Design Shelf

Playful Type: Ephemeral Lettering and Illustrative Fonts

2010-09-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

Product description from Amazon:

Graphic designers have always developed and designed new fonts for application in individual projects. Now available in softcover, Playful Type discovers a new and young generation of designers who are applying typography beyond the classical typeset and creating a dynamic range of playful and illustrative fonts and ephemeral lettering.

Playful Type examines how designers today are creating typography with the aid of a multitude of different techniques. From manual lettering, calligraphy and collage to manipulative time exposure of photographs, designers are developing fonts for the moment which are irregular and often accidental. Blocks of ice are even being staged as real characters and paper cut forms and shadows metamorphose into letters and spatial installations. This book shows such cutting-edge examples of elusive scripts that are being translated into serially employable alphabets to be used digitally with the computer.

Playful Type presents an inspiring collection of illustrative fonts and hand-made typography created from a variety of cutting-edge approaches and indicates current development in font design.

Arabesque: Graphic Design from the Arab World and Persia

2010-09-26T20:25:00.001-07:00

Product description from Amazon:

Due to popular demand, Arabesque is now available as an accessible softcover edition. Arabesque investigates the creative potential of the Arab World and Iran. This book features examples of groundbreaking graphic design, illustration and typography that are inspired by the richness of the region’s visual culture.

Given the important role of calligraphy in the Middle East, Arabesque focuses on typography. The book presents a wide range of Arabic fonts and typefaces inspired by traditional calligraphy; these are accompanied by a rich selection of applications. Further examples of design and graffiti serve as powerful demonstrations of how text can be used illustratively. This work is particularly relevant to those now creating street art and poster design.

Arabesque features graphic design, logos and illustration by young designers and activists from Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which is complemented by selected projects by Western designers, who are strongly influenced by Arab culture. Regardless of the location and ancestry of their creators, all of the examples included in Arabesque combine modern design with the traditional, letter-based canon of Arab forms in striking ways.

The book includes a foreword by Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarè, the Director of the Khatt Foundation Center for Arabic Typography, and supplementary text describing the environments in which the featured designers and artists work. As with the successful hardcover edition, this book also comes with a CD-ROM with the Arabic inspired Latin typeface Talib created by the book's editors Ben Wittner and Sascha Thoma.

Powershop 2: New Retail Design

2010-09-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

Product description from Amazon:

Retail space design today needs to answer to a diversity of functions. Acting as a backdrop to set off the products they sell, they represent and mirror brand identity offering customers the opportunity to physically experience their microcosm, but also often have a second life as showroom, event space and gallery. The typologies of store spaces have also adapted to new consumer trends and social conditions, with designs encouraging approachability and intimacy as well as interaction, entertainment and unique experiences.

Powershop 2 provides a truly global overview of visionary retail spaces created by international designers. This 640-page retail design bible offers readers a unique opportunity to visit 200 outstandingly designed stores. Volume 1: Fashion presents single and multi-brand fashion boutiques. Volume 2: Anything (but fashion) opens the doors of flagships, boutiques, shops-in-shops, showrooms and temporary spaces for accessories, shoes, eyewear, books, food, cars and much more. All of those featured exemplify an exceptional architectural quality together with the inventive use of lighting and colours, innovative materials and bespoke furniture designs, to create the ultimate atmospheric environment for their products.

The curated collection of projects comes from an exhaustive list of the world’s trendsetting cities from New York, London and Paris to Tokyo, Shanghai, Berlin, Stockholm and Amsterdam, in addition to compelling destinations such as Melbourne, Istanbul, Moscow, Belgrade and Dubai. View works by world class designers including Marcel Wanders, Wonderwall, 20|20 Limited, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Karim Rashid, Mattheo Thun, Tokujin Yoshioka and Ippolito Fleitz, to name but a few.

The book not only packs pages of glitter and glamour through lavish photography, but also provides floor plans, designer profiles and detailed descriptions of the interiors. Eight essays addressing the challenges facing tomorrow’s retail sector further provide an interesting glimpse into the future. This double-volume tome with luxurious slipcase is an unparalleled reference for contemporary retail design worldwide.

Boxed and Labelled

2010-09-19T22:51:00.000-07:00

Product description:

Packaging is the face and visual identity of a product and can also be the crucial determining factor in the buying decision when a product is lined up on a crowded store shelf. As consumer tastes become more complex and culturally diverse, packaging increasingly requires a visual and graphic language that targets aesthetics as well as the needs of the discerning twenty-first-century shopper. Boxed and Labelled is a comprehensive overview of the most intelligent, innovative, playful and attractive examples of current packaging design.

The broad spectrum of packaging is illustrated through an extensive selection of products characterised by cutting-edge graphic design, sassy illustrations, striking typography, careful use of colour as well as unique materials. The examples in the book run the gamut from jam jars, chocolate wrappers, wine labels, champagne bottles and perfume flacons to sneaker boxes and shopping bags.

The book also highlights extraordinary projects that have a unique approach to functionality, surplus value and sustainability, in addition to stimulating concepts that amount to pure seduction.

This book demonstrates the diverse solutions designers have found to deal with many different themes such as creating approachability through a whimsical and lighthearted appearance and material surfaces or promoting value and trustworthiness or conveying a handmade feeling to an artisanal product with a sophisticated, refined and purposeful look.

All of the featured examples deliver their own unique brand values and experiences and set them apart in the competitive marketplace. Boxed and Labelled offers exciting solutions and presents state-of-the-art packaging design today.

Graphis Design Annual 2010

2010-09-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

Product description from amazon.com:

GraphisDesignAnnual2010 features the year's best international Design work in a variety of categories ranging from Annual Reports, Branding and Exhibits to Logos, Packaging and Posters, with detailed explanations in the back of the book written by designers on their process to the solution. This year's edition includes Q&A's with Robert Priest, one of the platinum winners in this Annual; Office, who branded the only non-profit pirate store in San Francisco and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, creators of HP's Vivienne Tam mini-laptop campaign.

