The Non-Designer's Design Book

Book Description

So you have a great concept and all the fancy digital tools you could possibly require—what's stopping you from creating beautiful pages? Namely the training to pull all of these elements together into a cohesive design that effectively communicates your message. Not to worry: This book is the one place you can turn to find quick, non-intimidating, excellent design help.

In The Non-Designer's Design Book, 2nd Edition, best-selling author Robin Williams turns her attention to the basic principles of good design and typography. All you have to do is follow her clearly explained concepts, and you'll begin producing more sophisticated, professional, and interesting pages immediately. Humor-infused, jargon-free prose interspersed with design exercises, quizzes, illustrations, and dozens of examples make learning a snap—which is just what audiences have come to expect from this best-selling author.

Customer Reviews:

A fun way to test your sense of style.......2007-10-18

Not getting the response you hope for from that poster in the window? Maybe you need to check your design... This book is key for anyone who was not born with the style gene, like me! The "What Not To Wear" for publication design. It is essential for anyone dealing with public relations and advertisement - even if it is a resume or business card. Excellent resource for beginning Web developers or anyone involved with graphic layout. Highly recommended for audiences middle school and up.

Design demystified.......2007-09-16

Writers who want to improve the look of whatever they write will find some excellent information here. This book will also suit anyone who wants to understand the basics of graphic design. Williams' engaging writing style makes this both an entertaining and useful read. Make sure you do the exercises and quizzes - they're fun and extremely helpful.

Worth the time to read!.......2007-07-17

This book is a quick and nice read. It really helps me have a better concept of the main ideas of graphic design. It is definitely a good investment to take the time to read it. Whether you are a beginning web-designer, or are involved in other types of graphic design, this book will certainly save you a lot of headaches in the future.

Opens a new world .......2007-07-16

I love this book! I've spent quite some time working on a new business card for myself using Williams' clear and basic instructions, and the process has been exciting and fun. I now have a business card that says much more about me and is light-years away from the standard format available at the do-it-yourself places.

If you can tell that your brochure/card/letterhead/flyer/poster looks terrible but have no idea why, do yourself a favor and buy this book.

Very informative........2007-06-25

My professor actually made us buy this book for our Intro. to Desktop Publishing course. I really like it. It has great design info for graphic designers and non-designers alike and has some humour thrown in there as well. I would highly recommend it.

The Non-Designer's Web Book, 3rd Edition

Average customer rating:

Excellent Book
An OK book
Web book
Out of date
Very, very useful

The Non-Designer's Web Book, 3rd Edition
Robin Williams , and John Tollett
Manufacturer: Peachpit Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0321303377

Amazon.com

While the second edition of The Non-Designer's Web Book won't answer all of your technical questions about the inner workings of the Web, it explains most of what a beginning designer needs to know: what the Web is, how it gets to your computer, how to use it, and, most of all, how to design for it.

Any artist can tell you that you have to know how a medium works to get the most impact from working in it. A basic understanding of how the Web works enables the good designer to create the most effective sites. This book thoroughly discusses the different kinds of graphics that are used on the Web, when to use one over another, how to make the most of text styles, and how to design navigation systems.

The comparisons are the best stuff here--good design vs. bad design, why designing Web pages is different from designing printed pages, and why a site looks terrific on one monitor but terrible on another. Two chapters on properly preparing graphics and setting typography for use on a Web site describe how to avoid obvious mistakes that would make your work look amateurish.

Not limited to design, The Non-Designer's Web Book shows how to get a site up and running, register the domain name, and add it to search engines. After the design is finished and implemented, the site has to be uploaded and updated; this is explained, too.

If there is one fault with this book, it's the lack of information on specific authoring tools. The barest overview of the current crop of tools appears in chapter 3, "Just What Are Web Pages, Anyway?", but a discussion of why you should choose one package over another is absent.

