For budding artists, a series of books by cartoonist/designer Mark Gonyea does a great of explaining complex design principles. In the first, A Book about Design: Complicated Doesn't Make it Good, he uses just a sentence or two per page, as well as simple shapes (squares, circles, triangles) to explain concepts such as ratio, contrast, and balance. In the second, Another Book about Design: Complicated Doesn't Make it Bad, the concepts are more complicated, including foreground and background, positive and negative space and design unity.
For reluctant readers, books that are more task-oriented allow them to feel as if they are reading for a real purpose. Here, the "lessons" are simple and easily practiced and repeated. For those with real artistic talent, these books could be ones that they keep through art school!
When getting books for those who "hate" them, always remember to get practical books like these that help them with their own interests. This is a great way to develop fond feelings for books.