With seven entries selected as Graphis Platinum winner and 199 Gold winners, this Annual is an essential guide for Designers, Art Directors, Photographers and potential clients.

Growing Graphics: Design for Kids

2010-09-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

Product description from Amazon:

There is a visual universe that children immediately recognize. Enter a bookshop with your children, and you can be sure they will quickly be drawn to the department aimed at their own age. What are these indescribable ingredients that inspire their interest and emotions? What are their tastes and preferences? And how can we ensure that what children like, will meet their parents' approval?

Growing Graphics Design for Kids opens a window to this visual universe of children at different ages, presenting a multitude of graphics aimed at them: Logos and characters, corporate identity, packaging, labels, catalogues, brochures, posters, invitation cards, books, educational material, web and multimedia design, exhibitions, signage etc.

Book Review: Box

2010-09-12T07:23:00.000-07:00

The hardcover book itself is packaged inside a box with a zip. The art inside contains a bunch of everything. There are mural, toy designs, t-shirts, digital art, sketches, comic strips, etc. The variety is amazing and level of creativity high. Every artist has a unique style. It's a great book to look at when searching for ideas.

This book is expensive. Even when the content is good, it still doesn't feel like it's worth the price tag. I have a feeling it's pricey because of the irrelevant (to me) packaging design. Sure it helps to stand out, well, but it's a double edge sword.

Here's a tip when trying come up with a book title: Never give the book a generic title. 'Box' is as generic as it can get. If it's generic, it means when people search for it on the Internet, they will never find it. I had to search for the ISBN number to find it. The title also doesn't describe anything about the content of the book.

This is how the packaging looks.

Book Preview: Logo Design Vol. 2

2010-09-03T21:01:00.001-07:00

Book description from taschen.com

The world's best graphic symbols, trademarks and logotypes

In this follow-up to our immensely successful first volume, you'll find over 2,000 logos as well as detailed case studies on brand identities such as MTV and Wrangler. Top design and branding teams and offices featured include MetaDesign, Saffron Brand Consultants, Research Studios, Stefan Sagmeister, and Studio Dumbar. With a foreword by MetaDesign's chief design officer Uli Mayer-Johanssen and an introduction by branding guru Wally Olins, this collection brings an insider's prospective to the art of designing successful logos in any field of commerce.

About the editor:
Julius Wiedemann was born in Brazil, studied graphic design and marketing, and was an art editor for digital and design magazines in Tokyo. His many TASCHEN digital and media titles include Animation Now!, Advertising Now! the Web Design series, and 1000 Favorite Websites.

Book Review: Wayfinding Signage Graphics

2010-08-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

It's probably not a good thing to have the first image of the book look like it was grabbed from the Internet. It's not just that, many of the pictures are slightly pixelated.

Fortunately, the book features a good variety of work, and from all over the world, judging from the number of languages I cannot recognise.

This 308-page book covers public, commercial and exhibition wayfinding graphics. There are lots of interesting ways as well as conventional examples of displaying graphics. I'm not sure all of them work for me though. The selection of work is quite good so it's a helpful reference.

Book Review: Package Design Workbook

2009-04-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

There's a lot that goes behind package design. More than what I expected after reading the book. Package Design Workbook explains all the ins and outs of packaging design in depth.

The book is really split into three major portions although there are six chapters. The first portion talks about the history, art and science of package design. The second part provides the tools, tips and techniques. And at the back are thirty five case studies.

Not just talking about package design, the book also address how it plays a part in the bigger picture for the company through branding.

The authors Steven DuPuis and John Silva addresses a wide variety of factors contributing to good design. There are topics like the psychology of customers when choosing a product, creating a consistent style for future product lines, creating credibility, etc. There are lots of ideas to think about.

This book is a good resource to go to for anything package design.

Book Review: 100 Habits of Successful Publication Designers

2009-04-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

The 100 habits are spread across five chapters touching on about different publication mediums, design elements, working relationships, books and the future of magazines.

37 designers are featured in the book. Most of the habits have a few designers talking about it. That really provides real world context and insight into how these people really think.

Some of the habits will be on the ground level, something like reading the content before designing. There are also high level tips like understanding who the readers are, where the advertising is. The book addresses the engagement at the front end as well as back end strategic thinking.

There can never be too many good habits to pick up. This book is recommended for all designers in the publication industry.

Book Review: CMYK 2.0: A Cooperative Workflow for Photographers, Designers, and Printers

2009-04-11T21:40:00.000-07:00

CMYK 2.0 is a professional guide to color management across different stages of work flow. As the title suggest, it's for photographers, designers and printers. It's really for those who are aiming at producing the best images they can on print, those who have tremendous pride in the job they do.

Rick McCleary is a professional. His understanding of the subject is amazing, and his explanation clear. This book is aimed at transferring that knowledge to the reader, letting him/her understand what he or she is doing and not just following.

There are chapters on tools, color management, CMYK, steps for conversion and experiences from others in the industry. In the chapter on conversion, it's a step-by-step tutorial with screenshots for easy following. This is real world colour management.

All the photos used in the book by Rick McClearly are shot by himself, and all are brilliant.

Book Review: Young Graphic Designers Americas

2009-03-02T17:44:00.000-08:00

This is a catalog book featuring a selected porfolio from 38 graphic designers from Americas.

The variety of style is great and random. Unfortunately, I'm unable to spot any page-pausing graphics in it. Maybe there are more work on the artists' website, whose contact information are available in the book.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm making the book redundant by putting website links to graphic designers here.

Anyway, here's the list of graphic designers and firms featured:

Book Review: Best of Business Card Design 8

2009-03-02T17:40:00.000-08:00

Nice book on business card designs. I love how a few cards are cut out to form shapes, drawing attention away from other designs. The variety of design is also great, showing good understanding of graphic design principles, used often in an unique way. Volume 8 is a welcomed addition to the series.

Book Review: Young European Graphic Designers

2009-02-08T18:58:00.000-08:00

Here's a design portfolio catalog that also serves as sort of a graphic design resource. There's a great variety of design collection from all over Europe, from individual 46 graphic designers and design firms. The graphic style of each is very different and unique. Good to look at when no ideas seem to pop up in the mind.