Don't let that fault stop you from buying this book, however. Plenty of magazines regularly have Web authoring tool "shootouts." What the magazines don't do, and what The Non-Designer's Web Book excels at, is tell you how to make well-designed pages. If you're going to build Web sites, for either personal or professional use, but you have no clue where to begin, start with this book. It's easy to read, devoid of confusing jargon, and full of dos and don'ts to help you avoid common snags. --Mike Caputo

Book Description

If you think web design is beyond your reach, or if you want your existing web site to look more professional, this thoroughly updated classic is the place to turn! In these pages, best-selling authors Robin Williams and John Tollett share the creative ideas, useful techniques, and basic design principles that are essential to great Web design-all in the context of the most current technology, software, and standards. Throughout, the authors' aim is to inspire you and spark your creativity rather than sedate you with pages and pages of code. To that end, you'll find loads of real-world examples, interesting illustrations, and the simple instructions you need to implement the techniques and concepts described in these pages.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Book.......2007-09-27

I have only read about 6 chapters but there is so much basic information available about what is important when designing a web page. I am using this for a college course and this is preparing me to design a hypermedia project.

An OK book .......2007-09-23

This book is OK for someone who might be trying to teach another the principals of webpage design. I had to buy it for a graduate level textbook and didn't see much use for it. It might be better used in the K-12 area, not college level.

Web book.......2007-02-06

I was required to buy this book for a grad course. It is to the point and easy to understand.

Out of date.......2006-11-16

This book is seriously out of date for modern web design and development.

Very, very useful.......2006-11-11

I bought this book for a college class I was taking but found that it was far more useful than just fulfilling a class requirement. This book details what is needed in creating a website from beginning to end, including how to be found on search engines and how to make your web site not look amateurish. The authors include plenty of pictures and graphics to illustrate their points, and do not write in "techo-garble" which keeps the average layman at arm's length. I highly recommend this book to ANYONE considering making their own website.

Average customer rating:

Non-Designer's Scan & Print Book
should be updated
Not Just For Non-Designers
Great book!!
Pithy

Non-Designer's Scan & Print Book
Sandee Cohen
Manufacturer: Peachpit Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0201353946

Amazon.com

The Non-Designer's Scan and Print Book (Non-Designer's Series) is an excellent guide for beginners who want to learn the essentials of scanning images and printing professional-looking publications. Authors Robin Williams and Sandee Cohen are two well-known desktop publishing (DTP) experts who have written a number of acclaimed computer-graphics books, and here they do an outstanding job of distilling the core elements of scanning, manipulating, and outputting images from high-tech, esoteric details.

Williams and Cohen commence their tour of scanning and printing by explaining how to plan your project. They begin by encouraging you to choose your paper, colors, graphics, binding, number of folds and copies, and printing methods. Then they introduce you to basic DTP and business issues like resolution, paper size, print area, cost of goods, fonts, and PostScript. Their highly rudimentary approach even includes a discussion of the type of printing device necessary to complete your project and whether you will need to use an inkjet, laser, dye-sublimation, or thermal wax printer. From there, they look to the essentials of commercial printing, finding a print shop, working within a budget, and using processes such as letterpress, flexography, and gravure.

Subsequent chapters delve into computer issues like software applications commonly used for DTP projects and how they handle color modes, raster images, resolution, vector images, and file formats. You also tackle color issues such as process color printing, using spot colors and duotones, and specifying the number of colors in a publication.

Image acquisition plays a big role in completing any project, and the authors provide helpful tips for using scanners, digital cameras, Kodak Photo CD-ROMs, stock photography, and clip art. Finally, you study printer topics such as using high-res output, working with service bureaus, determining output specs such as client and delivery information, writing film specs, using printer's marks, understanding resolution and linescreen issues, trapping, and proofing your job. There's also a preflight checklist to help you determine whether you've thought everything through. At the end of the book, you get quizzes or projects for most of the chapters as well as a list of resources for more information. --David Wall

Book Description

For most non-designers, especially beginning desktop publishers, the scanning, prepress, and printing process isn't an intuitive one. Trial and error is often the only way to learn the technical basics of producing professional-looking documents.

If you're tired of learning the hard way, The Non-Designer's Scan and Print Book is for you. Using the format that is so popular in Peachpit's best-selling Non-Designer's series, this latest offering, fully cross-platform, provides a multitude of tips, techniques, and design, prepress, and production principles to help create professional-looking documents. Clear instructions and numerous examples cover the entire process of scanning, prepress, and printing.

