9 Non-obvious design books
The most often mentioned books on design thinking are Creative Confidence (David & Tom Kelley) and Change by Design (Tim Brown). And those are certainly worth reading.
That said, I’d recommend a more eclectic & actionable mix. Three of my favorites in this vein are Make Space (Scott Doorley & Scott Witthoft), Sprint (Jake Knapp), and the first book I was given in design school, “The Universal Traveler” (Don Koberg).
Also, I’m a fan of books that are practical & pragmatic guides for the hands-on work of innovation. As such, I’d encourage you to read broadly to learn about adjacent entrepreneurial methods (e.g., agility, customer development, business model generation) and related design practices (e.g., service design, customer experience, business model generation).
And then, at a personal level, I’d recommend making time to dig a little deeper as well (to begin developing your own philosophy of design and to explore the broader implications of design thinking at work and in life).
All together, here’s my list of 9 (not-so-obvious) books for aspiring design thinkers:
Make Space (Scott Doorley & Scott Whitthoft)
Sprint (Jake Knapp)
Lean Startup (Eric Ries)
Business Model Generation (Alexander Osterwalder, et al.)
This is Service Design Thinking (Marc Stickdorn & Jakob Schneider)
It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work (by Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, et al.)
Designing Your Life (by Bill Burnett, Dave Evans)
The Universal Traveler (Don Koberg)
The Timeless Way of Building (Christopher Alexander)
PS - I should note that #9 (The Timeless Way) is by far my favorite book on the philosophy and practice of design. I’ll explain more about that later. Until then, happy reading!