There are many books out there that are useful to look at, but these are my favorites. These are the books that I refer the most in my research. I divided these books into categories and you will find links to Amazon online to get the book, not that I am promoting Amazon, but through Amazon you will be able to view some content in the book. I hope this link will be able to help people who is interested in pursuing research, and further study in relation to graphic design, identity, popular culture, and design methods.

Writing research

Graphic Design practice

Many graphic design books are published from America and Britain. That statement itself said a lot. It means the graphic design activities has been practices, studies, appreciated and acknowledge its roles a lot more in these countries in comparison to South East Asian countries. In many south east asian countries, graphic designers are still searching for its acknowledgments and defining its roles. These are the books, guides and references to graphic design practices and voices.

Design and social context

Design cannot separated from the social context. It is in fact plays the important roles in the society and stimulating the social context. Practitioner and scholar such as S.Heller, V.Margolin, B.Mau and many more discuss about the involvement of design activities in the society.

Visual Theory

As visual theory is a very broad areas, and the names of the books can be endless, it all depends to what are the areas in visual theory that you interested to explore. In my research I am interested in relation to pop-culture, cultural identity, ethnicity, and national identity.  Scholars such as R.Barthes, S.Hall, J.Williamson, B.Munari are among the important texts that have provided me insight and understanding of how to look and analyze visual.

Design Research Methodology

Design research is fairly a new area that undergo its research development. Most of the design research methodology are derived from design practices in arts, architecture, engineering and sciences. Only recently design has took its own part and described its own ways of practice which mainly dealing with visual design elements such as color, typography, space, lines, images etc. It also involved the look and the feel of the artifacts. The methodology is based on designers reflections on their own practice and how they create their artifacts.

Cultural Studies and Sociology

If you have similar interest as mine, here are the list of books that I recommended for you to read. Of course there are much more than this list but this will be a good start to search for the books if you don’t know where to begin.

DESIGN
Communication Design – FRASCARA, Jorge (2004)
The Design of Everyday Things – NORMAN, Donald A. (1998)
In The Bubble – Designing in a Complex World – THACKARA, John (2005)
An Introduction to Design and Culture from 1900 to the present – SPARKE, Penny. (2004)

GRAPHIC DESIGN
Looking Closer – Critical Writing in Graphic Design – BIERUT, M., DRENTTEL, W.,
& HELLER, S. (2006)
Design Literacy, Understanding Graphic Design – HELLER, Steven. (2004)
No More Rules – PAYNOR, Rick. (2003)
Citizen Designer – Perspectives on design responsibility – edited by HELLER, S. and VIENNE, V. (2003)
What Is Graphic Design – NEWARK, Quentin (2002)

CULTURE
Imagine Communities – ANDERSON, Benedict (2006)
Massive Change – MAU, Bruce. (2004)
Authenticity – BOYLE, David (2003)
Orientalism – SAID, Edward. W (2003)
No Logo – KLEIN, Naomi. (2000)
Global Nature, Global Culture – FRANKLIN Sarah., LURY Celia., STACEY, J. (2000)
Ethics Future – The State of Identity Politics in Asia – Edited by GOMEZ, NANDY, SENANAYAKE, CZARNECKA. (1999)

BRANDING
How to Brand A Nation – OLINS, Wally (2005)
Brand America – The mother of all brands – ANHOLT ,Simon (2004)
Pro Logo- Brands as a factor of progress – CHEVALIER, M.MAZZALOVO, G. (2004)
Brand New Justice – ANHOLT, Simon (2003)
The Brand Gap – How to Bridge The Distance Between Business Strategy and Design – NEUMEIER, Marty (2003)
Brand New Justice – ANHOLT, Simon (2003)
Citizen Brand – GOBE, Marc (2002)
Emotional Branding – GOBE, Marc (2001)

MALAYSIA
Malaysia – A Pictorial History 1400-2004 – MOORE, Khadijah Wendy (2007)
Building Cultural Nationalism in Malaysia – Identity, Representation, and Citizenship – DANIEL, T.P. (2005)
Dilema Melayu – MOHAMAD, Mahathir (2003)
The Other Malaysia – NOOR, A. Farish (2002)
The Shaping of Malaysia – KAUR, A. & MATCALFE, I. (Eds.) (1999)
Malaysian Flavours – Insights Into Things Malaysian – LEE, S. K. (1996)
Lat ‘The Kampung Boy – ‘LAT’ M. N. K. (1995)

RESEARCH
Design Research – DOWNTOWN, Peter (2003)
The Craft Of Research – BOOTH, W.C., COLOMB, G.G. & WILLIAMS, J.M (2003)