It says "for graphic designers" right on the cover, but don't let that segment you out—this book is a must for any kind of design practitioner. Filled with tons of practical advice and nurturing encouragement, you'll find yourself popping it open randomly for case studies, side bars, posters, illustrations... just plain inspiration. Here's a few paras from Heller:

Designers are routinely called upon to make words about the images and designs they create for clients. Writing and research skills area more necessary than ever before. From the basic business writing to critical writing. Writing about design is not just "trade" writing, but should be accessible to everyone with an interest in design.

Writing and Research for Graphic Designers is an introductory guide to various forms of research and writing—and how they explain visuals and can be visualized. It will address communication on various levels and to all audiences: Designers to Designers; Designers to Clients; Designers to the Design-literate; Designers to the Design-agnostic.

Exemplary excerpts from all these platforms and on all these themes, and parse the examples to show relative merits and demerits. It will be the first substantial handbook for those designers who write and those writers who design. It will include some case studies as well as interviews with writers, editors and researches on the process they go through.

The book features Core77-faves such as Alice Twemlow, Maria Popova, Rick Poynor, Ralph Caplan, Stefan Sagmeister and Stefan Bucher. (Core77's Allan Chochinov is in the mix as well.)

Go ahead and buy it now!