Nice
I haven't finished the book yet, but I feel it is packed with lots of good info, like others have said, ESPECIALLY helpful for beginners and students. Not as much about just layout as I expected, lots on typography and design in general, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Lots of tips and info I found valuable as a junior graphic design student.
Rookies: Salvation Is Here!
If are a good designer don't reed this. BUT... if you are a beginner, a student, or just an insecure designer, then salvation may lie in these pages. No this is not a "bible" of graphic design, but rather a great way to decode those esoteric and metaphoric lectures that you never understood while in college about some of the most simple things
great workflow ideas and inspiration
When I first got this book, I thought it was going to be more in the layout like a textbook that has a lot of words and few pictures. When I opened it up and read through it, it was quite the opposite. It shows everything visually and minimizes type wherever it can. It really goes into good detail about the design process and the best way to brainstorm and come up with ways to stop artist-block. It shows good solid design across multiple different styles. It mostly focuses on print pieces, but the messaging and intent can be carried across to web design as well. Great examples at the end and helps to break out of the normal art concepts that I come up with. For me, it is more of an inspiration book than a "learn design" book.
Check out the whole series!
This was the first book that I bought in Rockport's series of graphic design books. It provides great information for designing layouts and even shows examples from real publications. The only gripe I have is the small font was a bit hard to read in a dimly lit room (but most trendy publications are that way now). But despite that, the book is still readable in good lighting and provides extremely helpful design tips. With its glossy pages and a sophisticated design style, even if you don't actually read the book (although you should!), the style of the book itself provides inspiration for creating a modern, clean and dynamic look.
This book is part of a TERRIFIC series of graphic design books by Rockport. (The series also visually looks great together since the publishers shrewdly designed all the bindings to match and line up together on the shelf.)
So far there are only 5 (including Layout Workbook), but hopefully they will add more books to the very useful series:
Logo Design Workbook: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Logos
Typography Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Using Type in Graphic Design
Publication Design Workbook
Color Design Workbook: A Real World Guide to Using Color in Graphic Design
Not What I thought
You will learn something if you are a novice, but if you have already taken a layout course this book doesn't offer you much.
(14 reviews)