There's not much write up except for a very brief introduction on the designer and the client list. Contacts are in the form of website address.

Book Review: Vector Graphics and Illustration

2009-02-07T19:40:00.001-08:00

This book is in a way very similar to the Illustrator Wow series of books. There are tutorials and artist galleries.

The tutorials are short and each dedicated to a specific function of the software, in this case Adobe Illustrator. They are well captioned, easy to follow and learn. This book is a good supplement if you're learning the software from the manual or just starting out.

The artist galleries feature beautiful illustrations done vector-style. It really shows the capabilities and unique features of vector art well.

This book is great for beginners.

Book Review: 1000 Music Graphics

2009-02-07T01:21:00.000-08:00

This book features truly cutting edge and unique designs. The authors have done a great job collecting a great variety of CD designs and promotional items. That's over 300 pages filled to the brim with art. It's truly worth the money and an essential resource book for anyone looking for CD/disc design ideas. It works well as a graphic design reference book as well.

Book Review: CD-Art: Innovation in CD Packaging Design

2009-02-07T01:14:00.000-08:00

This is a small handbook-sized design book.

At 176 pages, it contains enough CD art to serve as a reference book. The best part of the book is actually the captions provided for the featured designs. They explain the goals and concepts behind, which set the readers thinking.

Also included are interviews with several designers on the challenges faced in this particular design medium.

It's a nice book.

Book Review: Young German Design

2009-01-28T22:08:00.000-08:00

This book Young German Design is thick at 624 pages for all the good reasons. It's packed with 30 leading German design agencies. These agencies are featured with their history, design culture, awards, products, client lists and interviews with their top designers. There's a tremendous wealth of information and insight.

Also included at the back are interviews with 11 top German designers on their career and thoughts on design.

There is plenty to read and learn from the book. You can find on the Young German Design companion website several preview pages available for download, as well as all the creative individuals and agencies featured in the book.

Book Review: American Corporate Identity 2008

2009-01-02T00:06:00.001-08:00

This book is a collection of design material aimed at marketing the corporate identity.

Typical of most David E. Carter's book, this one has great variety and quality selection packed into over 300 pages. There's even a small section at the back featuring student work.

In this book are many great ideas on how the brand can be used in different promotional items.

Graphic designers and marketers should find this book useful.

Here's the list of contents:

Complete Corporate Identity Programs
Package Design
Bags, Tags, Labels, & Boxes
Stationary Design
Promotional Design
Corporate Identity Manuals
Signage & Environmental Graphics
Websites
Menus & Cups
Apparel
Corporate Image Brochures
Calendars
Trademarks/Logos
Student Work

Visit the link beside to read more reviews on Amazon. If you buy from the link, I get a little commission that helps me get more art books for review.

Country-specific Amazon links for this book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de

Book Review: The Best of Newspaper Design 28

2009-01-01T23:54:00.001-08:00

This is the best valued series for all the "Best of Newspaper" books so far. At 384 pages, it packs more of everything. A lot of great examples of breaking the physical page boundary.

The description on the back cover:

The amazing breath and depth of this collection makes it and essential tool for anyone involved in print media, graphics, photography, design, journalism, or mass communication.

Awards categories include overall design, news, features, portfolios, special sections, magazine, art and illustration, photography, information graphics (infographics), and redesigns.

I would have said exactly the same thing.

This book is provided for my fellow college Kelvin Chan, aka rocketraygun on deviantart, Star Wars fan and art book collector.

Book Review: Pack! Alternative Packaging Designs of Today

2008-12-15T23:50:00.000-08:00

The contents in the book are divided into 3 chapters: 1. bottles, 2. boxes, bags, papers and 3. Range. Range features package design over a line of products.

There's a great selection of great package design with lots of interesting designs to look at. Each comes with the client and designer's information, followed by a caption that explains the concepts behind.

This paperback book is published by Pageone.

Book Review: 1000 Supreme CD Designs

2008-12-05T23:52:00.000-08:00

1000 Supreme CD Designs is a catalog book containing some fantastic selection of CD designs from designers all over the world. Published by Pageone, this hardcover book has 320 pages.

Each design is contains information on the designer and the client. There's a short caption included as well. The variety of designs showcased makes this book a great reference for any graphic designer.

Book Review: Color Management for Logos

2008-11-21T01:18:00.000-08:00

This is a pretty cool book that sorts logos by colors, from 1 to 6 or more. Every logo is explained on the use of the color and the significance. At the end of these chapters are two case studies that talks about the client requirements and how the logos create the image they want.

The last two chapters talks about color management for print and across applications. There are useful information on overprinting, color calibration, trapping and line weight just to name a few.

This is a great book for inspiration which is educational at the same time. Note that there are hardcover and paperback editions available.

Book Review: The Best of Newspaper Design 29

2008-11-11T23:53:00.000-08:00

It is not very often one can find a design book where almost every page will pause the reader. The Best of Newspaper Design series are such books.

In my hands is a copy I borrowed from colleague Jonrob.

In this issue are the winning entries and nominated newspaper designs for 2007. Award categories include overall design, news, features, portfolio, special sections, magazine, art and illustration, photography, information graphics (infographics), and redesigns.

As with other books in the same series, the quality of work showcased in this book is high. It's hard to explain the visuals inside so I'll let the pictures below do the talking.

Designers who work for newspapers should find this book useful for reference and inspiration.

Book Review: Masters of Design Logos & Identity

2008-10-28T23:55:00.000-07:00

This book is basically a portfolio for the various logo designers.

There is write up into the creative process of these designers. It's interesting to read about their design philosophy in logo designs.

Multiple examples of projects are included for each designer. These examples include different medium, from printed to products. All are captioned. However, most are captioned in a way that doesn't really explain the logo, the design elements and the image that results from the design.

There's not much to offer if you're looking for a book that's says what works and not, and why. This book is to be used more for reference.

