The best 20 Design Thinking books

Creative Confidence shows us the amazing value and impact that creativity has in our everyday lives. In fact, being able to think creatively can increase your happiness and success in both your professional and personal spheres. Luckily, artists and musicians don’t have a monopoly on creativity. With the right techniques and mind-set, anyone can think creatively.

Change by Design (2009) presents a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to designing solutions to address any sort of innovation challenge. In following this step-by-step guide, you’ll be able to more creatively develop the stories and inspirations that will lead to tomorrow’s innovations.

Lean UX (2013) is a guide to applying lean principles to interactive design workspaces. These blinks explain the techniques of Lean UX and outline how you can best integrate them into your company’s design process. You’ll learn the importance of close collaboration and customer feedback, as well as how to constantly improve your designs.

In a world where data, numbers and statistics are treated like holy relics, Sensemaking (2017) powerfully advocates a return to humanities-based thinking. These blinks explain the process and principles of sensemaking, a way to make sense of the world through the interpretation of human culture. Being able to look beyond the immediate focus and understand the context surrounding the issues at hand is a critical tool for anyone looking to develop great, one-of-a-kind ideas.

This is Service Design Thinking (2011) presents the core principles of service design. By providing tools and real-life examples, it’s a great introduction to this evolving and interdisciplinary approach to designing services. These blinks present the most salient information on the subject.

Better Together (2018) is an examination of how school networks are transforming students’ education experiences across the United States to make them college and career ready. It illuminates how networks provide new learning models, foster ongoing professional development, and facilitate personalized education to help each child reach their full potential.

ROI in Marketing (2020) lays out a framework for planning and running effective marketing initiatives that deliver good financial results. Using design thinking principles, ROI in Marketing breaks down how to create chains of impact in marketing campaigns and monitor their effectiveness to ensure positive returns on investment.

UX for Lean Startups (2013) provides an innovative, cost-effective approach to researching and designing products and services. Geared toward start-ups and companies that want to act like them, it shows that you can provide your customers with an excellent user experience while keeping your time and money expenditures as lean as possible.

Radical Product Thinking (2021) lays out a step-by-step approach to developing game-changing products. Taking aim at the iteration-led approaches to product development that have become popular in recent years, it provides an inspiring, vision-driven alternative. 

Continuous Discovery Habits (2021) explores how product managers and designers can keep making a positive impact on their customers’ lives. It explores an optimal decision-making process for product teams, so that they can continue to improve their offerings. 

Creative Acts for Curious People (2021) collects insights about creativity and design taught in the classrooms of Stanford’s renowned Hasso Plattner School of Design, also known as the d.school. In addition to essays about the mindset and skills required for creative action, it offers over 80 practical exercises used by instructors from dozens of fields including medicine, education, and nonprofit to help improve your ability to solve problems, whether personal or on a global scale.

The Things We Make (2023) dispels the myth around some of the greatest and most ordinary inventions. It retells their making as a creative application of the engineering method, a principle that explains how people in ancient times built some of the marvels that still capture our imagination today.

The Design Thinking Workbook (2022) provides a guide and template for problem-solving in creative, innovative ways. Meadows and Parikh share foundational skills, tools, and techniques essential to effectively addressing challenges and increasing productivity in any field of work. Their advice will help practitioners of design thinking – from beginners to experts – upgrade their creativity and increase their effectiveness when pursuing goals.

Laws of UX (2020) is a handy guidebook for anyone interested in user experience, or UX – especially as it applies to web or app design. It lays out some of the fundamental rules that inform superior product design and shows how these rules are tied to human psychology. 

The Poetry and Music of Science (2019) delves into the creative parallels between scientific inquiry and artistic expression. It explores how scientific pursuits, much like poetry and music, are deeply rooted in human creativity and storytelling, and how both domains are united in their quest to understand and interpret the world.

Liminal Thinking (2016) shows how you can create lasting change by understanding and reframing your beliefs. Drawing from interviews with experts in various fields, it offers six principles and nine practices to help you shape your reality and take control of your life.

The Great Mental Models, Volume 4 (2024) explains how the worlds of economics and art shape our decisions and influence the outcomes of our lives. It dives into powerful mental frameworks that transform the way we think, act, and create. Whether you're a business leader, artist, or lifelong learner, this book will give you the tools to navigate complexity with clarity and purpose.

A Smarter Way to Learn HTML & CSS by Mark Myers is a comprehensive guide that takes a unique and interactive approach to teaching web development. Through a series of exercises and quizzes, the book helps readers build a solid foundation in HTML and CSS. With clear explanations and real-world examples, it's a great resource for beginners looking to learn these essential languages for creating websites.

Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson is a comprehensive guide that explores the importance of content in the digital world. It offers practical advice and strategies for creating and managing content that is valuable, relevant, and engaging for your target audience. Whether you are a marketer, designer, or business owner, this book will help you develop a solid content strategy to achieve your goals online.

Making Your Website Work by Gill Andrews is a practical guide that helps business owners and entrepreneurs optimize their websites for better results. With actionable tips and real-life examples, this book covers everything from website structure and design to content and user experience, empowering readers to create a website that truly works for their business.