Commercials Books

I found this piece of work to be a fantastic resource for all writers. It is written in an easy to understand language that makes the reading quite easy (most writers get to technical and their readers doze off quickly).

This book is a must for all writers for trade publications and those who want to write for trade pubs.

As a writer for several trade newspapers I found many examples of interviewing techniques that can make my job easier.

In Writing For Trade Magazines: How To Boost Your Income By $200 To $500 Per Week, veteran trade editor and professional writer Kendall Hanson provides detailed information on how to research, query, and write articles that will sell to the trade magazine industry. Hanson's advice is practical, thorough, and "writer friendly". Writing For Trade Magazines emphasizes that good trade writers don't need to be trained in journalism or hold English Lit degrees, what they do need is to make effective contacts with potential publication clients and write interesting pieces for trade magazines. Writing For Trade Magazines is "must" reading for any aspiring author seeking to make sales to magazines, periodicals and journals, and holds a great deal of sound and valued information for even experienced professionals on enhancing and maximizing their sales and cash flow.

There are very few books in Hanson's field (I should know, I reviewed over 1,000!), and this book is by far the best of the lot!

The book is a veritable tour-de-force by a highly knowledgable writer/editor/journalist, with detailed, easy-to-read and eminently practical advice for novice and practitioner alike. The book's pages are studded with insights, tantalizing ideas, and marketing suggestions. This is, in my view, one of those very few MUST-HAVE books for all interested in a writing career!

I've been a technical communicator for 17 years, and bought this book when it first came out. With the advent first of electronic publishing, where everyone had to know something about layout and design, and next with the Internet explosion where even your dog's vet has a website, poorly designed or not, and now, the advent of XML, which will further drive the art of communication into the hands of the unskilled, this book is a gem. It is still as applicable now as it was then, and easily applies to electronic style guidelines as well as to print.

If you are at all interested in how people learn, how they consume information, what works in layout (electronic or print) and what does not, read this book. It should be mandatory reading for everyone who works in the 'knowledge industry', from tech writers to webmasters to information architects.

Desktop publishing has raised the bar on professional documentation. Consultants and other professionals need to be able to turn out volumes of reports, requirements documents, plans, and a variety of other professional documentation. It is no longer good enough that these materials are neatly typed on the page. Reports need to have an attractive, professional look to them.

The Xerox Style Guide provides a full range of advice on layout, style, and correct usage. I found the layout portions helpful in achieving page layout that looks highly professional and improves the comprehension of the reader.

The advice on writing clear is also helpful, and more concise than many other style guides.

An impressive work which has aged well. The design notes and example it sets transcend the print medium. This is the Platonic ideal of standards manuals.

100 Masterpieces is a complete portfolio with pictures and information on virtually all pieces of furniture designed as "chairs" since the early nineteenth century.

It embraces all "masterpieces" of any style, material and shape, presenting each one within its historical framework, and "profiling" it with really interesting details relating to the inspiration/source and the novelty of the idea behind it, the designer's intentions, the functionality, materials as well as interesting specifics on the construction itself.

Íext to each full page colour picture, the item's name, the name of the Designer, Dates (year) of design and production, Manufacturers, and information on material and size, and smaller interesting pictures illustrating the historical text, make it a higly visual guide.

100 Masterpieces is more than a comprehensive directory on the subject. Concrete and well-organized, it is an essential reference for anyone studying, practicing, or just being interested in, interior and furniture design.

100 Masterpieces is a complete portfolio with pictures and information on virtually all pieces of furniture designed as "chairs" since the early nineteenth century.

It embraces all "masterpieces" of any style, material and shape, presenting each one within its historical framework, and "profiling" it with really interesting details relating to the inspiration/source and the novelty of the idea behind it, the designer's intentions, the functionality, materials as well as interesting specifics on the construction itself.

Íext to each full page colour picture, the item's name, the name of the Designer, Dates (year) of design and production, Manufacturers, and information on material and size, and smaller interesting pictures illustrating the historical text, make it a higly visual guide.

100 Masterpieces is more than a comprehensive directory on the subject. Concrete and well-organized, it is an essential reference for anyone studying, practicing, or just being interested in, interior and furniture design.

