Favorite Design Books from 2020

As a design leader, it's critical to understand creativity and design so you can foster it well. I wanted to share a few of my favorite books from 2020 that leveled up my understanding in these areas. They have been a key resource for providing clear ways of discussing and guiding designers towards productive outcomes.

The Innovative Team: Unleashing Creative Potential for Breakthrough Results

by Chris Grivas and Gerard Puccio

This book offers a great resource for management and leadership development professionals, team leaders, and anyone interested in kick-starting innovation in their workplaces and lives.

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Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention

by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Legendary psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi reveals what leads to legendary creative moments so that this knowledge can be used to enrich people's lives. He explains why creativity needs to be cultivated and is necessary for the future of our country, if not the world.

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Discovering Design: Explorations in Design Studies

by Richard Buchanan and Victor Margolin

The authors bring together eleven essays by scholars in fields that focus on three broad themes: how to shape design as a subject matter, how to distinguish the activity of designing in the complex world of action, and how to address the basic questions of value and responsibility that persistently arise in the discussion and practice of design.

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Designerly Ways of Knowing

by NIgel Cross

A revised and edited collection of key parts of Professor Cross’s published work, this book offers a timeline of scholarship and research over the course of 25 years, and a resource for understanding how designers think and work. Coverage includes the nature and nurture of design ability; creative cognition in design; the natural intelligence of design; design discipline versus design science; and expertise in design.

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The 30-Day Creativity Challenge: 30 Days to a Seriously More Creative You

by Ed Bell

Creativity is for everyone! And here’s the good news: creativity is a skill you cultivate. In fact, it's a skill you develop by practicing it, day after day after day. This book is an easy way to supercharge your creativity through thirty unique 10-minute challenges.

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