01Designers
Paula Scher
Bold systems, expressive typography, cultural identity, and large-scale environmental graphics.
07 / REFERENCE LIBRARY
THINGS WORTHKEEPING CLOSE.
A working library of designers, typefaces, books, tools, production references, advertising, visual movements, and ideas worth returning to.
02Designers
Michael Bierut
Clear visual systems, strong conceptual thinking, and disciplined identity work.
03Designers
April Greiman
A major bridge between modernist graphic design and early digital experimentation.
04Designers
Neville Brody
Type-driven editorial design and one of the defining visual voices of post-punk graphics.
05Designers
Jessica Walsh
Color, image-making, branding, campaign thinking, and highly controlled visual worlds.
06Designers
Experimental Jetset
Systematic typography, cultural work, and an uncompromising modernist visual language.
07Designers
PORTO ROCHA
Contemporary visual identities with strong typography, motion, and cultural positioning.
08Designers
Studio Dumbar
Graphic systems that move, mutate, and extend across digital and physical environments.
09Type
Neue Haas Grotesk
A foundational Swiss sans with more personality and history than generic Helvetica use.
10Type
GT America
A broad, flexible family that bridges American grotesks and European neo-grotesks.
11Type
Neue Montreal
Clean, flexible, contemporary typography with strong editorial and brand utility.
12Type
ABC Diatype
Compact, sharp, modern type with enough character to avoid feeling generic.
13Type
Druk
High-impact display typography built for scale, compression, and commanding headlines.
14Type
Canela
Elegant, soft, editorial serif that works especially well against harder sans-serif systems.
15Type
Commercial Type
A foundry worth following for historically informed, contemporary type design.
16Type
Dinamo
Contemporary type design with strong cultural relevance and experimental flexibility.
17Books
Grid Systems in Graphic Design
One of the core references for understanding modular organization and disciplined page structure.
18Books
Thinking with Type
Practical, intelligent typography guidance that remains useful across print and digital work.
19Books
The Art of Looking Sideways
A visual thinking book about observation, ideas, perception, and creative connections.
20Books
Interaction of Color
Essential for understanding how color perception changes based on context.
21Books
Design Is a Job
A practical book about the business realities of professional design.
22Books
Design Matters
Long-form conversations with designers, artists, writers, and creative thinkers.
23Books
99% Invisible
Design, architecture, infrastructure, and the invisible systems shaping daily life.
24Advertising
Wieden+Kennedy
A benchmark for brand voice, conceptual advertising, cultural relevance, and restraint.
25Advertising
Droga5
Concept-first campaigns with strong cultural positioning and broad media thinking.
26Advertising
DDB
Essential reference for modern advertising thinking and the creative revolution.
27Advertising
One idea, not five
A campaign gets stronger when every execution clearly belongs to one central idea.
28Advertising
Make the headline work
A visual should not be forced to explain what a weak headline fails to communicate.
29Advertising
Campaign systems
Strong campaigns create multiple executions without becoming repetitive or visually random.
30Print
Bleed
Usually 0.125 inch in U.S. commercial printing. Confirm with the printer before final output.
31Print
Rich Black
Use intentionally for large black areas. Avoid using it blindly for small black typography.
32Print
Small Black Type
Generally use 100K only for small black type to avoid registration problems.
33Print
Image Resolution
Typically 300 ppi at final reproduction size for high-quality commercial print.
34Print
Overprint
Always verify overprint settings, especially black objects and imported PDF artwork.
35Print
Dielines
Keep structural lines, folds, glue areas, and production annotations organized and clearly separated.
36Print
Spot UV
A high-gloss finish applied selectively for contrast, emphasis, and tactile hierarchy.
37Technology
Adobe Photoshop
Image compositing, retouching, generative workflows, mockups, and raster production.
38Technology
Adobe Illustrator
Vector systems, identity, iconography, illustration, and production artwork.
39Technology
Adobe InDesign
Editorial layout, print systems, long-form documents, packaging support, and production.
40Technology
Figma
Interface design, systems, prototyping, components, and collaborative visual development.
41Technology
ChatGPT
Useful for ideation, iteration, organization, coding support, copy development, and research.
42Technology
Midjourney
Strong for exploratory visual direction, art-direction studies, and image generation.
43Technology
Adobe Firefly
Useful inside Adobe workflows for generative fill, image extension, and concept iteration.
44Technology
Astro
Fast, content-friendly web framework well suited to design systems, libraries, and portfolios.
45Technology
Cloudflare
Deployment, DNS, edge infrastructure, Workers, and fast delivery for modern web projects.
46Movements
Swiss Style
Grid, hierarchy, clarity, asymmetry, and typography used as structure rather than decoration.
47Movements
Bauhaus
Form, function, geometry, reduction, material thinking, and cross-disciplinary design.
48Movements
Constructivism
Dynamic geometry, strong diagonals, political graphics, photomontage, and visual urgency.
49Movements
Postmodernism
A reaction against rigid modernist rules through irony, layering, quotation, and expressive form.
50Movements
Brutalism
Raw structure, visible systems, strong typography, and deliberately exposed digital construction.
51Movements
Risograph
Limited inks, visible texture, overprint, misregistration, and production imperfections used expressively.
52Movements
Anti-Design
Intentional friction, awkwardness, disruption, and rule-breaking used as communication rather than decoration.
53Opinions
Tiny gray type
Readability should not be sacrificed just to make a layout look expensive.
54Opinions
Fake brutalism
Random borders, giant Arial, and deliberate ugliness do not automatically create a concept.
55Opinions
Gradient soup
Color effects cannot substitute for hierarchy, structure, or a real visual idea.
56Opinions
AI gloss
Floating glass, hyper-detailed lighting, shiny particles, and meaningless cinematic haze are becoming generic.
57Opinions
Endless carousels
Not every idea needs ten slides. Sometimes one image and one sentence are stronger.
58Opinions
Over-explained case studies
If twelve paragraphs are required to prove the idea exists, the idea may not be doing enough work.
WORKING PRINCIPLE
Use AI to expand iteration,not replace judgment.
08 / OPINIONS
THINGS THAT NEED TO DIE.
Design references are only useful if they sharpen judgment. Sometimes knowing what to stop doing matters just as much as knowing what to study.
Tiny gray type
Readability should not be sacrificed just to make a layout look expensive.
Fake brutalism
Random borders, giant Arial, and deliberate ugliness do not automatically create a concept.
Gradient soup
Color effects cannot substitute for hierarchy, structure, or a real visual idea.
AI gloss
Floating glass, hyper-detailed lighting, shiny particles, and meaningless cinematic haze are becoming generic.
Endless carousels
Not every idea needs ten slides. Sometimes one image and one sentence are stronger.
Over-explained case studies
If twelve paragraphs are required to prove the idea exists, the idea may not be doing enough work.