My iPhone came in handy—see images below—to capture many beautiful covers with brilliant typography, color palettes, layout, texture, and style. Often when designing we, including myself, start by looking at a variety of online web galleries, and while there is nothing necessarily wrong with that, it could lead to a stale, similar (in comparison to others) looking portfolio over time. Our brains remember elements and it becomes natural for us to design something “unique” while making it look similar to what you have already seen on the web even if we are not directly inspiring from a particular site.

Sometimes all it takes to get inspired is looking at a beautiful typeface used throughout a book or a unique color palette used on the cover. I included some photographs I took on my journey for inspiration below.

For more inspiration check out the awesome online book cover design archive for more inspiration.

The collections I’ve organized are books I stand by and suggest as a must read for anyone interested in the above topics, although my book collection is much larger than what’s listed in the store (I think I currently have close to ninety books). I’ll also be adding more over time as I finish reading so don’t forget to bookmark and follow along.

I also had a goal at the start of 2010 to read more books indirectly related to design — one of which I just finished — a fantastic and thought-provoking read by Roger von Oech, A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative. If you are looking for a timeless read on how to think different, expand your thought process and the way you approach design / life than this book is for you. You can see a few notes I’ve wrote on it here.

I’ve also just opened the book Spunk & Bite: A Writer’s Guide to Punchier, More Engaging Language & Style, as I engage to learn new techniques to improve my writing style and polish up my writing in its entirety.

Hope you enjoy the recommendations. Let me know your thoughts once read or if they’re already part of your book collection.

The problem is… I can’t find it for sale. The book, written and designed by Steven Acres, does not seem to appear on sale, but I emailed him anyway.

“The content of the book is all written by me, but the first five chapters are based off of Zoran Belic’s lectures given during my first course as a Graduate student: Typography Studio I. They encompass many facets of typographic design but mostly focus on the philosophical aspect of how typography functions.” — Steven Acres, author

Let’s wait and keep our fingers crossed for a copy.