10 books on marketing and related topics that the designer should read
Over the past decades, design has become one of the main business tools. In the past, designers simply cared to make something (goods, packaging, an illustration in a magazine, a website) attractive to the eyes of a person. Now it is understood that the design of the product or service should be optimized for the target audience.
In other words, the business has focused on the needs of the end user, and the design has become a very important help here. The designer is a creative person, but nothing marketing should be alien to him. You can create a good product only if its developers perfectly understand the needs of the person for whom it is intended. And without a close bundle of "design + marketing" is not enough. Today we publish a selection of books that we ourselves consider important and interesting. Not all books are marketing, but most subjects are close to this area.
We live in a world of which marketing, design and everything connected with them have become an integral part. Knowing the basics, we can better understand what is happening around and what is needed in order to change this “around” if necessary.
Yes, an important point. For all Habr readers, a discount on any Skillbox course is 10,000 rubles for the promotional code “Habr”. Leave a request on the site, call the promo code to the manager after the call and the discount is yours.
Well, let's get started?
"Branding: In Five and a Half Steps"
Branding is pretty hard. And not only marketers and PR specialists are engaged in branding. Designers work with him.
Well-known graphic designer Michael Johnson, who has long worked in the development of corporate identity and brand communication, has written a book that reveals the “cuisine” of this discipline and marketing in general. Research, strategy definition, design, attracting the attention of potential customers - all this can be found in his "Five and a half steps of branding."
By the way, the publication analyzes the corporate style of about 1,000 modern companies, including the most famous and large ones, such as Apple, Microsoft, Coca-Cola. The book discusses the specific steps of real companies that they have taken and are taking to achieve their goals. And yes, the main tools are design and marketing, otherwise this book would not have come into our review.
"How to ..."
Another veteran of graphic creativity, Michael Bierut, tells in his book how to use graphic design in order, as he writes, “to sell things with the help of design, to explain the essence of things, to make things more beautiful, to attract people's attention and make them feel certain emotions. ”
The book was written in 2015 and contains a lot of interesting ideas on how to make the product more attractive to potential buyers or partners. Among other things, the author shows how designers and design affect the modern world. I must say, the influence is all the more noticeable.
Online course: UX analyst
"Work for Money, Design for Love"
This is not exactly marketing, but close to it. The author, David Airey, talks about how a designer can run his own business. And not just to launch, but to work in such a way that you can earn money and not lose your soul - that is, to keep you inspired.
In the book, by the way, quite a lot of tips for freelancers. There are practical recommendations on how to interact with colleagues and clients, and on creating your own product. And of course, all this is shown in relation to the design.
Online course: “Advertising Graphics” by Creative People
"The Graphic Designer's Guide to Creative Marketing: Finding & Keeping Your Best Clients"
An excellent book written by a designer who has been a marketing consultant for a long time. The book combines the ideas of these two disciplines and shows both from the unexpected side.
In particular, the author talks about how:
- develop and implement a marketing plan;
- analyze the target audience;
- create effective marketing materials;
- communicate with customers and partners;
- create commercial offers;
- work with your own clients.
The author cites many cases where business and marketing representatives talk about their experiences in the world of advertising and design.
"The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding"
And a little more branding. Laura Rees and Al Rice masterfully talk about what branding is and what needs to be done to make it successful. This is a relatively small book that is read in one breath.
The laws of branding have been formed for dozens, if not hundreds of years. And in the “22 unshakable rules”, if not the wisdom of the ages, then at least the basic laws of branding, which the marketer and designer should know, are shown.
Emotional Web Design
And this is a book in Russian, which tells you what to do to attract potential customers using the site. Many web resources are alike as two drops of water. But if it is necessary to cause emotions in clients, something else is necessary, original and unusual. Aaron Walter's book can be called a textbook of emotional design.
This book will be useful as a designer, and representatives of other professions that are responsible for making decisions related to visual identification in a company or government structure. The author explains a lot with examples that are easy to understand for non-specialists.
“Design is Work”
The author of the book, Mike Monteiro talks about what you need to do to become a successful designer. But this is not just another motivating publication, of which there are thousands. No, it shows that design is a painstaking workflow that needs to be managed. In particular, the designer should be able to listen to their customers, show them the valuable aspects of their work and demonstrate results in such a way that the customer understands that the solutions chosen will have a positive effect on the quality of his product’s communication with customers.
The book has a lot of cases and work episodes.
"Visual thinking"
In the minds of many designers - a large number of ideas that, if they had become a reality, could have changed the world. Dan Roem talks about how to submit or, more precisely, “sell” your idea.
The book talks about the four steps of visual thinking, five key questions necessary for a clear description of ideas, and six ways to present ideas to others. Of course, this is not exactly marketing, but close to it.
Few people write or speak about visual thinking, but this should be done. The author of the book perfectly explains how to solve problems (design or marketing - it doesn’t matter), effortlessly creating schemes of projects, current problems and tasks.
Design and Marketing Of New Products
Complete comprehensive guide on designing, designing, testing and launching a new product. This book has it all: R & D, product development, design, financial aspects of process planning, and more. A certain part is given to marketing, and the author harmoniously interlaces all the components of his story.
Online course: Internet marketer from Ingate
“Selling packaging. The world's first book on packaging as a means of communication "
Yes, as you can already guess from the name, we are talking about packaging design. Even if you are not going to develop wrappers, boxes and labels, it is still worth reading.
There are cases around: design, business, marketing. The author of the book is Lars Vallentin. He knows what he is writing about, since for four decades he has been involved in the appearance of goods in the Nestle company.
The book is useful and designers, and marketers, and everyone else.
As a conclusion and at the same time the answer to the question “why the designer marketing?” We can recall Apple. The corporation was one of the first to bet not only on marketing, but also on the design of its products. In fact, the company has created a powerful combination of technology and design, and this has become its competitive advantage. The result we see: for several years, Apple has become one of the largest technology corporations in the world. One can argue about her methods of work, but a bunch of “design + marketing + technologies” has become what keeps the company's business.
We believe that a designer who understands marketing is a professional who understands well what he can give to this world and to all of us.