20 free ebooks for designers and artists

Free ebooks for designers: The shape of design
(Image credit: Frank Chimero)

A lot of free ebooks have been on offer over the last few years. Though there will always be a thriving market for design books written by experts (and sometimes it is definitely worth splashing your cash to receive the highest quality content), the quality of free and 'freemium' content has vastly improved. In fact, it's often on the same level as books you'd pay for.

Thanks to the digital age, it's now viable for professionals to utilise the electronic book – a much, much cheaper way to distribute literature than printing a free physical book. If you do have some budget to spend, you could head over to our pick of the best graphic design books – you can be sure you won't be wasting your money. 

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Sam Hampton-Smith

Sam is a designer and illustrator based in Scotland, UK. He splits his time between art and design, motion and video and writing for various creative titles. He has written a book about web design, Pro CSS3 Layout Techniques and contributed to typography book, Fonts and Typefaces Made Easy.

Latest in Books
I Love it. What is It? book
"We wanted to talk about what the actual creative process feels like", How we made I Love It. What Is It?
I love it what is it? book on a plain background
Marketing that people love: exclusive extract from Turner Duckworth's new book
retro computers; a man holds up a book
This retro computers trivia book is so strange, I just had to meet the author
image of Pentagram Living by Design book
Pentagram: Living by Design review: hefty tome on a world-famous design firm
Billboards from the recent Amazon books advertising campaign.
Amazon embraces the beauty of books in new ad campaign
Blotches of colour on a black and white illustration with text that reads "works of heart"
This free colouring book is like a big hug for your brain
Latest in Features
Your House indie game art interview; A stylised illustration depicts a young woman seated, seemingly contemplative, in a setting that combines elements of a comic book panel and a vintage aesthetic
"This is a game you can read, or a book you can play” – solving the visual design of Your House, a detective game crossed with a Daniel Clowes comic
AI generated images of a male creative director and a female parent
AI's gender bias is even worse than reality
Augustinas Paukšte waving out of a window
"I tried to be a human orchestra": a day in the life of creative director Augustinas Paukšte
Lady Phyll
"She embodies strength, resilience, and pride": Ron Timehin on photographing LGBTQ+ icon Lady Phyll
Atomfall hands-on; various scenes from a video game set in a 1950s England after the apocalypse
"We wanted it to feel big" – playing Atomfall from an art director’s perspective
Best video game architecture; a woman stands in front of a city scene, in the distance is a mix of gothic and modernist buildings
The best video games for architecture and design fans