My husband and I are trying to start a t-shirt company and this book gave us some great ideas. So many, that I don't know how we are going to produce that many shirts. I would really recommend this book for ideas for all kinds of crafts.

This wonderful new book makes a great companion to the Glass Painters Motif Library. None of the designs in this book are repeated and as with the Glass Painters Motif Library all of the designs are copyright free. If you have access to broadband internet why not catch our regular TV shows on www.createandcraft.tv where you will see some great demonstrations of many craft items. Don't miss our new book, The Complete Guide to Stamping which is published in March 2004. Also look out for regular features on us on HGTV in the United States.

This book is excellent if you are interested in Interior or product design this is perfect.
Great photographs and some information on the products, the best part that it gives you the websites for each item (1000) so you can use this as a great reference.

It compiles a good variety of products in a glossy book that you can do nothing but adore. Not only it is a good source book, it is enjoyable. By no means it is complete, and it wasn't meant to be. You could use it as a source for inspiration, an indicator for near future trend, and if you are financially resourceful, a buying guide!

Have it, browse it and enjoy !

This collection of 1000 signs covers everything from postings you see every day to those that are unique to various locations, such as Australia's kangaroo crossing sign. Chapters are: Animals, Man, Stop, Dog, Transport, Children, Miscellaneous, Danger, Weapons, Toilets, No! and Work. Not much text, printed in English, German and French. Photos are in color. Photographers and locations credited, but no index. This is a goofy but fun book, and interesting to leaf through.

The title of this intriguing chunky photo book has a word missing, it should have been '1000 ROAD SIGNS'. Actually probably about 940 official highway signs and the rest being privately made but still relating to roads. The three-language text for the twelve chapters (Animals, Man, Stop, Dog, Transport, Children, Miscellaneous, Danger, Weapons, Toilets, No! and Work) is on single pages and mixed into the relevant photo sections. Considering that the subject matter is rather uninspiring, visually this book looks rather good, photos are twelve, six, four or one to a page and there are plenty of spreads with one photo.

There are some pretty weird signs, too. One from South Africa has an explanation mark in a triangle with three words below, 'CAUTION ROAD STOLEN', Australia has a no swearing sign, a red outline circle with a red diagonal across the body of a man, by his head there are five marks, *!#"?.

I'm not quite sure who this book is aimed at, highway engineers and transport planners, graphic designers, or readers who go for quirky books (me) but as it was produced in conjunction with Colors Magazine (Taschen published their '1000 Extraordinary Objects ISBN 382285851X) you can be assured of something a bit different to leave on your coffee table.

A fabulous reseource fore business cards, promo cards and more. From pop art to art deco to avante garde corporate-- this corporate identity guru/author knows his stuff. I paid $35.00 for this book retail and I think it was worth every cent-- you can get it at a much better deal on Amazon.com today. For advertising agencies, design firms, entrepreneurs and anyone who ever thought or uses business cards. Next gen design.

2 Cool Cards is a great resource for designers --the book contains cards from all over the world, each shown in actual size and in color!

It provides infinite inspiration for business card design and shows many unique designs. If you're looking for unique and distinctive card designs, this is the place to check first!

The author has put together an elaborate study of 30 unique and interesting modern bridges. The discussion of each is quite detailed and often very technical but nonetheless very informative and well supported by beautiful photographs and elaborate diagrams. For anyone who has an interest in modern bridges this is an eye-opener. For the few of us who travel with bridges as destinations, this is a wonderful guide for future trips.

The author's selection of these thirty bridges offers readers an insight into modern bridge design...many of the bridges are truly unique and stunningly beautiful. The gorgeous photographs and intelligently written text make this the best book of its kind that I have ever read. Must reading for every structural engineer!

This book was super helpful and informative for a project we were doing for this building!

