To coincide with our 12th anniversary in July 2012, the team at magneticNorth decided to select 12 of our favourite books from the mN library.

The library sits in the studio reception and is used regularly by everyone that works here (there are 25 of us) and friends of mN are free to come and borrow books whenever they like.

We have our own library stamp and everything.

Since 2009 we’ve been blogging about the books the team are reading on ‘Read by mN’ and we thought our 12th anniversary was a great excuse to share some of our top picks.

We hope you enjoy our selection.

This book takes us into the world of iconic British fashion designer Paul Smith. A man who in our eyes combines a flair for eccentric, subversive detail, a dedication to the highest standards of craftsmanship and a business sense that has seen him become one of the UK’s most talked fashion designers. The book is full of his observations about his work and things that inspire him. From his love of bicycles and his wife to the top five things he loves about Japan (taxi doors that open automatically and the plastic food in restaurant windows that help you pick a dish).

An invaluable book to have at your side, Grid systems by Josef Müller-Brockmann shines a light on grids and their uses in design. Combining visual examples with short, to-the-point explanations, it identifies some common applications and mixes in a bit of the theory and history behind them. Because of it’s popularity It can be sometimes hard to get hold of, so if you can find a copy keep hold of it.

ThinkerToys is a book that our creative director Adam Todd and other members of the team have used at times over the years. It’s a handbook of creative-thinking techniques and whilst we don’t always think that idea sessions need structure, this book has some really good ideas when you do want to put some direction against idea generation. As you can see our copy is pretty well thumbed and we think this kind of a book has its place on the bookshelf of most businesses.

Renowned as one of the most dynamic (and chaotic) record labels ever, Factory Records introduced music to the concept of high-quality, cutting edge design and this rich and varied book documents the label’s entire visual legacy. With a foreword by a man we as a company hugely loved and admired, the late Tony Wilson, this book is great for anyone interested in design or music.

The agency were really saddened by the recent death of Hillman Curtis, a person we professionally held in huge regard. We couldn’t not include his seminal book Hillman Curtis MTIV: Process, Inspiration, and Practice for the New Media Designer in our 12 picks. Published in 2002 the book shares his processes, respect and excitement for this new area of design.

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman is a curious read. The first two volumes of the book were published in 1759 (there are nine in total) and its bawdy humour was popular with the London society of the time. The main thing we love about this book is the way it looks. The random typographical experiments by the author Laurence Sterne from the torn page, the black page to the frenzied use of asterisks mixed with the complex story makes it a challenging read.

This is a book we go back to time and time again. Over the last few years lots of our work for clients like the BBC has centered around exploring and telling the story of archive data and Cartographies of Time has been a constant source of inspiration. From medieval manuscripts to websites, the book features a wide variety of timelines which in their own unique way-curving, crossing, branching-defy conventional thinking about the form. It’s definitely one of our top picks.

A stone cold classic, Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works, is a timeless book on typography. An essential for any designer, the book by typography gods Erik Spiekermann and E. M. Ginger distill their decades of experience into a lively, rewarding guide to type. This second edition is a revised edition of the original book and covers new technology, fresh typefaces and a discussion of how to choose the best type for best effect on the web and screens of all sizes.

Computer visionary Ted Nelson coined the terms “hypertext” and “hypermedia” in 1963 and has been designing his own software for over fifty years. This book documents that work along with Ted’s witty anecdotes regarding the computer industry at large.

Building electronic projects that interact with the physical world is obviously fun. But when devices that you’ve built start to talk to each other, things really start to get interesting. Through a series of simple projects, this book shows you how to get your creations to communicate with one another by forming networks of smart devices that carry on conversations with you and your environment.

If you enjoy reading about music and musicians, like many of us at mN you really should own Rip It Up and Start Again. Documenting a fertile but often forgotten period of popular music, Simon Reynolds attempts to cover the broad scene that followed punk rock. This book is a great way to find out the stories behind songs you have grown up with and to discover influential bands that have had an impact on popular music ever since.

This book by James Surowiecki is a champion for collective thinking and is centred around the idea that the aggregation of information in groups, results in decisions that are often better than could have been made by any single member of the group. So basically the group mind is often unconsciously more powerful than a solo mind. It was a New York Times Business Bestseller when it was released in 2004 and a well read book amongst many members the mN team including our founder and CEO Lou Cordwell.

Was one of your favourites included in our picks? Want to tell us what you’re reading? Feel free to hit us up at @mNwork