Book Review: The Design Entrepreneur

2008-10-28T23:54:00.000-07:00

This is red softcover book that's housed in a black die-cut cardboard case. I wonder why the designer included the case, which has no particular use.

This book is for graphic designers, specifically those who want to turn their designs into products, and product designers.

There are three chapters with talking about the general process of conceptualizing an idea to selling of the product. These tips on selling the product is good to know, but they are really general. Any entrepreneurial book from the Dummies series will provide much better depth, and be a better complement to this book. Further reading on the business starting is compulsory if you're really starting a business. There are many details to take note of.

If you do decide to go into creating your own product, this book offers a lot of insights. They come from more than over 60 interviews with designers who have designed and sold their own products — they are the clients themselves.

It's inspiring to read about their success stories, to learn some tips and gain some experience off them. The number of interviews ensures that most of the business aspect to be talked about, such as distribution, business strategy formulating, funding and other stuff from the perspective of a designer.

I'll recommend this book to designers who are thinking of selling products designed by themselves.

My rating for this book is 4-stars because it's a book targeted to a very niche market. And even so, there should be more written on challenges and obstacles. Selling isn't as simple as the examples in the book suggest.

Side note - I once drew a calendar, got it bind and sold it. Only manage to sell 20 copies but it's fun. It's really hard work.

Book Review: Color Design Workbook 2008

2008-10-27T23:56:00.000-07:00

This is actually more of a textbook than a workbook. But it's not a bad thing and you'll see why.

Foundation concepts for colors are explained. That's the RGB, CMYK and HSV models, color harmony and color meanings.

Chapter 4 is probably the workbook part although they don't exactly give out step by step lesson guides. Chapter 4 is on the 10 rules of colours that should be used for reference when choosing colours. There are however a few lists that describe workflows when creating a palette.

This book essentially teaches through examples and explaining the color concepts behind those examples. The explanation is very clear and that's where most of the learning is going to be. Finally, there are 16 case studies at the end of the book, with the designers talking about the use of colours in their project.

Colors is about experimentation. Every design is unique and has their own set of limitation.

A nice thing about this book is that it has lots of interesting quotes. Such as:

In order to use colour effectively it is necessary to recognize that colour deceives continually. - Josef Albers

In a physical sense, there really is no such thing as color, just light waves of different wavelengths.

Research reveals that all human beings make an unconscious judgment about a person, environment, or item within ninety seconds of initial viewing and that between 62 percent of that assessment is based on color alone. - The Institute of Color Research

This book is perfect for people who want to see examples of how people apply the color concepts to their work.

Here's the list of chapters:

1. What is Color? Apparent Color, The Properties of Color
2. Color Theory. History of Color Theory, Color Harmony
3. Color Meaning. Color Index
4. 10 Rules of Colors
4.1 Convey Information
4.2 Create Color Harmony
4.3 Attract and Hold Attention
4.4 Remember That Context is Everything
4.5 Consider That Experimentation Is Key
4.6 Know That People See Color Differently
4.7 Assist in Mnemonic Value
4.8 Think About Composition
4.9 Use Standardized Color Systems
4.10 Understand Limitations
5. Color Systems
5.1 Thinking About Color Systems
5.2 Color Systems in Art and Design History
5.3 Some Inspiration for a Sample of AdamsMorioko's Palettes
5.4 11 Color Systems
6. Color Talk. Talking About Color in Design
7. 16 Case studies

Book Review: Logos by Michael Evamy

2008-10-27T23:55:00.000-07:00

This is a very simple book. It's a catalog of logos — the logo, the designer and logo's company.

The categorization is by logotypes, letters, wordmarks, initials, typographic elements, symbols, abstract and representational. Under these are future categorization. Please view the picture below large to get an idea because it's hard to explain.

The collection of logos featured are primarily printed in black and white in this book. The lead in page however, has the logos (small), in color.

That's pretty much about this book. Oh, and it's thick at 350 pages, more so because it's printed on 160gsm (I guess) matt paper.

Book Review: Design For Special Events

2008-10-25T23:57:00.000-07:00

Here's the long title: Design for Special Events: 500 of the Best Logos, Invitations, and Graphics

There are 320 pages in these book. In it contains pictures of graphic design done on different medium for special occasions.

19 out of these hundreds of designs are pulled out as case studies. Each case study has a short write up explaining the event and the promotional material published. These promotional material includes tickets, brochures, t-shirts, posters, cards and many other stuff. The more eye catching ones are those that break out of the medium, like tying real shoe laces to a shoe on a brochure, paper cutouts and stuff like that.

The events themselves are also categorized. Here's the list:

- Art & Design
- Business
- Fund-raisers
- Community & Education
- Entertainment
- Private Parties
- Awards
- Sports & Automotive

It's a graphic design book from Rockport. There's really nothing much I can add. The quality of selection has always been consistently high.

Book Review: Visualizing Ideas: From Scribbles to Storyboards

2008-10-23T23:58:00.000-07:00

I like this book.

This book goes through all the techniques to get the design job done. There are detailed tips that makes you go,"Hey, I was in that situation before. So that's how they did it". Such as using strong cards as rulers so there are no ink smudges the next time the ruler is used — It happens to me all the time.

All the concepts explained in the book are illustrated with pen and copic marker to great effect. It's a bundle of tips and techniques tackling almost all sorts of situations, from doing layout, lettering, product designs, figure drawings to storyboards and animatics. While you might think that this would spread the quality of content thin, it doesn't because the design concepts are pretty universal.

I think this is actually a design book that happens to be an exceptional art book at the same time. It's a great showcase of artwork from the author and collection of other art. The primary focus is to help designers present work with the greatest impact, fast.

Fans of copic markers will love this one.

Back of the book:

Visualizing and presenting your ideas convincingly is an indispensable part of day-to-day design, even in our age of digital design processes. No presentation is complete without layouts, storyboards or spontaneous sketches, often crucial to the outcome. No computer software, however good it is, can replace the non-computerized marker!

