graphic design

I won't bore you with detailed analysis of the book... many other reviews mention RW's elegant descriptions of the four page layout elements (proximity, alignment, repetition, contrast). What I will share with you is that I have given this book as a gift a dozen times. Because it is so clearly written and the principles are backed up with easily understandable examples, I give it to folks who don't have a lot of time to study page layout design, but who can benefit from knowing the four principles.

As more and more laypeople put words on paper (in newsletters, brochures, and especially websites), knowing these basic guidelines for why certain pages look better than others and how one can quickly improve a particular layout is timely and essential knowledge. If you need a little help communicating more effectively with your publications (of any kind) or know someone else who does, this would be the first book I'd hand to you. (The next would be RW's The Mac (or PC) is Not a Typewriter.)

Being a web designer and not having any formal training as a graphic designer, I was looking for a quick guide on the basic "rules" of design and layout. This book fit the bill nicely.

Definitely a quick read, it covers the foundations of good layout and typography. Each "rule" gets its own chapter, with plenty of examples. It would have been nice, however, if the chapter on "Color" had actually used color images! The entire book is in black & white, so this was a bit of a drawback. Not a fatal flaw, but rather a conscious effort to save printing costs that wound up detracting from one of the chapters.

What I did learn were some obvious techniques and concepts that I needed to understand. The book helps you "notice" good design, and better yet, understand WHY it's good design. You'll also become more conscious of your designs, how to create them, and how to fix them when they're wrong, rather than just playing around with it until it "looks right".

If you're new to designing - no matter what the medium - you'll be well-served by this book. For the price, it's certainly tough to beat.

This is one of the basic books needed in any designer's collecion. Buy it today!