BOOKS

• Atomic Design by Brad Frost

• The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier

• Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation by Tim Brown

• Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger

• Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull

• Design is Storytelling by Ellen Lupton

• Don’t Make Me Think Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug

• The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition by Don Norman

• Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers by Ellen Lupton, Farah Kafei, Jennifer Tobias, Josh A. Halstead, Kaleena Sales, Leslie Xia, Valentina Vergara

• Graphic Design: A New History by Stephen J. Eskilson

• How to Use Graphic Design to Sell Things, Explain Things, Make Things Look Better, Make People Laugh, Make People Cry, and (Every Once in a While) Change the World by Michael Bierut

• INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan

• Just Enough Research by Erika Hall

• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

• The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You by Julie Zhou

• Measure What Matters: OKRs: The Simple Idea that Drives 10x Growth by John Doerr

• Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace by Gordon MacKenzie

• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (+ TEDTalk) by Susan Cain

• Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott

• Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences by Nancy Duarte

• Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days by Jake Knapp with John Zeratsky and Braden Kowitz

• Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, and Students by Ellen Lupton

• Universal Principles of Design, Updated and Expanded Third Edition: 200 Ways to Increase Appeal, Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, and Make Better Design Decisions by William Lidwell, Kristina Holden, and Jill Butler

• Why Design Is Hard by Scott Berkun and Bryan Zug

• Why Fonts Matter by Sarah Hyndman

• Writing for Designers by Scott Kubie

DESIGN ORGANIZATIONS / COMPANIES / AGENCIES

• 72andSunny (Agency)

• Adobe // Adobe Design

• Airbnb Design

• American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA)

• Association of Illustrators (AOI)

• Baby Grand (Agency)

• Big Human (Agency)

• Canva Learn

• Communication Arts

• Figma // Figma Design

• Graphis

• IDEO (Agency)

• Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)

• Interaction Design Association (IxDA)

• Meta/Facebook Design

• Microsoft Design

• Pentagram (Agency)

• Pinterest Design

• Print Magazine

• R/GA (Agency)

• Society of Illustrators

• Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA)

• Typographica

• User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA)

• Wolff Olins (Agency)

DOCUMENTARIES

• Abstract: The Art of Design series on Netflix: Covers a range of design disciplines (2017)

• The Artist Series by Hillman Curtis: Inspiring short videos of leading designers (2014)

• Bauhaus: The Face of the 20th Century: Researches the movement (1994)

• Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy on Netflix: A subversive documentary on brands, consumption, and real impact (2024)

• Design & Thinking: Interviews with industry titans on the impact of design (2012)

• Design Disruptors: How Design Became the New Language of Business by Design Better (2016 // Requires subscription)

• Eames The Architect and the Painter: The incredible impact of the power couple, Charles and Ray Eames (2011)

• Helvetica by Gary Hustwit: Typography, graphic design, and visual culture (2007)

• Milton Glaser: To Inform & Delight: Covering the legendary graphic designer (2008)

• Objectified by Gary Hustwit: Diving deep into mass-produced products (2009)

• Rams by Gary Hustwit: Dieter Rams and his impact on product design (2018)

INCLUSIVE GROUPS

• API Who Design

• Blacks Who Design

• Black Design Collective

• Black UX Labs

• Filipinos Who Design

• Filipinx in Tech

• Indians Who Design

• Latinx Who Design

• Queer Design Club

• QTBIPOC Design

• Women Who Design

INSPIRATION

• AIGA Eye on Design

• Art of the Title

• Awwwards

• Design Milk

• Designspiration

• Dribbble

• Inspiration Grid

• Webdesigner Depot

LEARNING

• Learning platforms such as Coursera, Domestika, LinkedIn Learning, School of Motion, Skillcrush, Springboard, Treehouse, Udacity, Udemy, and countless others offer a range of paid and free design courses.

• CalArts offers a free Graphic Design Specialization Certificate via the Coursera platform at a relatively low cost. This certificate requires great discipline, as it is entirely self-paced.

• Google offers a free UX Design Certificate via the Coursera platform at a relatively low cost. This certificate requires great discipline, as it is entirely self-paced.

• The non-profit Interaction Design Foundation offers both visual design and UX design certificates at relatively low cost.

