Graphic Design Books

Chuck has done it again. His series of books are THE best design books on the market and this one on newsletters is the best of the best. Even if you just look at the examples you will become a better designer--but I recommend reading this book cover to cover. Wow! What a great book.

DIY: Newsletters is another Chuck Green gem of great clarity and simple beauty. Good, thorough review of the design process in part one. But it's the 13 newsletter recipes in part two that I craved. Some stylish and arty, some plain and practical -- all uncluttered and appealing. With his step-by-step specifications, you just choose and use. Mix compelling content with any of these handsome templates and your readers will appreciate you. Even if you don't do a newsletter, Chuck's lucid explanations, sample palettes and effective use of clip art will improve all your print communication. Buy this book. Buy two...one to use and one to loan out. It's a bargain.

This is a must read for every person who is involved with Media Ministry, especially the graphic design. Compliments and reinforces the Digital Storytellers conference.
This book also covers some general design even if your not involved with Church Media.
Highly Recommended.

Jason Moore and Len Wilson do a great job of explaining how to create imagery for worship. unlike thier other books, that deal more with a theology of imagery in worship or the practical aspect of congregational expectations, this book is very much the get-in-and-get-your-hands-dirty book by creating imagery. This is thier attempt at the overview of art school for the novice and I believe it is successful. I find myself encouraged and motivated. Thank you Jason and Len.
I would recommend reading "Digital Storytellers" first for the doctrine and theology. It is good to mule these over first.

The Graphic Workshop book has been a lifesaver for me in my InDesign class! As a beginner in the Graphic Arts program, this book has guided me through the steps needed to create letterheads and the logos on them. It has been so helpful to have this book along with my InDesign workbook. It was delivered in a very timely fashion and in excellent condition. Thank you so much!

Very useful and illustrative book that guides you to the entire design process. This is for both, designers and non-designers. I recommend it so much.

I agree wholeheartedly with the review below and would like to add that
this book far outstrips its predecessors in the series (I haven't seen DGTC 5 yet).

The initial sections are divided by color type (pales, pastels, brights, neutrals, greys, deeps, darks), while the follow-up sections show combinations of colors, often matching colors from one section with another. I found myself thinking "I would never have thought to put those colors together but, wow! they look great!")

It would be hard to over-endorse Designer's Guide to Color 4. This book is wonderful for anyone who works with color, from the fine art student trying to get a handle on color harmony, to the mom attempting to teach her pre-teen son how not to leave the house looking like a demented clown.

Whether you need a basic reference on tried-n-true color groupings or fresh new design ideas, this book will fit the bill. Thank you, Ikuyoshu Shibukawa!

This book is a treasure when searching for innovative color combinations. Just when I thought I had run out of ideas, I found this book. It helps you use color in ways that you would not have thought of using them. The listing of the CMYK color is useful for print and can be transposed with the use of any graphics program into the RGB color. It is a great reference for web as well as print designers.

I'm researching systems-development related topics at the moment and this book is one of the few I've encountered that gives an abundant amount of carefully considered information. Most books, it seems, can be summarized in a sentence or two. Dillon's work, on the other hand, is one of the most detailed--and purposeful--I've seen. I'd recommend this book not only to text designers but anyone interested in user-centered design. Its implications for users (who are often scanners, not readers!) are broad and significant, encompassing motivations (why people read, or why they visit websites and what they expect to get out of their experience) and navigation and wayfinding issues. Another useful component of the book is its discussion of using models and frameworks as a tool to faciliate structured research and development. Many thanks to Dillon for providing a first rate book on a pervasive, yet largely ignored topic. I look forward to seeing more of his work in the future.

This is by far the best analysis of reading of electronic text that I have seen. He provides an excellent insight as to what is, what might be, and what is not important for on-screen reading.

He does not limit text to just fiction/non-fiction categories, but instead discusses: WHY it is read professional/personal reasons, to learn or not, out of interest/need, etc. WHAT type of information it contains technical or non-technical, subject matter, general or specific, textual or graphic, etc. HOW it is read serially or non-serially, once or repeatedly, browsed or studied in depth, etc.

His book suggests to me that text should alter its format to the meet the users - Why, What, and How. Possible examples: switch to all caps when searching for words or phrases, turn off hyperlink indicators for linear reading, ...

He points out that there have been many studies on editing text, but few on reading text. A good fraction of the book deals with on-screen reading.

Screen reading was better with: high resolution characters, increased space between lines (leading), proportional font, limiting the number of characters on a line, and not splitting a sentence across a page boundary.

He indicates that users preferred on-screen reading over paper reading for some tasks when the screens had enough improvements.

Screen reading might be improved with: landmarks/navigation, serif fonts, full left/right justification, ...

Screen reading was no different than paper reading for: orientation of the media, flicker rate, screen dynamics, and visual angles (< 36 degrees).

For anyone who grew up in Europe over the last six decades (and in more recent years millions of newer fans in North America and Asia-Pacific), here's the definitive book on the deceptively simple art, menagerie of characters and captivating stories created by the inimitable talents of Dick Bruna. As a child, I couldn't imagine a day (let alone a bedtime) going by without following the tales of Snuffy, Miffy, Poppy, Boris and other unnamed but equally glorious characters that came from this very sweet, perceptive man's mind, talents and heart. All of these qualities are in abundant evidence here, for this is as much a fine art book and biography as it is a love story. Bruna amply acknowledges here how much he (and we, by extension, among his legions of fans) has benefited from the keen eye, advice, encouragement and adoration of his wife, Irene. This book is one of those gifts that keeps on giving!

