Publishing & Books : The Non-Designer s Design Book (Non Designer s Design Book)

The Non-Designer s Design Book (Non Designer s Design Book)

EUR 18,61


Subtitled Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice, this book is for anyone who has to design a newsletter, job ad, flyer, business card, memo, report or whatever, but has no idea what separates good design from bad. Except, of course, that the first looks clear, professional, sophisticated and right, and the second is an ugly, unreadable mess.Robin Williams has an easily readable style and manages to communicate sometimes complex and sophisticated concepts simply and directly. She rightly assumes that, though most people can recognise bad design when they see it, they don t know why it s bad and are therefore powerless to fix the same problems in their own work.The bulk of the book is given over to explaining how, by sticking to four basic design principles--contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity--you can eliminate design gremlins from your work. In searching for a memorable and appropriate acronym for this principled approach, Williams admits she was only semi-successful.The second half of the book deals with how to use type. Once again the approach is to explain simply, directly and with illustrated examples how the relationship between typefaces is defined.As a college teacher, Williams can t resist the temptation to dot little quizzes, tests and mini-projects throughout the text. These are mostly good fun and reinforce what you ve read, though even if you decide to ignore them they won t spoil your enjoyment of the book.The Non-Designer s Design Book is the kind of book you could read in your lunch break. Its attitude is more sketch in the margin with a pencil, than complete the projects on the CD. It would be an ideal primer for anyone starting a design course, as well as those who want to improve the look of their memos. --Ken McMahon

good info, but i would have liked more! - as an aspiring web page designer (who always believed she had a good eye but often needs hours of trial and error to find that acceptable look), i was looking for a practical, beginners introduction to graphic design. i am not interested in the theory or schools of thought or even terms so much as practical, usable info that i can put to work right away.i found this book to be straightforward, simple, quick to read, and very useful. the same day i got it, i was able to use the principles to improve the design of my web page immediately in significant ways! my only beef with the book is that it didn t take me far enough. i would have liked to get a lot more of the same! someone who has some background in graphic design would probably not get too much out of the book, but i would reccomend it to those without any formal training as a good starting point.

I ve been looking for this book forever! - The basics, simple and in one place. That s all I ve wanted, and here they are in an easy-to-follow format with great graphics and lots of helpful examples. I started applying the principles, and the results I was looking for were immediate.

I couldn t put this book down - I have a degree in art, produce a newsletter and do layout for newspaper ads, and I still found plenty of interesting and useful information on almost every page of this little book, even though it s intended for novices. (Maybe I m a bit slow!) I especially enjoyed the author s cataloging of typefaces and discussions on how they can be combined. A refresher on rules of design was a welcome review. I read it from cover to cover and took notes at the same time.

Possibly helpful for aesthetically inept designers - I bought this book thinking that it might help me design visually appealing (or at least respectable looking) web pages. I m already an experienced programmer but I ve always struggled with the graphic art aspects of web design. Unfortunately, this book was utterly useless to me because all of the designs were extremely bland and for the most part overly simple and generally unattractive. Maybe I ve been spoiled because I ve had the privilege of working with so many great graphic artists, but this book really disappointed me. If you are looking for a way to improve the look of your pamphlets espousing the communist ideals of Noam Chomsky then maybe this book is for you. Anyone else who needs to learn compelling real world design principles (and I believe this is the majority of people out there) will find this book to be--at best--a good reference on ways to design for clients who are looking for a bland, no-frills, 1970 s style layout. At worst, this book is a total waste of an aspiring designer s time and money.

Possibly helpful for aesthetically inept designers - I bought this book thinking that it might help me design visually appealing (or at least respectable looking) web pages. I m already an experienced programmer but I ve always struggled with the graphic art aspects of web design. Unfortunately, this book was utterly useless to me because all of the designs were extremely bland and for the most part overly simple and generally unattractive. Maybe I ve been spoiled because I ve had the privilege of working with so many great graphic artists, but this book really disappointed me. If you are looking for a way to improve the look of your pamphlets espousing the communist ideals of Noam Chomsky then maybe this book is for you. Anyone else who needs to learn compelling real world design principles (and I believe this is the majority of people out there) will find this book to be--at best--a good reference on ways to design for clients who are looking for a bland, no-frills, 1970 s style layout. At worst, this book is a total waste of an aspiring designer s time and money.




The Non-Designer s Design Book (Non Designer s Design Book)