Design Books That Matter To Me
Design books are a weird thing in some ways. Part of it is that whole “dancing about architecture” problem - how do you put wordless practice into words? But then that’s literally the whole point of language, to communicate, to express things otherwise inexpressible. But it’s difficult, and most design books, especially game design books, are awful, and not just because they fail to adhere to their own principles, to practice what they preach. But there are a few texts that actually manage this, and for that and other reasons they have become part of the way that I use language as a designer. This is a list of those texts.
Disclaimer: basically all of these books and articles are written by white men. That’s messed up. Will work on this
The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander (1979)
The single most influential design text in my life. It is both well-designed (you can read the entire volume in just a few minutes by only reading the italicized sentences) and thoughtful about design in a way that transcends both theory and practice and instead embodies a way of thinking about people and the world and our role in it that is both humble and inspiring. This book is peerless, genuinely without equal. I recommend it to anyone and everyone unconditionally.
NOTE: if you never read The Timeless Way of Building in part because some annoying software engineer told you a bunch of crazy stuff about Alexander’s work, please forget all of that, programmers have no idea what this dude was talking about.
There are two other sort of general design texts that I think follow their own rules and have significantly impacted the way that I think and work:
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud (1993)
A comic about comics, but also about art history and some of what it means to be a working artist and to engage in mass communication and the meta of interpretation and consumption… McCloud is drawing on decades of more formal academic work but is presenting it in such a (well I’m going to use this word again sorry) humble and approachable way. Like The Timeless Way this is a book that gives back more and more on repeat readings.
On Writing by Stephen King (2000)
Humble is the theme here I think. On Writing is a tiny volume that follows its own rules and while it doesn’t hit as hard as The Timeless Way or Understanding Comics it remains one of the very few honest and straightforward design books ever written.
That’s about it really. Those are the big three for me. They’re not particularly fancy, but they meant and more importantly still mean a lot to me as a working designer. Make of that what you will!
If you want to dig deeper though, there are a few more things I want to share. This list is going to get weirder - there’s going to be some long-form journalism, maybe a podcast, a sociology book, some other stuff. But maybe it will be useful or interesting still!
Context
It’s difficult for me at least to design in a vacuum. Most things are affected by their environment. I wanted to share a few books and essays that have shaped my understanding of the world around me:
Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love by Carl Wilson (2007) is a book about Quebec being sort of a weird place but more importantly is an interesting and practical look at some of the dynamics of “taste” as a phenomenon. As short and easy to read as it is thoughtful.
A War Well Lost is a devastating interview about the war on drugs and more broadly about how addiction works and the purpose or role it serves for addicts.
Lethal Theory is a chilling architectural essay about modern urban warfare. Less interesting from a “hmm i wonder if i can put this in a face-shooty game” and more interesting from a “oh this is how things work now” perspective. Exists at the intersection of urban architecture, international power struggles, life and death, and a home.
The Limits of Utopia is a non-fiction essay about dystopias and how the Earth is one right now. Kind of a downer! Super interesting though!
Homo Ludens by Johan Huizinga (1938) posits the radical theory that all of human civilization emerged from mammalian play. Surprisingly accessible, even funny, sometimes sweeping in scope, without a wasted word. Really amazing document.
The Well-Played Game by Bernie De Koven (1978) is kind of a modern version of Homo Ludens in many weird ways. It is full of practical insight about consensual play, cooperation, competition, and the role of play in modern society. That makes it sound very serious though when in fact it is funny and warm and inspiring.
On Game Design
Chances are if you’re reading this you’re involved in games or game design in one form or another. This bit is mainly for you, though maybe designers in other fields will find inspiration here as well.
And a quick disclaimer - I am still not particularly well-read when it comes to game design books specifically. For example I’ve heard good things about Game Feel (Swink), Game Design Workshop (Fullerton), Designing Games (Sylvester), A Game Design Vocabulary (Anthropy/Clark), and A Pilgrim in the Microworld but I have not managed to read them yet, for better or (more likely?) worse.
Anyways here’s the two game design books that I think actually matter:
Spelunky by Derek Yu (2016) is ostensibly a book about one game, but like all good design texts ends up being about more than just Spelunky. This book has a little bit of The Timeless Way and a little bit of Understanding Comics and a lot of On Writing going on. Great stuff.
A Theory of Fun by Raph Koster (2004) is kind of a classic, and while somewhat limited in scope is careful, interesting, and again follows its own rules - it is a great example of itself.
On Game Designers
Finally a quick shoutout to some working game designers that have had a huge impact on me. If you like my work but aren’t familiar with these designers then you might find them and their work as interesting and inspiring as I do. I’d start with Chelsea Howe, Zach Barth, Robert Yang, Emily Short, and Meg Jayanth.
Also shoutouts to Andy Nealen who probably did more to push me into design reading than any other human alive. Thanks man <3
Miscellany
Some neat books that I think are flawed or totally fail to follow their own rules but still changed the way I work.
Success Through Failure by Henry Petroski (2006) is like 50% “I hate powerpoint” (which is a legitimate complaint but also very boring) but the other half is a crazy tour of how iteration works in engineering. Probably not for everyone, but the stories of bridge and skyscraper construction in the second half really stuck with me.
The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman (1988) is exemplary of Norman’s work in usability and UX. It doesn’t dive as deep as Alexander’s work, but there’s a really fantastic Alexander-style example of design tensions in here about trying to mass-manufacture a teapot that is just 100% perfect. Also in some design settings it helps to have a good understanding of what “affordances” means but I think it’s counter-intuitive terminology in a lot of ways. Separate post maybe.
101 Things I Learned in Architecture School by Matthew Frederick (2007) is a really beautiful and tactile little book that contains almost 50 interesting things.
Ok, that’s enough procrastinating for now. I hope this leads to some good summer reading for someone, somewhere.