LibGuides: Interactive Design: Books

Books

Books and e-books can be helpful resources for understanding a topic, or useful guides for navigating different areas of design. You can find electronic books through the main library search box, or by searching through the databases in the right column below.

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Books by Topic

User Experience
Color in Design
Communication in Design
Industrial Design
Data visualization
Web typography
Computer graphics
Design Industry
Sustainable Design
Digital Photography
Web Development

Is there a book you think the library should have in our collection? Make a recommendation for library purchase!

E-Book Databases

Skillsoft Books (formerly known as Books24x7)
(SkillSoft) Provides access to thousands of e-books in the fields of computer and information technology, business, and engineering (ITPro, BusinessPro, FinancePro, and EngineeringPro, respectively).

(NOTE: Only selected content from titles' companion CDs is available: "If a title has CD content available, a link to the content will be in the Table of Contents, as well as in appropriate chapters. Also, a direct link to any companion websites is available via the Companion Website tool for applicable titles.")
Details and Terms of Use
Safari Books Online (also known as O'Reilly for Higher Education)
(ProQuest / O'Reilly) Provides full-text access to thousands of e-books and videos in IT, Business, Math, Engineering, Design, and other topics.

- If prompted for your 'Academic email' while in the Safari platform, enter your full Seneca Polytechnic e-mail address. If it does not work the first time, enter it a second time. If still unsuccessful, try a different browser.

Details and Terms of Use
Ebook Central
(ProQuest) Thousands of downloadable e-book titles covering all academic disciplines.

- PLEASE NOTE: On July 1st, 2025, due to financial constraints, our Ebook Central collection from ProQuest is being reduced in size, as we are cancelling the subscription portion of it. Please note that this subscription collection contains mostly older/backlist titles. Faculty members should consult with their Liaison Librarians -- https://library.senecapolytechnic.ca/faculty/contact -- about the acquisition of specific e-book titles that they may require for course needs in September and beyond.

Users must have Adobe Digital Editions (free download) and a personal Adobe account in order to check out and download e-book titles for extended use. Many titles in this collection are one-copy/one-user-at-a-time titles that may be "signed out" for up to 21 days. Users may place a request for titles that are currently checked out by other users.
Details and Terms of Use
EBSCO eBook Collection
(EBSCO) Provides access to a large collection of e-books in art, business, computer science, education, history, literature, health and medicine, law, and the humanities and social sciences.

- PLEASE NOTE: On July 1st, 2025, due to financial constraints, our EBSCO eBook Collection is being reduced in size, as we are cancelling the subscription portion of it. Please note that this subscription collection contains mostly older/backlist titles. Faculty members should consult with their Liaison Librarians -- https://library.senecapolytechnic.ca/faculty/contact -- about the acquisition of specific e-book titles they may require for course needs in September and beyond.

Users must set up their own "My EBSCOhost" account (free of charge) and also have Adobe Digital Editions (free download) and a personal Adobe account in order to check out e-book titles for extended use. Many titles in this collection are one-copy/one-user-at-a-time titles that may be "signed out" for up to 7 days. Users may place a request for titles that are currently checked out by other users.
Details and Terms of Use

Recently Acquired E-Books

How Design Makes Us Think by Sean Adams
ISBN: 9781616899721

Publication Date: 2021-02-23

From posters to cars, design is everywhere. While we often discuss the aesthetics of design, we don't always dig deeper to unearth the ways design can overtly, and covertly, convince us of a certain way of thinking. How Design Makes Us Think collects hundreds of examples across graphic design, product design, industrial design, and architecture to illustrate how design can inspire, provoke, amuse, anger, or reassure us. Graphic designer Sean Adams walks us through the power of design to attract attention and convey meaning.
Applying Color Theory to Digital Media and Visualization by Theresa-Marie Rhyne
ISBN: 9781498765497

Publication Date: 2016-11-17

This book provides an overview of the application of color theory concepts to digital media and visualization. It highlights specific color concepts like color harmony and shows how to apply the concept with case study examples and usage of actual online and mobile color tools. Color deficiencies are reviewed and discussed are color tools for examining how a specific color map design will look to someone with the deficiency. Other books on color examine artists' use of color, color management, or color science. This book applies fundamental color concepts to digital media and visualization solutions. It is intended for digital media and visualization content creators and developers.
Digital Storytelling by Mark Dunford (Editor); Tricia Jenkins (Editor)
ISBN: 9781137591517

Publication Date: 2018-01-23

This edited collection brings together academics and practitioners to explore the uses of Digital Storytelling, which places the greatest possible emphasis on the voice of the storyteller. Case studies are used as a platform to investigate questions of concept, theory and practice, and to shine an interrogative light on this emergent form of participatory media. The collection examines the creative and academic roots of Digital Storytelling before drawing on a range of international examples to consider the way in which the practice has established itself and evolved in different settings across the world.
Big Data, Big Design: Why Designers Should Care About Artificial Intelligence by Helen Armstrong
ISBN: 9781616899158

Publication Date: 2021-10-19

Big Data, Big Design defines and explores what every designer needs to know about artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), all the while inspiring designers to harness this technology and establish leadership via thoughtful, human-centered design. It's not just about the algorithms, it's about what we do with the data once received. Ellen lupton says, "Important and accessible!" Readers will explore the principles and cultural context of Ai and ML, as well as gain an understanding of the design opportunities and pitfalls that arise as designers incorporate predictive algorithms into their practice. Designers will walk away from this portable, friendly book inspired by practical and theoretical knowledge that will allow them to make thoughtful decisions as this technology unfolds.
The Spirit of Design: Objects, Environment, and Meaning by Stuart Walker
ISBN: 9781849713641

Publication Date: 2011-08-25

Imaginative design will be a crucial factor in enacting sustainability in people's daily lives. Yet current design practice is trapped in consumerist cycles of innovation and production, making it difficult to imagine how we might develop a more meaningful and sustainable rendition of material culture. Through fundamental design research, The Spirit of Design challenges a host of common assumptions about sustainability, progress, growth and globalization. Walker's practice-based explorations of localisation, human meaning and functional objects demonstrate the imaginative potential of research-through-design and yield a compelling, constructive and essentially hopeful direction for the future - one that radically re-imagines our material culture by meshing mass-production with individuality, products with place, and utilitarian benefit with environmental responsibility.
Information Design for the Common Good: Human-Centric Approaches to Contemporary Design Problems by Courtney Marchese
ISBN: 1350117250

Publication Date: 2021-10-21

This book explores the increasing altruistic impulse of the design community to address some of the world's most difficult problems including social, political, environmental, and global health causes at the local, national, and global scale. Each chapter strategically combines theory and practice to examine how to identify causes and locate accurate data, truth and integrity in information design, the information design/data visualization process, understanding audiences, crafting meaningful narratives, and measuring the impact of a design.