D.I.Y. Design It Yourself is a design handbook edited by Ellen Lupton.
I came across this book whilst browsing at the Kinokinuya bookshop. I liked the images and various types of media featured in the book. There's a few pages devoted to each of the following: blogs, books, business cards, cds, flyers, invitations, logos, newsletters, notecards, posters, stationery, t-shirts, web sites, wall graphics, zines, and there's a few interviews with designers as well.
I liked how it wasn't corporate design, but more from the design students just coming up with things, experimenting, trying out new ideas. The resulting product/media looks more 'home-grown', earthy, organic and fresh, rather than corporatized, and I appreciated that.
"This book is for people from all walks of life who want to publish words, images, and ideas on paper, on t-shirts, on the Web, or anywhere else. Current technologies—from digital fonts and the Internet to full-service copy centers—make it possible for nearly anyone to produce their own graphics. Technology alone, however, is not enough. If you learn how to think like a designer, you will be able to clarify your ideas and pull together the materials, services, and software you need to make your concepts real. This book demystifies the technical side of small-scale publishing in various media while opening up your mind to the creative side of design."
"This book was produced by students and faculty in the Master of Fine Arts program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). We hope to broaden design awareness by spreading knowledge of what we do."
W: http://www.papress.com/designityourself/index.html
Ellen Lupton also maintains a blog called Design Writing Research at:
http://www.designwritingresearch.org/