Customer Reviews:

Non-Designer's Scan & Print Book.......2005-09-04

This is a great book for anyone interested in Graphic Design. I purchsed this book for a Graphic Design class and read almost the entire book before the class started. It has very helpful information for dealing with print shops. It is easy to read and understand.

should be updated.......2005-05-13

It`s good to have around but this book made on a Powermac 8500 (using Pagemaker!) does feel dated in every sense of the word..PDF - the professional print standard nowadays - is poorly covered. Just one page with useless basic information. The writers do not mention anything about Open Type fonts or Indesign. There's not much about dia scanners, sizes and resolutions either.
All in all there's a lot to learn here but the information given often stays a bit on the surface or is simply not up to date. Especially for people who have some experience in the field and are not living in the past..

Not Just For Non-Designers.......2004-09-21

The non-designer title is actually a bit of a misnomer. Don't let this title dissuade you even if you have spent years in the industry (like myself). Unless you are very very knowledgable of the print-production process, this book will have a lot to teach you.

Don't let the hokey design of this book make you believe that it does not contain a wealth of knowledge...it does.

Great book!!.......2003-10-22

I was a technical trainer for four years and was in charge of teaching classes such as color theory, digital printing, scanning etc. I really loved this book because it put everything together for me after about 10 months of scraping information from a lot of different sources. You can't go wrong with this book.

Pithy.......2002-12-11

These ladies have put together a very clear, concise, comprehensive handbook for the non-pro publisher. They walk you through all the essentials of desktop publishing, and all your choices, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Dwight M Stark

Average customer rating:

A MUST for type lovers
Wonderful intro to the world of type...
Get the "The Non-Designer's Design Book" instead
Great Guide to help get your message into print.
I don't love typography

The Non-Designer's Type Book
Robin Williams
Manufacturer: Peachpit Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0201353679

Book Description

This latest addition to Robin Williams' Non-Designers line of books not only defines the principles governing type but explains the logic behind them so readers can understand and see what looks best and why. Armed with this knowledge, and putting into practice the secrets Robin reveals for making type readable and artistic, readers can then go on to create beautiful, sophisticated, professional-looking pages on their computers for output as hard copy or for use on Web pages.

Each short chapter explores a different type secret including use of evocative typography, tailoring typeface to project, working with spacing, punctuation marks, special characters, fonts, justification, and much more. It is written in the lively, engaging style that has made Williams one of the most popular computer authors today. And it uses numerous examples to illustrate the subtle details that make the difference between good and sophisticated use of type. The non-platform specific, non-software specific approach to the book makes this a must-have for any designer's bookshelf - from type novices to more experienced graphic designers and typesetters.

Please note! If you've read Beyond the Mac is not a typewriter then you don't need this book. This book is almost exactly the same as Beyond the Mac is not a typewriter.

Customer Reviews:

A MUST for type lovers.......2007-09-20

Contrary to the reviewer below, this book is most definitely a book about type for non-designers. I too love typography. Mantis neglects to mention, in his diatribe about underlining, that Ms. Williams makes it perfectly clear that a rule (line) integrated into the typographic design is entirely different from the underline feature that you hit with a keystroke. She advocates never hitting that keyboard shortcut, and she is correct. Ms. Williams also makes it clear she is creating guidelines for non-designers who need clear boundaries when they first begin, and that once you know the rules, you can break them with glee. Like Helvetica -- a very skilled designer can override the 1970s look that inevitably comes with Helvetica, just as a very skilled designer can work with art deco fonts and create a new look with them. But beginning designers aren't there yet, so Robin suggests some boundaries.

I found this book to be much more practical for the millions of people who are just discovering that there is more to type than "block text." Bringhurst's book is beautiful and philosophical and something to aspire to, but for nuts and bolts and clear guidelines that work on the page, The Non-Designer's Type Book is a must!

Wonderful intro to the world of type..........2006-02-15

As an avid reader and (some would argue) somewhat-successful writer, I spend a lot of time looking at the printed word. But I don't have a full appreciation behind the effort and thought that goes into how that word gets transferred from writer to reader on paper. Robin Williams has a great book for those of us who are not professionals in the world of typesetting... The Non-Designer's Type Book.