Since its completion in 2004, 30 St. Mary Axe, known to Londoners as 'The Gherkin', has become a landmark, sporting a curved form in the heart of London's financial center. But it's so much more: renowned designers built it in just thirty-three months, and incorporated design innovations still being remarked upon today. Author Kenneth Powell is a leading architecture critic and well versed on 30 St. Mary Axe: chapters cover nearly every stage in the design and building process. While this book will most likely reach art school holdings and collections strong in architectural analysis, it also will hold interest for any collection strong on London history and culture.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I found this book about a month ago while browsing the animation titles at my local bookstore. What initially drew my attention to it was the extremely familiar dog character on its cover (I believe it's name is Dennis, but don't quote me); I was especially pleased to see that Steve and Raf Anzovin, its creators, listed as the book's authors. Steve, the founder of Anzovin Studios, his son Raf, and the team at Anzovin Studios are extraordinarily talented artists, animators, and programmers, with extensive knowledge in all aspects of commercial 3D animation production. Based on my experience with several of their products (use their last name dot com to find their website), I took it straight to the cashier and purchased it without bothering to look through it first. I don't often get excited about a book, but this one lived up to my expectations, it's excellent. Steve and Raf have done it again! Their writing is accessible, clear, and direct; and the visual examples used in each section are contextually appropriate throughout the book.

NB My personal peeve with far too many writers and publishers of technical manuals and textbooks, where specific tables, figures, or photos referenced within a text don't enhance the reader's understanding of the material (add to, support, or clarify its meaning), and their locations are not immediately apparent (whereby its location is logically correlated both visually and contextually, or hopefully more simply stated, referenced visuals are on or near the same page[s] as, the text that references them!).

3d Toons Creative 3D Design For Cartoonists and Animators is a powerhouse of information that focuses on artistic choices in explaining to its readers how 3D cartoonists reach their goals. As mentioned in the inside flap of the book, "3D cartoons are becoming the hottest thing in Hollywood, and they are also taking over TV."

The book is written by authors who have an enormous and intimate knowledge of 3D cartoons. Steve Anzovin is the CEO of Anzovin Studio, a computer-generated character animation that he co-founded with his son Raf.

Their objective in putting together this book was to deemphasize the teaching of techniques and focus on the "nitty-gritty" inner workings of the creative process.
It is amazing how much effort and talent is required in the making of an animation. Readers are informed how 3D characters and sets are brought to life in cartoons, graphic novels, and computer-animated short films. It thus is more than a "fresh look" at 3D animation but rather a fresh attempt to appreciate the immense creative process that is required.

The examination of this creative process is neatly organized into seven sections that are in turn sub-divided. The authors examine and explore 3DToonstyle, Toon Evolution, Anatomy of a Toon, Animated Toons, Shooting Toons, Toon Media, and 3dToon Gallery.
Each section is prefaced with a succinct overview and thoughtful queries prompting reflection and discussion. For example, when you look at the chapter dealing with toonstyle, readers are asked, what makes a cartoon character? From this point of reference the authors analyze why they look, act, and sound the way they do.

The book does not necessarily have to be read in a particular order and the newcomer to animation as well as the novice can easily open it to any section and garner useful information.
Spectacular and easy to follow illustrations enhance the book's informative as well as its aesthetic appeal. Each image contains sidebar explanations as to how and why they were created in a particular manner. To illustrate, if you refer to the section pertaining to Cartoony Toons, there is an example of three images that are stripped-down cartoon faces without bodies and we are informed that is all a character needs. As explained, these bodiless characters were designed for medical animation aimed at children of cancer patients.

The final chapter exposes the best of 3D Toon Art. It is here where we have a glance at the work of some of the giants in the field such as Jimmy Maidens, Robert J. Tiess, Yves Dalbiez, Sebastian Schoellhammer, Avalanche Software (Video Game Animation), Victor Navone, David Maas & Tatjana Herrmann-Maas, Shaun Freeman, Michael Sormann, Reel FX Creative Studios, and Patrick Beaulieu.

As well as explaining at appropriate points within the various sections' key concepts, the authors provide a glossary of quick definitions of the 3D Toon Terms used in the book, as well as suggestions for further reading. There is also a very helpful index.

Fledgling 3D animators, students, dreamers, and those who want to learn more about this fascinating topic will have a great deal of fun with this accessible book. It will most certainly become part of the required reading of many a course on animation, as it will prove to be quite an asset.

Norm Goldman, Editor Bookpleasures