Graphic Design Books

365
Talking about book design. Standing tall and white, the new 23rd AIGA 365 Design Annual expresses my thoughts, and I applaud it for its cover design. The centered title "The Twenty-third Annual of the American Institute of Graphic Arts" is printed on a thin uncoated paper that wraps around the front and back cover. On the front cover the number "365" is printed in black and barely shines through the wrapper appearing as a ghost underneath the title. To me it suggests the 365 days that will sink into oblivion and that, as with everything past, we will have to wait patiently for those moments of re-emerging experiences. Good design happens in us.

Can't go wrong with any of these annuals. It won't really teach you design, but it will certainly be inspiring to look through these books.

i read this book and i love it it gives all you need helps you learn it one step at a time buy this book it is great!!!!

My overall impression of the book with the accompanying software is excellent. It is an effective way to teach otherwise abstract ideas. The software along with the book put me in the "doing" mode, which is reminiscent of John Dewey's "learn by doing" theory. Further, Dr. Wolfe's writing style is welcoming and she did a wonderful job of breaking tremendously big ideas, like radiosity, into small understandable chunks... I felt like an active reader... This was another thing that made it friendlier for the non-computer scientist.

Even though the narration was serious, there was a refreshing sense of humor folded into it, we are to enjoy ourselves, after all. I especially liked the "go away" button in the software, it made me feel more at ease and added a sense of playfulness. The exercises had the same spirit, they set me up with new information, then asked me to test it out in new ways. All the while I was having fun and forgot that I was doing (ehem) work.

The strongest and most friendly parts of the narrative were the examples. Dr. Wolfe consistently tied new ideas with things we already know. For example, and there are too many to mention them all, she explained the intensity of a directional light source by connecting it with the headlights of a car at different distances, and the concept of ambient light by describing a portrait studio.

The basis of Dr. Wolfe's narrative, the fine tuning of the student's "visual literacy" is appropriate, especially since this is an under-represented discipline in contemporary schooling. As she stated in the introduction, visual literacy is important for artists and programmers because both groups need to be able to identify the computer graphic effects in an image and be able to communicate about it... Visual literacy is an understanding of images and what they represent. Just as letters form words that are symbolic of thought, so too are digital effects that form images which are representative of ideas. How those ideas come across visually has everything to do with how the picture is composed and what effects the artists and programmers choose. Just as an artist must accept that a raytraced three hour movie is computationally unreasonable, a programmer must understand that getting the correct highlight or texture impacts the meaning of an image, even if it requires slightly more work.

This kind of book is very appropriate for teaching 3D artists basic graphics concepts. The students grapple with all the topics Dr. Wolfe covered in the book. The students presently see these concepts as obscure options in a daunting software package manual. Many students never grasp the differences between the light models, surface algorithms, and shaders they choose. In fact, some do not understand why they run out of time trying to render an animation before an assignment deadline. After all they left it to render all night! 3D Graphics: A Visual Approach clearly illustrates why their animation did not finish rendering on time, as well as other abstract ideas the students initially encounter. The book removes the obscurity from the concepts and makes them real.

There are a few places that I do not think are necessary for the artists to understand, yet I would not remove them from the book. Just as the types of people in computer science vary, so do the people in art. Some will want to know exactly how the amplitude and frequency were calculated, while others will just want to use it. Even though there are places that are most appropriate for artists, such as the first three chapters, basic texture mapping, lighting, basic shaders, and portions of the cost and effect chapter, the other areas, like amplitude, raytracing revisited, and some of the details of "foolers" will provide further information for those interested.

The software was straightforward, and yes, it did take me all but 15 seconds to learn. However, some kind of notation in the table of contents that corresponds to each option in TERA. I often found myself checking the table of contents to try to figure out which part of TERA I should play with. It will just make the readability better.

I also think there should be a title bar that specifies what portion of TERA I am running while I explore. For example, something that says "Z-buffer Algorithms" or "Foolers" while I am in that section.

Overall, the book was excellent! A thinking reader will not get confused, yet when I look at the table of contents, I am amazed about the amount of information Dr. Wolfe covered. I almost feel a bit guilty, like I learned something without "working." I think that is the point.

This is an excellent soucre for the new scripter. The language is simple and there are several tutorials to follow.

The Publication Design Annuals are always a great resource of leading-edge design and trends in magazine design (and that applies to not only this edition but any).

Every year this book makes me stoked. All the best publication design for that year. Can't go wrong ordering this sight unseen year afetr year.

This book is not only an extremely useful resource for my screenprinting and design business, but it is a joy to browse through. Turning the pages of this book is like a stroll through an expansive natural history museum.

This is one of Taschen's inexpensive, all color, pictorial reference books, full of cars lifted from fifties ads and loosely organised in date order. It does include thirty or so complete ads. Now you will have a chance to study the photo-realist style of unknown commercial artists and see how they handled all that chrome. I think many of these paintings must have had two artists, one to do the precise detailing of the vehicle and another to handle the much more casual backgrounds and people. There are some photos included, by the late fifties paintings had given way to studio or location photography and I think a little bit of sparkle had been lost from the images.

As far as I can see most of these pictures have been lifted from the wonderful 925 page `All-American Ads 50s' by Jim Heimann, it has a 188 page chapter on car ads and here you get to read the copy as well.

VERY PROMPT RESPONSE FROM THIS SELLER. I AM VERY SATISFIED WITH DOING BUSINESS WITH THIS SELLER.