In this book, Gregor Krisztian and Nesrin Schlempp-Ülker explore and explain basic layout techniques, giving expert tips and demonstrating useful tricks employed by professionals. They show you how to present your ideas quickly and effectively, illustrating all stages of work with clear examples from teaching and practice. This will be an indispensable reference work for all professional designers and students – indeed, for anyone who wishes to present their ideas successfully and skilfully.

Malofiej: The Best Infographics Collection Book

2008-10-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

I'm just looking back at one of my favourite book, the Malofiej 11. Malofiej is a contest that judges infographics from all over the world. The good infographics get collected and published.

There has been a few series published so far, from 9 to 13. The books are very hard to find and sometimes a little expensive — for me. I'm grateful I got one at a fantastic price.

In this particular series, there are interviews with Nigel Holmes, Miguel Urabayen, Alberto Cairo and Javier Zarracino. This book features their work and other examples of infographics from newspapers collected in 2002.

There's one quote from Nigel Holmes that I find useful:

Qns: What are the questions every infographics designer should ask?

Nigel Holmes: What's the point of the graphic I am doing? What information does the reader/user need to know? I think many graphics are too big. Perhaps we designers should ask for less space when that's all we need. So ask this question: what is really the best size for this graphic?

Here are some pages from the fantastic book to share with everyone. Not every page for obvious copyright reasons.

I've also found on Flickr that there are sets of photos tagged Malofiej 16. Hope there will be a book coming out. Malofiej 16 set 1 and Malofiej 16 set 2 are from two different person.

Book Review: Film Posters Horror

2008-10-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

This book is a very useful reference book for artists looking to create the mood associated with horror, and sometimes terror. The collection of posters are from the 20th century, with most of them from the 1930s to 2000s. Recognizable titles include Silence of the Lambs, An American Werewolf, Carrie, Jaws, The Birds, Psycho and many other more.

The examples included contrast strongly with the horror posters we see in the 21st century. Current horror posters usually go for more photographic and gritty style. The old school uses illustrations with a strong play on colours.

To conclude, this book is plenty of fun.

Book Review: Film Posters of the 50s and 70s

2008-10-03T23:48:00.000-07:00

It's very interesting to hold the two books up and look at how movie posters have evolved. Even more so when these posters were created before I was born.

Illustrations dominate the 50s. There's also a noticeable yellow tint on the posters, which I attribute it to the yellowing of the paper medium. Most of the posters would serve as great examples in anatomy and posing classes. The portrait artists from this era seems to be really good at their work.

Fastforward a bit into the 70s and I notice the increasing use of photographs in posters. Illustrations still holds strong ground though. There are lots of conceptualization going on, shown clearly in print. Every one of the posters has strong composition.

Book Review: Information Design Workbook

2008-10-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Infographic artists or graphic designers who create designs to communicate ideas to people should like this book.

The summary on the preface accurately describes this book and I'll quote it here.

This book:
- Leads you through the mindset and kind of thinking that support good information design.
- Gives you an overview of the type of processes and tools you can use to create effective information design.
- Shows real-world examples of successful products
- Presents interviews with some of the premier practitioners working in the field today.

This book talks about high level concepts to give an overview to information design. The first four chapters explains the need for effective design and provides lots of examples where they are used, and how helpful they are. Some examples include direct mail, litigation graphics, etc. Interviewees relates on what works and what doesn't through their own experience.

There are several tools include to help designers. They include personas and scenario simulation, research and testing and even mundane stuff like using plain language. Of course not all might relate to everyone. I'm a newspaper artist and I don't do testing for every graphic that I produce. But they do give results for tests conducted, which can be applied to different fields.

One chapter is devoted to design principles with examples from all medium.

The last five chapters are the case studies. Each touches on a different medium and each comes with 6 real life success stories. That's 30 set of experience from the industry you can learn from.

I'll like to conclude that this book practices what it preaches. The information on the pages is laid out nicely and easy to absorb.

Here's the table of contents:
Preface - Approaching information design from a user-centric point of view
1. About information design. What is it? Who is doing it? Why is it important?
2. Process: Discovery. A step-by-step look at the research and discovery process
3. Process: Prototypes and Testing. How user research and testing help to ensure successful design
4. Design Toolkit: Visual devices to help communicate information
5. Printed Matter Case Studies. Magazines, packaging and corporate communications
6. Information Graphics Case Studies. Maps, charts, and diagrams
7. Interactive Case Studies. Websites and other screen-based projects
8. Enviromental Case Studies. Wayfinding and exhibits
9. Experimental Case Studies. Information design that pushes the envelope.

Book Review: Sequential Images

2008-09-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

Below's the product description of the book from amazon.com:

Sequential image making is a rich area of original and innovative work, riding the wave of interest in the art of illustration and graphic novels. Basics Illustration: Sequential Images investigates visual storytelling through examples of work that is intelligent, experimental, oblique, beguiling, incisive, visceral, and beautiful. Topics covered include concepts, pacing, narrative structure, storylines, genres, storyboards, navigation, visual codes, book illustration, graphic novels, comics, e-comics, manga, anime, animation, children’s books, interactivity, web publishing, mobile devices, film theory, paper engineering, film, design, video art, motion graphics installations, club art and VJs, viral images, kinetic worlds, exhibition and retail display, podcasts, video games, and more. For anyone interested in illustration and visual communication, Sequential Images is a must-have.

(Gosh! They really ram in all the keywords with this book.)

This book lacks the depth as a result for covering almost everything related to print and multimedia illustrations.

The chapters teach the what instead of the how. It's like a glossary for the anyone who knows nothing about illustration and wants to learn more.

If you have a specific interest in any specialized field of illustration, you can give this book a miss.

Book Review: Best of Brochure Design 9

2008-09-03T01:48:00.000-07:00

Well, this is one of those catalog type of book and this time round it's volume 9 for Brochure Design.

Book Review: 111 Posters by Gabor Palotai

2008-08-17T23:25:00.000-07:00

On the back of the book:

111 posters is a retrospective collection of the graphic designer Gabor Palotai's poster art. 111 statements of his powerful graphic design. 111 documents of everyday life.

