Search for a Book or E-book
- Boston Campus (Snell Library) Scholar OneSearchSearch in Scholar OneSearch for e-books and print books available online or at Snell Library on the Boston, MA campus. Use the Material Type filters for books, e-books, and/or book chapters to narrow down your results.
Visual Research and Browsing the Print Collection at Snell Library
Most of Snell Library's print book collection in the arts is located on the lower level of the library. These books will have a location of "Snell Library Stacks" in their Scholar OneSearch record.
Browsing the shelves of books can be a great research method for finding books for inspiration. You might also make connections with a wide array of themes, topics, etc. when browsing.
The library uses Library of Congress Classification to organize and shelve the books, which uses an alpha-numeric system to assign a call number to each book. Most of the books in the arts are in the N's and most of the books related to graphic design will be specifically in the NC section. Use the table below to guide your browsing in relevant subjects:
|
Subject |
Call Numbers |
|---|---|
| Visual Arts (art museums, exhibitions, history of art, techniques, and more) | N 1-9211 |
| Architecture | NA 1-9428 |
| Sculpture | NB 1-1952 |
| Drawing, Design, and Illustration | NC 1-1940 |
| Graphic Art Materials | NC 845-915 |
| Illustration | NC 950-996 |
| Commercial and Advertising Art | NC 997-1003 |
| Posters | NC 1800-1850 |
| Painting | ND 25-3416 |
| Print Media (printmaking and engraving) | NE 1-3002 |
| Decorative Arts | NK 1-9990 |
| Arts in General (studying, teaching, history of the arts) | NX 1-820 |
| Book Design | Z 116.A3 |
| Printing (type and typesetting) | Z 116.A5-265.5 |
*Note, there are graphic design related books in other sections - not just NC. You might also find relevant books outside of the N's. You can use Scholar OneSearch to search for books and take note of their call number.
Search Strategies for Finding Books
Search Scholar OneSearch using very specific search terms, such as the graphic designer's name.
Searching by the name of your assigned graphic designer is a good first step in determining if the library has any books by or about that designer. Your search results should return books that have the designer's name in the title, the description of the book, or other fields within the Scholar OneSearch record for the book. Search tip: You can also try putting quotation marks around the name, which tells the database to look for the name as a phrase. For example, searching for "Louise Fili" tells the database to search for the first name and last name in that specific order and next to each other. It won't search for Louise and Fili as separate search terms, which can often bring back irrelevant search results.
Examples include:
Elegantissima: The Design & Typography of Louise Fili by
Louise Fili has been an inspiration for designers around the world since the 1980s, when she raised the bar on book cover design, creating close to two thousand jackets as art director for Pantheon Books. In 1989 Fili founded her own graphic design studio, Louise Fili Ltd, and branched out into the fields of restaurant and food packaging design. Her lavish and elegant typography, often hand drawn, helps advertise and market such well-known brands as Sarabeth's, Bella Cucina, Jean-Georges, and Good Housekeeping, among many others. Known for her intense attention to detail, her fresh reinterpretation of vintage sources, and her passion for all things Italian, Fili has won numerous awards. Elegantissima, the first monograph on her work, covers the breadth of her nearly forty-year design career and is a must-have for graphic design students and professionals, as well as anyone interested in advertising, food, restaurants, Italy, and books.
Publication Date: 2012
Tanaka Ikko: Graphic Master by
Tanaka Ikko (b.1930) is one of the established masters of Japanese graphic design. His work draws together influences from East and West, acknowledging the vocabulary of European Modernism while remaining characteristically Japanese. Inspired by sources as diverse as traditional Japanese illustration techniques and his passion for American jazz, he is renowned for his numerous cultural posters and programmes for theatre and ballet, many for Kanze Noh Drama. This book examines Tanaka's entire career from the late 1950s to the 1990s and includes his graphic design and art direction, editorial and interior design. Following an introduction by Gian Carlo Calza, the book is structured in four chapters: Japanese Style, Typography, Invitation to Theatre, and Art and Communication Today, each of which addresses a different aspect of Tanaka's momentous career. The concluding section comprises a critical anthology, with contributions from numerous leading commentators on contemporary graphic design, together with an extensive bibliography.
Publication Date: 1998
Search Scholar OneSearch or browse for general books about graphic design, graphic designers, and graphic design history.
Books that are broader in scope and overview topics related to graphic design may include a section, chapter, a few pages, images, etc. that feature the graphic designer you are researching. Once you access the e-book or check out the print book, you can check the table of contents at the front of the book or the index at the end of the book for mentions of your graphic designer's name or other relevant subjects.
Examples include:
The History of Graphic Design. Vol. 1. 1890-1959 by
History is a complex business. Fortunes boom and bust, empires wax and wane, and change-whether social, political, or technological-has its winners, its losers, its advocates, and its enemies. Through all the turbulent passage of time, graphic design-with its vivid, neat synthesis of image and idea-has distilled the spirit of each age. This book is an in-depth history of graphic design from the end of the 19th century to the '50s. It traces the evolution of this creative field from its beginning as poster design to its further development into advertising, corporate identity, packaging, and editorial design. Organized chronologically, the volume features over 2,500 seminal designs from all over the world, 71 of which are profiled in detail besides 61 leaders in the field, including Alphonse Mucha (chocolate advertisements), Edward Johnston (London Underground logo and typeface), El Lissitzky (constructivist graphics), Herbert Matter (photomontage travel posters from Switzerland), Saul Bass (animated opening titles), and A. M. Cassandre (art deco posters). Author Jens Müller curates the standout designs for each year alongside a running sequence of design milestones. Meanwhile, in his introductory essay, David Jury situates graphic design from its point of origin in early printing, engraving, and lithography to striking creative developments in the 19th century. Each consecutive decade is then prefaced by a succinct overview as well as a visual timeline, offering a vivid display of the variety of graphic production in each decade as well as the global landscape which it at once described and defined. As we move on from and reflect upon the 20th century, this first volume examines the foundations of what would influence some of the fastest-changing creative fields. Combined with Volume Two-which spans from the 1960s until today-the tomes offer the most comprehensive exploration of graphic design to date and a long-overdue recognition of its enormous contribution to economics, politics, social causes, the arts, media, and the way we see the world.
Publication Date: 2017
Verygraphic: Polish Designers of the 20th Century by
With almost 60 chapters, contributions from 30 authors and nearly 450 pages, VeryGraphic: Polish Designers of the 20th Century is the first comprehensive history of Polish graphic design. The book showcases its immense and diverse legacy, from the world-renowned Polish Poster school to the lesser-known achievements of artists in the field of applied graphic design, including books and covers, typography and lettering, logos and visual identification as well as packaging. Chronologically detailing the work of over 60 of the most prominent Polish designers, the volume offers a review of Polish graphic design unprecedented in its scope. The cover of each copy is hand-painted, rendering it a truly one-of-a-kind object.
Publication Date: 2016
Requesting Print Books from the Snell Library (Boston, MA) Remote Annex
Not all print books are located at Snell Library on the Boston, MA campus. Some print books have been moved to the Remote Annex facility. To request an item located in the Snell Library Remote Annex, follow these directions:
- Make sure you are logged in to your Scholar OneSearch account
- Click the "Request" link under the item you need and submit the form
- We'll send an email when items are ready for pickup at the Help & Information desk
Interlibrary Loan
- ILLiad log-in (Opens in new window)Need a book, book chapter, or article not available at Northeastern? Current US-based Northeastern faculty, staff, and students can request materials that aren't available at the Northeastern University Library through ILLiad, our interlibrary loan software.