Graphic Design Books

Altitude is one of the best (if not THE best) graphic design books I've ever seen.

This book is a great resource for ideas on corporate identity design. It covers such diverse categories as identity programs, package design, letterheads, manuals, signage/environmental graphics, brochures, and logos. I like this book because it covers such a wide range of applications for graphic design. Each section (for instance, package design) has lots of examples of work. It's obvious that this book is intended as a source of inspiration for visual and conceptual ideas. There is not one word of explanatory text in the entire book. It doesn't tell you anything about the process each designer went through, nor does it talk about the history of design. It's simply a collection of the best corporate identity design work of about 400 U.S. design firms. The book has a very simple, clean layout and nice photos. My favorite sections are the package designs(many diverse types of products are shown) and the logos(tons of examples). I highly recommend this book, even though it has no text.

This book is an absolutely wonderful resource containing many kinds of print media work by various artists.

From company logos to letterheads, to packaging designs, this book is a true treasure of eye candy and worth every dollar!

This is a beautifuly arranged collection of stories from the eyes of fathers of different ages, stages, and backgrounds. Each story, reflection, life lesson, etc., each elegantly told, is accompanied by a photograph of father and child(ren). I bought this as a gift for my father for Father's Day ['07] but after reading just a few pages into it I knew I needed a copy for myself, and I can't wait until I can give it as a gift to someone else.

I'm anxious to see what other projects come out of Julian Publishing.

Another great book in the idea of this is Dear Dad: Father, Friend, and Hero by Bradley Trevor Greive, author of "The Blue Day Book" which I happened to give to my father last year for Father's Day.

I still prefer American Daddy due to the impact of the firsthand stories and photos as opposed to animal pictures.

The Culture Advertising Design don't bump your head review. GDUSA is that kind of reference you gotta keep around. They scour the nation and give you a wide gamut of "real" design, the kind of things clients love. Having said that we designers can be a little, um, how you say, *itchy, so you won't love everything. However these are the smart solutions that get the job done well.

Talvez a melhor seleção de ilustração nos EUA. É um anuário mais preocupado com trabalhos autorais e conceitualmente interessantes, incluindo boa parte dos considerados "alternativos".

This stunning book originally came out in 1991 and it really should be reprinted. It celebrates 250 years of the American magazine though the focus is clearly on the last eighty years or so and essentially consumer titles that belong to the Magazine Publishers of America and the American Society of Magazine Editors. The sixteen chapters cover the editorial aspects of magazines, fiction, news, women's titles, graphics rather than the more commercial areas, subscriptions, printing, distribution but advertising does get a chapter to itself. An interesting chapter shows in photos how the editorial folk do their job.

Visually the book is a joy to look at thanks to designer Beth Crowell. There are over five hundred images, this includes hundreds of covers and spreads, and a neat touch is using a fifth color, grey, for the many pages that have pictorial sections. The paper, typography and printing all contribute to this being just right.

If you work in magazine publishing or want a record of what publications looked like in past decades you'll enjoy this beautiful book. Another out-of-print book that is worth looking out for is William Owen's 'Modern Magazine Design' (ISBN 0847813851) beautifully produced, it is not a 'how to' book on design but a contemporary history of European and American publications. The 340 illustrations concentrate on spreads rather than covers.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Roger Remington has written a fascinating survey of American graphic design and I enjoyed looking at the dozens of illustrations especially those from the late fifties onwards when I was familiar with the work of so many American designers. The work of Otto Storch on McCall's, Lou Dorfsman at CBS and naturally the typography of Herb Lubalin was a strong influence on my work as a publication designer.

The author writes about the development of Modernism in Europe and how it spread to the US with the arrival of many European graphic designers escaping the oppression in Europe during the Thirties. In America they found a receptive country open to new ways of designing for print, which flowered, with the explosion of creativity in the Fifties and Sixties. On page 179 there is a list of many great designers, whose work is the basis of this book, who have died and Remington rightly says that their absence denies emerging young designers creative role models.

The design of the book is first-class (a tip of the hat to Brad Yendle) the images are well selected with a good mix of posters, advertisements, corporate graphics, magazine covers and logos. I would have preferred to see more magazine spreads and at least one example of the amazing 'Upper & Lower Case' publication. All the illustrations have good long explanatory captions.

If you are involved with commercial graphic design and want to learn about its history in America this book can't be beat. I mentioned earlier two designers whose work I love and the following two books are well worth searching out, 'Dorfsman & CBS' by Dick Hess and Marion Muller, 'Herb Lubalin' by Gertrude Snyder and Alan Peckolick. The book that really got me interested in expressive typography and I still think is valid in this digital age is 'Typography' by Aaron Burns, published in 1961.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Last weekend I attended a party in RI and I found myself emersed in this book for much of the time. I came home and ordered it right away. It is a beautiful image of post revolutionary America and this important art form. As someone who grew up in New England I loved this glimpse into the past. Ms. Eckert Brown's extensive research is evident, and the illustrations are wonderful. This is the quintessential book for anyone who loves stenciling, art and American history.

Gardens?! In America?! Documented by an Englishwoman?! Rosemary Verey has American women tell how their gardens got the way they did. Some enlarging inherited ones, some starting with bare dirt, some restarting with dismay after a disaster with weather, or life events. Good photos as well. Ms Verey's other books are well worth reading, both as how-to-do-it, and gee-whiz photos.