> web design is information first and aesthetics second

Agreed, though bad aesthetics can/will destroy any value the user assigns to your information. Edward Tufte's books are good. http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi. He also has some recommendations (http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/bookreviews) and the works of others that he cites are usually also excellent.

The cheap version is to just read through the Ask ET forum on his site.

One that is harder to come across: Josef Albers "Interaction of Color": http://www.yalebooks.co.uk/yale/display.asp?isb=0300115954&#...