Non-Designer Design Books

Sure, it would be nice if every one who ever needed a new brochure, a logo, a yellow pages ad, or some letterhead could hire a professional graphic designer. But the reality is that many small business owners and entrepreneurs have to do it all themselves. Even as a small business your identity system and marketing materials are no small part of your success so you want them to look good, be appropriate, and for the non-designer you want them to be fairly easy to create. There are a lot of books out there on design that are aimed at the non-designer or novice designer. I've narrowed the list to 6 books that I'd recommend to any small office / home office person who needs to do their own design and desktop publishing.

Some books are fairly recent and others are classics that, despite being published many years ago, are definitely worth adding to your design library. You don't necessarily need all 6, but having 2 or 3 of these non-designer books will prove useful.

Are there other books you'd recommend especially for the non-designer tasked with doing their own graphic design and desktop publishing? Tell us which ones and why.

^{Photos of book covers for Design it Yourself Logos, Letterheads, & Business Cards and The Desktop Publisher's Idea Book © J. Bear}