Contents: Centuries of Type; The Art of Readability; The Art of Legibility; Quotation Marks - Or Not?; Hang that Punctuation; Punctuation Style; Shift that Baseline; OpenType & Expert Sets; Small Caps; Oldstyle Figures; Ligatures; Condensed and Extended Type; Display Type; Kerning; Linespacing (leading); Paragraph Spacing; Alignment; Headlines and Subheads; Pull Quotes; Captions; Emphasizing Type; Line Breaks and Hyphenation; Swash Characters; Initial Caps; Typographic Color; Ornaments & Dingbats; Pi & Picture Fonts; Don't be a Wimp!; Evocative Typography; Choose a Typeface; Telltale Signs of Desktop Publishing; Trends in Type; Typographic Terms; Listen to Your Eyes; Font and Product Vendors; Special Characters; Index

It's easy to look at something written and get an immediate impression as to whether it looks good or not. But it's really hard sometimes to know exactly why. Williams demystifies the whole world of print design in such a way that even a novice like me starts to "get it". Her explanation of font styles and when to use what should be required reading for everyone putting words to paper. Just because you can use 10 fonts in a report doesn't mean you should. Going a little deeper, you learn about kerning (spacing between letters) and how that can be adjusted for the best visual results. All of these subjects continue to build on each other, and by the end of the book you have a solid foundation on the subject. What makes the book even better is that her writing style is conversational and somewhat irreverent, and there are an abundance of examples on nearly every page. Even if you already know a particular rule (such as using smart quotes or hanging punctuation), the visual nature of her writing can be used to glean ideas for your own work. Reference and inspiration in a single volume is a hard thing to accomplish, but she pulls it off with ease.

This is another one of those books that will stay close at hand. This will probably be more of a "stay at home" book, as that's where a lot of my writing takes place. But it's guaranteed to get slotted in next to all my other volumes that allow me to make-believe I'm a writer. Great book...

Get the "The Non-Designer's Design Book" instead.......2006-01-17

I'm a big fan of the author, but I feel this is not one of her best books. She clearly illustrates all the important type concepts, but the book felt too long for the amount of information presented.

I love her "The Non-Designer's Design Book" which concisely covers some of the same information. I've recommended the "Design Book" to lots of people but cannot think of anyone I'd recommend the "Type Book" to. I would have preferred it as a quick reference companion to the "Design Book", maybe at half its current size.

Great Guide to help get your message into print........2005-10-08

I have been reading Robin Williams' books since "The Mac is Not a Typewriter" came out.
This author gives great, clear information that will help with the look of anything that you produce in print. (Or on the web)
If you aren't a designer, or aren't particularly artistic, like me, you will benefit from this book because she gives clear examples of how to catch the reader's eye, and gives examples of pitfalls to avoid.
There are also some who are a little too artistic for their own good. This book will help them avoid over-embellishing to the extent that their message doesn't get accross.
A good buy for anyone who has to communicate in print. It doesn't matter if it's ad copy, a report for the boss, or your book, web site or menu.

I don't love typography.......2004-04-25

I generally find typography one of those dry, tedious details I have to know to as part of my job. But THIS book makes it approachable, understandable, interesting, and even entertaining. As titled, this is a book for NON-designers - people who aren't usually interested in this stuff unless compelled to be, and who don't have a lot of time to learn it. If you're looking for something edgier or for "breaking the rules," this is not the book to start with. However, if you're one of those people with a thousand fonts on your computer and only about 3 you ever use, this book will open your mind to the possibilities.

Claude Monet Coloring Book (Prestel Coloring Books)

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Claude Monet Coloring Book (Prestel Coloring Books)

Manufacturer: Prestel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 3791337130

Book Description

Big art for little hands, these enchanting activity books allow young artists to explore the world's masterpieces on their own terms and with plenty of space to color outside the lines.