Yes, there are 111 posters in the book. Each is a display of confident graphic design. The designer uses only very simple design elements such as typography, colours, texture and symbols to create eye catching poster art. Printed on high quality matte paper, the colours of the posters are vivid and strong.

It's minimalism as its best.

You can view more of Gabor Palotai's work at his website. He has an online portfolio.

Book Review: Business Graphics

2008-08-13T00:02:00.000-07:00

This book is a collection of design applied across all sorts of corporate marketing materials. The variety included is great.

Materials included are logos, stationery, brand campaigns, brochures, newsletters, websites, sales collateral, packaging, financial publications, annual reports, direct mail, promotional items.

For depth, the book has 15 case studies. Each describes the project goal, design problem and solution. In these case studies, we get to see how design is applied across different design medium.

Graphic designers doing corporate projects should find this book useful. Marketers too.

Book Review: Creative Advertising

2008-07-21T00:04:00.000-07:00

This is a very valuable book for any designers working for advertising. It contains lots of information and tips to creative effective attention grabbing designs.

The book starts by recommending a framework for creative performance. It's purpose is to help designers think different and highlight the things they might have missed. There are many ways to approach designs, this book explores the most effective methods, and explain clearly why they work, and how they can work for anyone.

Throughout the book, there are lots of checklist to help with the creative process. Here's one example of the checklist, which is called the Kickstart Catalogue. It helps to get design thinking instantly.

Kickstart Catalogue
1. The Goal - What needs to be said?
2. Strategy - How should we think about this?
3. Framework - How does the structure of the idea work?
4. Search-fields - Where else could we look for ideas?
5. Point of view - What perspective should we take?
6. Timeline - What time period is involved?
7. Senses - Could the idea be transferred to other senses?
8. Medium - In which other medium would this idea work?
9. Implementation - Does form match content?

The checklists are well explained. There are many examples to show how the checklists are applied to different design projects.

The bulk of the book contains a catalogue of advertising design sorted by concept taken. Some concepts include exaggeration, repetition, spoofs, optical illusions and more. There's also a section dedicated to writing funny copy. As usual, there are checklists, guidelines and examples.

This book provides a very useful arsenal of tools for any designer.

Book Review: Really Good Logos Explained

2008-06-21T00:04:00.000-07:00

This book is different from other logo books. All the logos featured are discussed, commented by the authors. The four authors are Margo Chase, Rian Huges, Ron Miriello and Alex W.White. Each are graphic designers with years of experience.

Right at the beginning, there's a Q&A for each author, followed by what they think are the 10 mistakes designers make when creating a logo.

The value of the book comes from the comments of these authors. They explain why some logos work and why others don't. In the bonus chapter which contains less effective logos, there are explanations for how to improve the logos. All captions are short and straight to the point.

There's plenty of insight to be drawn into the art of creating logos.

Book Review: Print and Production Finishes for Bags, Labels, and Point of Purchase

2008-04-30T00:05:00.000-07:00

This book is more on product packaging and points of purchase design. There are examples from carrying bags, wine bottles, product labels and etc.

Each design is captioned to explain the rational and concept behind. For example, what message colours are suppose to convey, what qualities can glossy surface bring across and other design applications.

There are actually 4 main chapters: Standard Printing, Specialist Printing, Materials and Finishing. They are self explanatory and the chapters gives examples in that design aspect.

There are 192 pages. I should guess that there are more than 100 examples since some of the page spreads feature 2 products. There's plenty of variety to go about.

This book is great for product designers and marketers.

Book Review: Logo Lounge 4

2008-04-21T00:06:00.000-07:00

This is one of the slightly more in-depth book on logos.

There are 21 case studies into how different design firms handle their projects. For each design firm, one or two projects are highlighted. The goals, process and execution are explained.

In between these case studies are several pages containing catalogs of logos. Design firms and clients are listed.

While the number of logos in the catalog might not match books dedicated only to logos, this book makes it up for the depth. There's a lot to read and learn.

Book Review: Letterhead & Logo Design 10

2007-12-31T01:23:00.000-08:00

Designers who have the other series should know what to expect from this one. It contains another great selection of letterheads and logos for volume 10. If just to nitpick, I would say that some of the logos are printed way to big — think 1-2 logos on a large page.

If you're into designing these, it probably worth the price to get a look at the designs from other designers. Plus, they only publish this once a year or so.

Book Review: The Big Book of Graphic Design

2007-11-21T00:06:00.000-08:00

This is a big book containing lots of examples on graphic design. There's a huge variety sorted into the following categories: corporate design, arts, music, education, editorial, self promotion and unpublished.

Some of the designs are really wild, bordering on abstract. I can't understand why certain designs belong to certain categories just by first impression. Captions are few and in between designs. All designs are credited to the firm and clients.

This book is essentially a graphic design catalogue.

It's more for designers looking for something random or abstract to jolt their creative mind.

Book Review: Graphis Advertising Annual 2007

2007-11-15T00:07:00.000-08:00

I like it when companies tell me up front their mission statement. It shows that they know what they are doing.

Here's the mission statement: Graphis is committed to presenting exceptional work in international Design, Advertising, Illustration & Photography.

In this book, they have fulfilled that mission well. It's a fine catalog of some of the best print advertising from 2007. Each is sort by category. The selection is tight, the quality high.

A graphic catalog book is simple. So here are the pictures.

Book Review: Graphic Design Now

2007-11-14T00:08:00.000-08:00

This book is a portfolio for graphic designers all over the world. They give their thoughts on designs and provide some of the designs they have created.

Book Review: Identity Crisis

2007-11-13T00:08:00.000-08:00

In this book are 50 case studies on redesigning the corporate identity.

Each makeover is compared with the old image. The text explains the story behind the need for design and the concept of the design. It goes through things like what the logos are suppose to mean to the public, what the design elements signify and things like that. Pictures included examples of how the new design is applied over the company's promotional material, e.g. brochures, namecards, letterheads, websites, products, etc.

