both give incredible insights to how the brain works in regards to positive emotions. Critical to understand for any marketer.

    Also “The Laws of Simplicity” by John Maeda, a designer’s designer. really good.

    One last one: “Killer Brands” by Frank Lane. A brand guru from Proctor and Gamble days give some valuable insights on how to create a great plan for a killer brand.

  3. Julia Reich
    on May 8, 2009 at 6:41 am |  Reply

    I’ll definitely check out the 4 hour work week and GroundSwell - thanks.

    I am actually looking for a good book specifically about Leadership, that I need to read for a program I am in. if anyone has recommendations, I would appreciate it.

    Best,
    Julia

  4. Dan Hassenplug
    on May 8, 2009 at 7:33 am |  Reply

    Julia -

    You might want to check out “Nudge” It is on my list of books to read - http://moourl.com/nudge

    Also I have been meaning to pick up “Good To Great” http://moourl.com/g2g

    -Dan

  5. Dan Hassenplug
    on May 8, 2009 at 8:04 am |  Reply

    Tim -

    I read “Killer Brands” awhile back and enjoyed it - If you liked that you would love “The Designful Company”

    Also worth checking out is my all time favorite “It’s Not How Good You Are It’s How Good You Want To Be” by: Paul Arden

  6. Dan Collins
    on May 12, 2009 at 5:21 pm |  Reply

    I have a hard enough time keeping up with the magazines – CA, Print, HOW, Wired, ect. But I do read a lot to my kids. I have found that the simplicity of message along with great illustration of children’s books will pretty much do the trick to get my creativity going.

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