CIW Site Designer Certification Bible (With CD-ROM)

Average customer rating:

Good book for exam
Too much waffle and repetition
Almost...
An excellent tool for the test and beyond.
Some Chapters Better Then Others

CIW Site Designer Certification Bible (With CD-ROM)
Natanya Pitts , and Chelsea Valentine
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0764548417

Book Description

From basic concepts to more technical topics, CIW Site Designer Certification Bible serves not only as a must-have for those taking the Site Designer exam, but an invaluable resource for anyone working on designing Internet sites in today's business world. The book covers design methodology, layout, graphics, multimedia, development, HTML structure, metadata, cascading style sheets, servers, cookies, plug-ins, 3rd party tools, and more.

Customer Reviews:

Good book for exam.......2005-04-04

Very thorough coverage of the program. Good reference tool. Not for the beginner.

Too much waffle and repetition.......2004-06-23

This book is rather a hard slog, mainly because there's too much waffle. It made me wince to have to wade through paragraphs like "Web Browsers are HTML interpreters that are designed to understand and render hypermedia. Not only can browsers read HTML files, but they can also read graphic files, sound files and other types of media formats".

Compared to the For Dummies "CIW Foundations", this book is a real chore to read. Much of the content simply rehashes what you must already know since you must have already passed CIW Foundations, and the key facts you need for the Site Designer exam are scattered sparsely like pearls in pigswill. Sadly, there are very few alternatives to this book right now. Come on Dummies, give us a better Site Designer prep.

Almost..........2004-02-06

I wasn't quite as impressed with this book as with the CIW Foundations book, but it still got the job done because I passed today with a 95%. That being said...

I read the book from cover to cover and took all the practice tests and exams on the CD-ROM. However, I did go online and supplement some research in as well. In some sections of the book, (such as the individual products), it went into a lot of extraneous detail, while in others, (such as the different internet societies & organizations (IAB, IRTF, IETF)), I ended up going to each's website individually to do additional research.

A good point about the book, is the "exam tips" thrown in periodically throughout the chapters. They're great sources of info for the exam. Take a good look at each of these.

So, in all. This was my prime study guide, but I would suggest some supplemental materials if you want to be safe. Good luck.

An excellent tool for the test and beyond........2002-10-17

First of all let me congratulate you for taking the time and the effort of getting certified, if you are reading this means that either you wish to get certified with the best tools available or you are a designer looking to improve yourself, great, let's start.
About this book, this book is extremely long, but extremely useful for your web site design career, you will be reading material that is not covered in the exam but you will use in real life. Also, is excellent if you want to improve yourself as a designer and wish to have a resource book in case you encounter a new technology or refresh your terminology, it gives you tips and statistics that will make you a better designer.
I recommend this book; just give yourself time to read it. Some people like to read only the summaries, others like me, like to read the book from cover to cover, after all, you are getting certified to prove you to know how to design a web site not to prove you can pass "a" test.
The best feature in this book is the CD. It comes with a test engine that so far is the best I've seen, the drawback is after a few times of taking these quizzes, you will know the questions and the answers by heart. One feature that I really liked on the test engine was that if you answer wrong it will show you the correct answer right away. Be sure to allow enough time to read all the chapters, a month and half should be enough if you are disciplined (Assuming you are doing this after work) and take all the quizzes on the test engine.
One last thing, be sure to visit all the web sites that you can that are related to the exam, questions might have changed and new subjects might have been introduced since the time this book was written. Support your training with braindumps, online free tests and other people's experience. I wish I can help you more. Best of luck!

Some Chapters Better Then Others.......2002-08-05

While this book covers all aspects for the CIW Site Designer Exam, it tends to concentrate on some aspects more then others. For instance, it hardly covers databases, but it really goes in depth with FrontPage. It appears the author leans toward certain applications more then others and has a slight bias. Finally, I would recommend this book for those taking the exam.