At the end of each case study is a quick tip from the designer on the project.

This book is useful for graphic designers and brand marketers.

Here are three blogs from the author:
bLog-oMotives | Jeff Fisher LogoMotives | Identity Crisis!

Book Review: The Ultimate Graphic Element Collection

2007-11-11T00:09:00.000-08:00

I cannot say that this is the ultimate graphic element collection, even if that's the title. For I've seen better books.

This book features designs for a lot of different mediums. The designs comes from many countries to make up the variety.

Currently, it's selling at US$51 on Amazon.com, without any discount. I don't think it's worth the money because you can get better books at a lower price. Just check out the list of design books I've reviewed.

Incidentally, this book is published in my country, Singapore, by Page One.

Here's from the contents page:
Printing techniques
- Screen printing
- letterpress
- foil blocking
- special inks
- overprinting

Manipulated surfaces
- embossing
- perforation
- varnishes
- die-cut

Formats and binding
- stitches
- folds
- screws

Add-ons
- stickers
- rubber bands
- tags
- foils

Unusual materials
- fabric
- plastic
- rubber
- metal

Graphic devices
- type treatment
- graphic elements
- image manipulation

Book Review: Graphis Packaging 9

2007-11-07T00:15:00.000-08:00

This book is a great showcase of packaging design from 2004. It features a high quality of selection. Every design in the book is good. A great catalog in essence.

From the book jacket:

Graphis Packaging 9 The latest and most creative design solutions from around the world are presented in Packaging 9, an international collection of the best 3-D designs. As packaging design becomes more and more integrated into a full circle brand positioning, our selection focuses on the highest standards of execution and innovation. This edition features an interview with vernacular package collector Tamar Cohen, a conversation with Norway VOSS Water founder about the business of bottled water, and an inspiring sampling of innovative materials from the NY Material ConneXion library.

With more than 400 full-color illustrations including close-up shots on the packaging designs, the annual is divided into categories such as food & beverage, promotion, and cosmetics, this edition includes indexes, credits and captions explaining in detail the client's brief and how the designer has responded to it.

Art directors, package designers and marketers should find this book great for reference.

Book Review: Creativity 36 Annual Awards

2007-11-06T00:16:00.000-08:00

The cover has some sort of special finish to it. I don't know what it's called so look at the picture I've provided below.

There are more than 1000 designs and photos in this book.

Material is collected over all sorts of medium. There are annual reports, brochures, business cards, catalogs, direct mail, signs, posters, book designs, magazine ads, packaging and many other.

The variety is great. The quality of design work showcased is high.

There's one big problem with the book. Some of the designs that are supposed to be creative just don't look creative to me. What I expect from creativity is the element of simplicity and the unexpected.

Put it another way, if this book had no title, I won't give it a title called Creativity. I'll probably call it Design Catalog 2007. Gasp! — horror — a generic book title.

For designers or art directors looking for books on creativity, I'll strongly recommend looking at books that feature print advertising. E.g. Advertising annuals and the likes.

Book Review: Graphis Annual Reports 2006

2007-11-05T00:16:00.000-08:00

Here's from the description from the book jacket which I find to be accurate:

The Annual Report is the pinnacle of corporate communication. This year's Annual celebrates 34 exceptional Annual Reports, each selected by an elite panel of AR Designers.

Representing a broad spectrum of industries, including entertainment, non-profit, technology and fashion, the reports in this international collection effectively express clients' accomplishments and goals with visually striking Design solutions.

The reports were selected for excellence in Design and the ability to clearly present the client's message. This year's Annual features covers, editorial spreads, and financials, with an index of clients, Designers, Art Directors, Writers and Photographers.

In addition, Graphics AR Annual 2006 includes thoughtful essays written by the judges on the role of AR Design in the current corporate climate. The Graphis Annual Reports is a must have for anyone that is involved in the Design and Production of this demanding medium.

There are more industries included than mentioned above.

Interviews from the design firm is included for each annual report featured. They address the design goal and approach. That provides some insight into the background.

Here are some pictures.

Book Review: 1000 Restaurant Bar & Cafe Graphics

2007-10-12T00:16:00.000-07:00

I guess the graphics showcased really work because I felt like ordering some food.

There's a wide range of graphics collected over a variety of medium. The design medium includes, signage, logos, menus, packaging, promotional items and stationery.

I'm not too sure if because of the variety, the book has spread itself too thin. Personally, I would have preferred that the author had grouped all the designs created under each food outlet. That way, at least, we can see how the designer work his/her way across the different packaging mediums.

The variety in the book might make up for the lack of depth. But that depends on individual preference. Just check out the video and photos below.

Overall, it's still a recommended book for any graphic or packaging designer.

Book Review: The New Big Book of Color

2007-10-10T00:17:00.000-07:00

The designs featured in this book use colors as the main design element. So expect this book to be more colorful than other design books.

The use of colors are sometimes strong and bold, sometimes subtle. There's a great variety to draw inspiration from.

Each of the design featured are captioned to explain why the particular color was used, and what the color is trying to convey. Color swatches, RGB and CMYK, are by the side of every design.

The chapters are categorized by color associations, e.g. lively, peaceful, feminine, childlike, classic, hip etc.

Book Review: Logo Lounge 2

2007-10-01T01:12:00.000-07:00

Logo Lounge 2 is a simple small sized handbook of logos. The logos are sorted by different design categories, from typography, people, birds, symbols, structures just to name some.

It's a no fuss quick reference for any graphic designer looking for inspiration and ideas.

Links: Logo Lounge

Book Review: Graphis Poster Annual 2007

2007-09-25T00:18:00.000-07:00

This is the poster annual for 2007 by Graphis. It's another bumper year of great poster designs going by this book.

Included also are interviews with three designers, namely Shin Matsunaga, Marksteen Adamson of ASHA and Felix Studinka.

This is another invaluable resource for anyone looking for inspiration into poster designs.

Book Review: Graphis Design Annual 2008

2007-09-18T00:19:00.000-07:00

There are more than 200 full-color photographs. This book showcases a high quality of selection from across a variety of design medium. At the end of the book are short captions for approach taken for the featured design.

