A Design Primer.

I	thought I would share a shortlist of books to read if you are serious about getting a foundation in design. These are not your 'ohhh look at the pretty pictures or product' design books but rather a true foundation in understanding design. I know most of
you will have read these, but for those who are not in design, I think this list would help

Design for the Real World - Victor Papanek
Ways of Seeing - John Berger
Pioneers of Modern Design - Nokolaus Pevsner
The Design of Everyday Things - Donald A. Norman
The Thames and Hudson Encyclopaedia of 20th Centry Design and Designers - Guy Julier
Design since 1945 - Peter Dormer
Art in Modern Culture - Edited by Francis Fraschina and Johathan Harris
How Art Becomes History - Maurice Berger
Twentieth-Century Design - Jonathan M. Woodham
The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology - Edited by Donald Preziosi
Exploring the Ways of Mankind - Goldschmidt
The Prodigious Builders - Bernard Rudolfky

As I said, this is by no means a full list, but it will get you going for sure. I hope this list helps. Some may be hard to find and some are a bit long in the tooth, but are still relative. I think the Victor Papanek is still required reading in most university programs and it is from 1984. Pioneers of Modern Design was first published in 1936 and Ways of Seeing in 1975.

If you have one in your reading list I should have included, Please post it in the comments. I'm always looking for something new to put on my reading list.

Update 10 Oct

I'm adding in a few books on Design Thinking and a couple suggestions from other people.

Design Mangement - Kathryn Best

Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation - Mootee

The New Business of Design - IDCA

Building Design Strategy - Lockwood, Walton
A Pattern Language - Christopher Alexander et al.
The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception - James J. Gibson

I also suggest MISC Magazine which comes out quarterly.

And I just put, Design Driven Innovation by Verganti in my reading list

Thank you Steven Forth and Hilary Cinis