I have recently pursued a path along a number of resources orientated towards design and visualisation, that has brought me to an interesting new resource which is the work of the artist Joseph Kosuth in the mid 1960's.
I started with Mark Miller's podcast with the DNR team on the "Science of Good UI". This then lead onto Edward Tufte's video review on the iphone UI. I then moved onto the Turner To Monet exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA). After the exhibition I was then draw to the text, "The Illustrated History of Art" and within this discovered Kosuth's work.
Within Kosuth's work is his well know "Chair I and III" (see picture below). Within the "The Illustrated History of Art" there is a quote related to Kosuth's work that states, "...only art can investigate the state of things beyond physics". 
I think Kosuth's work is valid in the context of modern day UI design as he explored the combination of both verbal and visual representations of objects and concepts. His Chair I and III is an example of this in which a picture of a chair is shown alongside an actual chair, along with the dictionary definition of a chair.
I also believe Kosuth's work (circa 1960's) explores concepts associated with modern day software design in which designers attempt to combine requirements that are generally written, into a useful visual object that a user can then interact with. That is, the UI design.
This post is an attempt to capture a train of thought that I hope might be useful for others interested in creating new design resources. I was especially motivated by the quote ".. only art can investigate the state of things beyond physics", which I think is a compelling thought for engineers (like myself) to open their thinking processes to influences from the art world. When a student leaves their current problem domain and looks for influences from other domains then rich opportunities for innovation are created.