Here's more from the book jacket:

GraphisDesignAnnual2008 is the definitive Design exhibition, featuring the year's most outstanding work in a variety of disciplines. Featured categories include Books, Brochures, Corporate Identity, Interactive, Letterhead, Logos, Signage, Stamps, Typography and more! All winners have earned the new Graphis Gold and/or Platinum Awards for excellence. Platinum winning case studies complete the book.

Art directors, package designers and marketers should find this book great for reference.

Book Review: Joel Desgrippes and Marc Gobe on Emotional Brand Experience

2007-07-18T00:19:00.000-07:00

This is a personal portfolio collection of Joel Desgrippes and Marc Gobe. The book includes interviews with Joel Desgrippes and Marc Gobe right at the beginning, which talks about their background, design firm and methodology.

Also included are 51 case studies on their projects. It's an impressive portfolio with big name clients like Air France, Gillettte, Travelocity, Coca-Cola and many others. If you have noted, that included both offline and online companies.

The captions are in depth and detail. They explain the goal, the challenges and the execution. The photos included emphasis the points they make and the brand the client is trying to portray. It's basically talking about how design, applied across all the marketing materials and products, can be used to build and reinforce on the brand.

The meaning of each design element is well explained. An example is the design of the Coca-Cola can, in terms of the physical can, the packaging, the script logo and the colors.

This is a great book for product designers and marketers.

Book Review: The Big Book of Letterheads

2007-06-07T00:20:00.000-07:00

This book is just what it says it is — A big book of letterheads.

It contains nearly 400 letterheads on 384 pages. That's plenty of variety.

There's no write up except for the mention of the design firm, client and designer. It's basically a catalog, a showcase of good letterhead designs.

Nothing much else to say except to show you some pictures.

Book Review: Logo Savvy

2007-04-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

This book might be smack of self promotion because many of the case studies featured are from the agency, WOW Branding. Still it offers plenty of ideas to anyone who's trying to come up with a creative and unique brand for themselves.

While the publisher is Rockport, known more for design books, this isn't really a design book at core. It's a naming or branding book, with lots of great examples all well explained in their creative process.

Here's the description from the book jacket:

Logo Savvy, by WOW Branding's Perry Chua and Dann Ilicic, explores the belief that the world's strongest brands are much more than just logos. This book showcases some of the best case studies from top branding firms around the world, each sharing their own unique approaches for developing truly distinctive and effective branding systems.

Organized into seven naming categories, each case study features full-color photography of the living brand and many include sketches, design concepts, and naming directions that were explored, but were not used.

Logo Savvy highlights WOW Branding's proprietary methods used for naming and identity development and includes a selection of worksheets and models to guide you through the branding process. This book is an essential resource — a must-have for any marketing professional, designer, or entrepreneur looking to create brand distinction.

Logo Savvy features:
- Processes to help you generate distinct naming and identity concepts for your brand
- Step-by-step case studies that dissect the branding process from strategy to implementation
- Over 300 examples from 32 firms representing 10 countries, profiling a variety of dynamic brands and the stories from the firms who created them

Book Review: Global Corporate Identity 3

2007-03-15T00:20:00.000-07:00

This book is a catalog of graphic design with the theme focused at corporate identity or brand identity.

There are 320 pages of varied designs from over the world. All sorts of design medium are included. There are cards, letterheads, signs, products and many other marketing materials. Each is captioned to show the country, design firm, designer and the client.

It's a great reference book to look at for ideas and inspiration. Graphic designers should find this book useful.

This book is authored by David E. Carter, who also writes lots of other design books.

Here's the table of contents:

Trademarks/logos
Complete identity systems
Stationery systems
Signage & environmental graphics
Corporate identity manuals
Packaging
Corporate image brochures

Visit the link beside to read more reviews on Amazon.com. If you buy from the link, I get a little commission that helps me get more art books for review.

Country-specific Amazon links for this book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de

Book Review: The Little Book of Big Promotions

2007-03-01T00:21:00.000-08:00

This little book is just larger than a palm.

This book includes a collection of graphic design focused on promotions and events. Each design is explained in terms of goal and how the design was created towards that goal. You'll get to read about the design process, such as how a designer purchased lots of gum at a grocery store for a gum project.

There are 350 pages. Every 2 page is one design featured. So that's more than hundreds of designs for reference.

A reviewer from Amazon.com said that this book is a repackage of other books, namely Promotion Design That Works, The Art of Promotion and Designs That Speak Up, Stand Out and Can't Be Ignored: Promotions. Just so you know.

Here's the table of contents:
Part 1

1. Unconventional Surfaces and Printing Techniques
2. Unique Constructions, Folds, and Die-cuts
3. Interesting Bindings, Fasteners, and Wraps
4. Alternative Uses and Add-Ons

Part 2

5. Innovation
6. Humor
7. Unexpected
8. Lush
9. Tactile
10. Interactive

Part 3

Visual Puns
Pattern Graphics
Graphics That Define a Category
Photo Graphics
Minimalist Graphics
Equity Graphics
Symbol Graphics
Personal Graphics
Brown Paper Wrapper Graphics
Lighthearted Graphics

Directory of Contributors
About the authors

Book Review: Logo: Turkish Graphic Designers

2006-11-28T00:21:00.000-08:00

This is a great catalog of logos from Turkish graphic designers.

No, these logos don't have heavy Turkish influence. They are contemporary and classy.

At the back of the book are some typography designs based on scripts.

This book is published by a Turkish company and is available on their website.

Book Review: New Fashion Illustration

2006-05-27T00:22:00.000-07:00

New Fashion Illustration contains interviews with 30 fashion designers based all over the world, with a selected showcase of their work.

Each designer has a 1-page interview where they write in first person their creative inspiration and love for fashion design. The many designs included are created from a wide variety of medium including digital, collage, watercolour, vector, oil on canvas etc. There's a lot of different artistic style to look at.

I would say this is more of an art book rather than fashion design book.