One of the things I’ve been delighted to see over the last couple of years has been the development of two micropublishers in the web industry.
A Book Apart and Five Simple Steps have transformed the way I continue to learn and think about our craft.
The books are beautiful physical objects and that care permeates every word, thoughful illustration and even their digital counteparts.
The three stand outs for me are Andy Clarke’s Hardboiled Web Design, Jon Hick’s Icon Handbook and Responsive Web Design by Ethan Marcotte.
Hardboiled is a manifesto as much as a book, dispelling narrow thinking and chellenging the reader to do explore and do better in every piece of their work. It switched my brain onto the benefits of multiple techniques and for trying to push the envelope even in ‘standard’ websites.
The Icon Handbook is simply luscious & beautiful, a pleasure to hold. While I’m an ‘art challenged’ reader I appreciated the insights and the true artistry the medium of very tiny drawings.
Responsive Web Design will probably be looked back upon as a seminal work in the development of the web as it’s own medium; both similar but distinct from the printed page. The most important $9 a web designer can spend.
For the grand total of $54 you can buy the whole eBook back catalogue of a Book Apart and for £77 you can own all of Five Simple Steps. This should be less than a couple of hours of your hourly rate; you owe it to your career to spend some time with these words from the great thinkers in our industry.
Sidenote
When pulling together cover images for this article I noticed something… Zeldman has been planning a color takeover of the web design books industry and he’s been planning it for years.
In all seriousness, is there colour-collusion going on?