Holiday Gift Guide for Creatives
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Holiday shopping is stressful enough, but add a designer to your list, and you reach new levels of stress. All year, we designers are so opinionated (fonts, logos, kerning…) that it causes a problem around the holidays. “Will she like the margins in this book?” “What will he think of that shade of green?” “Is this typeface too trendy?”
The agony ends here. From goofy to geeky, sophisticated to spiritual, this guide has something for every designer. Save this list for your own shopping plans, or share with others to drop a helpful hint. (Prices taken from Amazon.com; subject to change at any moment.)
Another logo sent to you as 7kb .jpg file? InDesign quit unexpectedly again? One more “last” revision? Just choose between a male sigh, a female sigh, a shocked sigh, and an end of the world sigh.
Pick a card, any card…This deck of 52 cards is perfect for jumpstarting your creative thinking, or getting you out of a creative rut. With prompts and puzzles, this handy deck keeps things fresh and fun.
At fifteen inches long, this pencil is best for the designer proud to use analog tools. Oh yes, the eraser works.
Need an extra pair of eyes to check your work for typos, color values, and alignment? Get these. Great gift for an editor or the designer prone to worrying.
With this set of bug stamps (with separate wings, legs, and antennae parts), add a touch of whimsy to your next stamping project, whether that’s stationery, gift wrap, labels, or tea towels. This boxed set of 25 stamps comes with a yellow and black ink pad and makes a charming gift for kids, nature lovers, and stamp-happy crafters.
Create your own beautiful letters and illustrations with this kit of four stencil sheets and dot grid notebook. Find colorful instructions and inspiration in the front pages and a clear pouch on the back cover for storing the plastic stencils. Fun for type designers (or wannabe type designers).
Designers are notoriously picky about their pens. But with a UV light, flashlight, and laser pointer (“for presentations and entertaining cats”), this pen leaves all others in the dust.
Putting your pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) is much less daunting with The Writing Deck on hand. Filled with challenges and questions, this deck of 52 cards is the ultimate antidote to writer’s block.
Those intrigued by old-school photography have a special problem (as though finding a place to develop film weren’t enough)—obtaining instructional guides that are not faded, rumpled, or filled with grainy images. With diagrams and closeup shots on camera parts, this reference book is clear, concise, and delightful.
What Would A Unicorn Do? notebook
Enough with the unicorn jokes. Just what, exactly, would a unicorn do? This notebook, with its spinner wheel on the cover, will help you make all of the most awe-inspiring choices at work.
Big, bold, and beautiful, this hardcover sketchbook features 100 smooth, white pages and an appendix of gorgeous vintage color diagrams. The spiral binding gives you a flat drawing surface, and the paper is the perfect thickness for pens, pencils, and markers of all colors. An elegant gift for any artist or doodler.
If you like color, typefaces, and colorful typefaces, you’ll fall in love with this book. From stunning typographic exhibits to practical guidance on designing and using multicolor typefaces (all sandwiched between joyfully colored endpapers), Type and Color is a must-have for designers of logotypes, typographers, or anyone seeking to use typography like a unicorn would.
My Nature Sticker Activity Books (In the Forest, Animals of the Savanna, and many more)
Perfect for curious, creative kids, this collection of books feature adorable illustrations and amazing facts about the natural world. Each spread has prompts for drawing, coloring, and applying stickers to the book, and is sure to spark hours of playful learning.
The Official Bob Ross Coloring Book: The Colors of the Four Seasons, Bob Ross Agenda Undated, Bob Ross 2020 Wall Calendar, Bob Ross: A Happy Little Day-to-Day Calendar
Bob Ross painting fans will be like “happy little clouds” to receive any of these items newly published this year. The coloring book is perfect for the sophisticated coloring book aficionado (and great for experimenting with color combinations). The spiral-bound agenda is left undated, so it can be used any time of any year as a weekly to-do list planner. The calendars show beautiful landscape paintings with inspiring quotes from the painting expert himself, and the day-to-day version is propped up by a happy little easel stand.
A *New* Program for Graphic Design
Not your typical textbook, A *New* Program for Graphic Design is a sleek, no-frills volume designed like a stack of notes from the course you never took (but should have) and written in casual, everyday language. With photos and contemporary examples of information design in society, this book makes a practical, scholarly gift for the lifelong design learner.
Craftspeople of all types will love The Story of Tools, which examines the objects that people use to make things by hand. With gorgeous close-up photography and stories that feature experts on using (or making) their favorite tools, this book is like a documentary and behind-the-scenes studio tour, wrapped in one lovely hardcover binding.
On Colour and Becoming Invisible
Written for those interested in the spiritual realm of color theory, these books guide the reader into an exploration of color with visualization and breathing exercises as a means to manifest “the white cloud of invisibility.” An unusual find for anyone fascinated by Transcendentalism, color theory, or invisibility.
The Leaf Supply Guide to Creating Your Indoor Jungle
Designing with pixels is great and all, but there’s something so satisfying about designing your office and living space with tangible, living things. Turn over a new leaf with this smart, practical guide to transforming indoor spaces of any size into lush, refreshing jungles. Monkeys optional.
Artists’ Instagrams: The Never Seen Instagrams of the World’s Greatest Artists
What would Monet share on IG if he were around? And what about Picasso? Witty posts (and commentary from other famous artists) pair with silly drawings in this goofy gag book. Perfect for art history buffs who’ll get the inside jokes.
Scrawl: An A-Z of Famous Doodles
A doodle is a special glimpse into someone’s private life—it shows ideas and dreams with raw and unpolished personality. With scans of real doodles by names you’ll recognize (Thomas Edison, Harry Houdini, Clara Barton, Charlie Chaplin, and Mark Twain, to name a few), Scrawl is a fun volume for doodle enthusiasts, historians, and those who could use some reassurance that you don’t have to draw everything perfectly to leave a legacy.
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