Wonderful book documenting the life of Dick Bruna and showing many examples of his work, not just Miffy. It's just BEAUTIFUL!

On va en ligne, pour faire des photos, des graphiques, et des copies. Car l'ordinateur donne aux artistes les couleurs toujours voulues. Les images se copient fidelement, de l'ecran a l'imprimeuse. Les couleurs se montrent le mieux, surtout si le noir est le quatrieme encre d'impression et si les points sont elliptiques, sur les plaques, les papiers et les colorants de la haute qualite. Reussir a dessiner a l'aide de l'ordinateur, ca se voit par les exemples dans tout le livre. Quant a moi, ce sont tres bien faits les coups de brosse crayeux dans le portrait de la jeune fille, et les tetes et les terrains sculptes au style de l'ile de Paques.

DIGITAL COLOUR IN GRAPHIC DESIGN works when drawing, painting, photoediting, and 3-D print the way you want. Because scanners and monitors work colors differently than desktop printers and offset presses, mapping can pass colors correctly along calibrated color handlers. Color management and matching systems can bring about accurately printed screen images. The 16.7 million digital palette prints best from 21-inch non-interlaced monitors onto dye sublimation desktop printers and calibrated offset presses working with black as a fourth process ink for better shadow density and overall contrast, with elliptical instead of round dots, and with quality colorants, paper and plates. Ken Pender gives striking examples, such as chalk brush icicles to his ice maiden portrait of his daughter, impasto sweeping brushstrokes to a cloned Photo CD image, and Easter Island type carving and sculpting to a polyhedron head and terrain. So the author is interesting to read along with Veruschka Gotz's COLOR AND TYPE FOR THE SCREEN, Steven Heller and Daniel Drennan's THE DIGITAL DESIGNER, Michael Leary et al.'s WEB DESIGNER'S GUIDE TO TYPOGRAPHY, and Michael J. Sullivan's MAKE YOUR SCANNER A GREAT DESIGN AND PRODUCTION TOOL.

Unfortunatly I arrived at Virginia Commonwealth University's graphic design program after Phil Meggs had passed away. His legacy still lives on. Rob Carter on the other hand has been my professor. He is a great man who pushes his students into experimenting and becoming comfortable with their own styles of design. He is by no means a "stuffy" guy. I have some of their books and I don't have one problem with them at all.

By the way, this book is a good one!

The Digital Designer is a quality publication , plus it covers enough ground to be useful in all of the classes we teach, so students going through the program will probably keep it and use it in several classes.

Your text is written in a friendly, accessible tone, and is a relief from some of the stuffy "Design is the Center of the Universe" books out there. As an example stuffy books are anything by Stephen Heller, Phil Meggs, or Rob Carter.

Their books are really good, of course, but frankly too focused on defining design as an official profession. Their books to me always seem like they are stiffly trying to define design as a formal, codified, yet creative event.

You seem to have achieved that friendly informative tone with ease. Kudos to you on your well resolved text. Frankly, this book is more useful to our program than any Rob Carter book, because of its accessibility.

I found this book at the Virgin Megastore in NYC and I have yet to see it elsewhere, but it should be picked up wherever it is found. For those who find the graphic design of 'electronic' music a style of its own, Discstyle provides the best in book thats a example piece itself. The CD covers, vinyl sleeves, flyers, and fine art pieces of many different designers all contain the same concept of big-time visual impact with their simplicity. The layouts may contain nothing but a few words and a picture, but it reflects the music- for those who love the infectious beat, you know what I mean. With a guide in the beginning that traces the short history of today's house, trance, breakbeat, jungle, etc. the book shows where it's contents came from- getting down all night long.

Seriously. Markus Weisbeck is one of those obsessed guys who just gets so deep into a topic that if he claims something is the way it is, you better trust him. If you are looking for a super comprehensive source of excellent design then trust Mr. Weisbeck. This book contains all the good stuff... from Eike to Stardax, Karl Kliem and meso's "involving systems'. And if you ever wondered how certain styles of club electronic house and techno electro are interconnected, Weisbeck and Pesch provide you with a very exact two page family tree of music styles. This 12inch softcover is technically a volume two to Pesch and Weisbeck's "Techno Style",... Well, and one more thing. This book contains some of the work of the master himself. Markus Weisbeck likes to include his own design in his books. He is the creator and the critic in one person. Everydesigner should have his books in their collection. Learn from Markus Weisbeck. He is a good designer and he is good for design. This book is fresh. Get it.

In a manufacturing environment, a correct drawing is key to production and Cost of Ownership! I looked in numerous places to locate a good SW book on Detailing and Drawing. This is a fabulous book. I've been a user of SW for over two plus years and I love the software. SW is a great CAD tool.

I had countless questions on various areas that include: Developing a predefined drawing template, Creating design table parameters for parts and assemblies, understanding drawing properties, creating offset section and aligned section views, and using tolerance symbols with surface finish and weld symbols to name a few.

The section on ASME Y14.1 is informative and will be a useful reference. This is a must have book if you creature drawing in a manufacturing environment.

Steve

This is the book for you if you want to learn how to create Drawings using SW. I used Pro/E before and I am new to SW. SW is so much easier to learn and use than Pro/E! The book provides a very logical sequence of events starting from creating a Drawing Template and Sheet Format, then moving into different part drawing views: Broken Isometric, Section, Detail, etc., and then into Assembly drawings with multi sheets.

You are then exposed to Detailing and finally Geometric Tolerancing. The book is well laid out and is easy to follow with the screen shots and its step by step procedure.