• Meta offers a free Principles of UI/UX Design Certificate via the Coursera platform at a relatively low cost. This certificate requires great discipline, as it is entirely self-paced.

• Nielsen Norman Group is the world leader in research-based user experience, offering courses, training, certification, and free information.

MENTORSHIP

• ADPList (Kevin’s profile)

• 12 Popular Mentorship Programs for Designers (UX Collective article)

• Your Ultimate Guide to Finding a Design Mentor (Dribbble article)

• How to Be a Career-Changing Mentor — 25 Tips From The Best Mentors We Know (First Round Review article)

NEWSLETTERS/PODCASTS

• AdAge Wake-Up Call by AdAge

• ADPList Newsletter by Felix Lee

• The Angry Designer Podcast by Massimo Zefferino and Shawn Carlisle

• Creative Confidence Podcast by IDEO U

• Design Better Newsletter and Podcast by Aaron Walter and Eli Woolery

• The Design Imposter Podcast by Monique Jenkins and Jessica Valis

• Design Matters Podcast by Debbie Millman

• The Quickie: Podcast by Dave Hopkins

• Technically Speaking Newsletter and Podcast by Harrison Wheeler

• Today in Design Newsletter

• Your Majesty Newsletter

• UX Collective Newsletter

PORTFOLIO PLATFORMS/TEMPLATES

• Adobe Portfolio

• Behance (Owned by Adobe)

• Cofolios

• Cargo.site

• Carbonmade

• Dribbble

• Framer

• Notion

• Squarespace

• UXfolio

• Webflow

• Wix

• WordPress

• Semplice (WordPress Template)

• 30 portfolio templates for Webflow

• 7 Portfolio templates for Squarespace

PRACTICAL REFERENCES

• Business and Freelance Design Resources by AIGA (forms, agreements, guides)

• Client Letter of Agreement template by Graphic Artists Guild

• Creative Commons

• Designer Fund Resources

• Design Systems Depot

• Framework for Innovation by Design Council (Double Diamond)

• Graphic Design Retainer Contract template by Hello Bonsai

• Guidelines for Human-AI Interaction by Microsoft

• Inclusive Design Principles by Microsoft

• Laws of UX

• Lean UX Canvas

• People + AI Research by Google

• The Shape of AI (Design patterns) curated by Emily Campbell

• W3C Introduction to Web Accessibility

SALARIES/RATES

• AIGA Eye on Design: Graphic Design Salaries: Community spreadsheet

• Aquent Salary Guide

• Creative Circle Salary Guide: Search by role

• Freelance Hourly Rates by ContractRates.fyi: Search by role

• Glassdoor Salary Data

• Graphic Design Pricing Guide by ManyPixels (2024)

• Guide to Freelance Design Rates by Tony Ho Tran at WixBlog (2023)

• Tech Company Salaries by Levels.fyi: Search by role, location, and company

• Robert Half Salary Guide

STOCK RESOURCES

• Adobe Stock

• Death to Stock Photos

• Noun Project

• Pexels

• Pixabay

• Unsplash

THOUGHT lEADERS

• Aaron Walter: Design Executive, Author, Co-founder Design Better

• Bob Baxley: Design Leader

• Chip Kidd: Graphic Designer

• Chris Do: Designer, Business Coach

• David Carson: Graphic Designer, Lecturer

• Don Norman: Researcher, Author, Co-founder NN/g

• Elijah Woolery: Design Lecturer, Co-founder Design Better

• Ellen Lupton: Graphic Designer, Curator, Author

• Erika Hall: UX Researcher, Author

• Felix Lee: ADPList Co-founder

• Greg Hoffman: Marketing Executive, Author

• Jakob Nielsen: Usability Pioneer, Co-founder NN/g

• Jesse James Garrett: Design Leader, Author

• John Maeda: Technologist

• Julie Zhou: Design Leader, Author

• Katie Dill: Design Executive, Speaker

• Kevin Bethune: Design Executive, Author

• Michael Bierut: Designer, Author, Pentagram

• Pablo Stanley: Designer, Entrepreneur

• Peter Merholz: Design Leader, Author

• Sarah Doody: Design Career Coach, Author

• Sarah Hyndman: Graphic Designer, Author

• Stephan Sagmeister: Graphic Designer, Author