The Costume Book: The Non-Professional's Guide to Professional Results (Schiffer Book for Designers)

Average customer rating:

For experienced sewers only, mostly dance costuming needs will be met by this book
Requires intermediate to advanced sewing skills

The Costume Book: The Non-Professional's Guide to Professional Results (Schiffer Book for Designers)
Mary Burke Morris
Manufacturer: Schiffer Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0764314858

Book Description

This beautiful new book guides readers with intermediate to advanced level sewing skills toward the successful creation of costumes for theatrical or dance performances, and for re-enactments and interactive fiction. Nearly 250 beautiful color photographs and detailed line drawings of many types of costumes, along with solid design principles, provide a wealth of easy to understand information and how-to instructions. Practical tips concerning theatrical production teams, lines of authority, budgets, scheduling, and post-production storage of costumes are included. An annotated bibliography and a resource guide are both useful references.

Customer Reviews:

For experienced sewers only, mostly dance costuming needs will be met by this book.......2006-10-19

While this is a good resource for those of us who are experienced sewers, there is not much helpful information on theatrical costuming. Starting about 1/3 of the way through the book there are chapters on ballet, irish dance, ballroom dance, etc. and are very useful if that's the type of costuming you're involved with. The photographs of the costumes used in historical re-enactments are simply, amazing, and probably useful if that's what you're looking for. I would say this book is very light on theatrical costuming, and while I've gotten some good tips from the book that I've actually used (an easy way to make a 9 gore skirt w/o a pattern), it mostly gets ignored.

Requires intermediate to advanced sewing skills.......2002-08-06

Mary Burke Morris' The Costume Book requires intermediate to advanced sewing skills and a prior interest in costume creation, but any working with theater or dance productions who regularly sew such costumes will find it an invaluable reference. Chapters come packed with photos and line drawings, overviews of basic design principles, and instructions which quickly lend to production efforts.

Graphic Design on the Desktop: A Guide for the Non-Designer, 2nd Edition

Average customer rating:

A good book for beginners
perhaps useful as a poor man's "for dummies" book on design

Graphic Design on the Desktop: A Guide for the Non-Designer, 2nd Edition
Marcelle Lapow Toor
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0471293075

Book Description

The complete and user-friendly introduction to graphic designâin a new edition

Now with information on Web site design, plus examples, exercises, and more!

Today, anyone with a good basic computer setup can produce a newsletter or a Web pageâbut to create effective, professional-quality pieces that stand out from the competition, you need more than a hard drive and some decent software. You need an understanding of how visual communication works and a solid grasp of the principles of design, composition, and typography. You need Graphic Design on the Desktop.

Written specifically for those who have little or no design background or experience, this accessible guide teaches you the fundamentals of sound graphic design and gives you the practical know-how to put them to work on your own projects, from initial concept through final production.

This new edition covers every key element of the design process, including format, layout and page design, typesetting, color, and illustrationsâand offers clear explanations of type terminology, printing terms, and more. It guides you step-by-step through the design and production of ads, posters, brochures, and other promotional materials, as well as newsletters and magazines. A separate chapter on designing for the Web helps you make the most of home page and Web site designs.

Complete with helpful examples, exercises, hints, and checklists, plus tips on common pitfalls and how to avoid them, Graphic Design on the Desktop is the ideal design partner for projects that get attention and get results.

Customer Reviews:

A good book for beginners.......2001-04-12

I just went through the book, the most important part i liked is its language which is very welcoming for a beginner. I know lots of graphic softwares very well, but unware of some basic designing fundamentals. This book showed me the way. Though the samples in the book is few and not very interesting but has lots of basic information written in compact form so that a beginner can refer back any time. The book is broken down into basic topics a designer should know and its related subtopics. I liked its exercises at end of each chapter. May not be interesting to a person who is already a professional, but its a very handy book for anybody who want to become a designer with limited knowledge about it. I think one should go through it before trying out very hi-end designing books.

perhaps useful as a poor man's "for dummies" book on design.......1998-06-13

This book was required reading for a publication class taughtby Toor. In general, the book is extremely simple, even simplistic,and gives the reader only a cursory glance at desktop publishing, suggesting many obvious cliches and "tried and true" design solutions rather than training the reader's visual sense. Some of the design examples are crude and amateurish. Ironically, the book is poorly designed as well, making liberal use of overused default graphics software "effects" and muddy, low-resolution graphics. Very disappointing... I would suggest this book only to non-designers who do want to really learn anything about design, but are only looking for some easy answers.

Average customer rating:

A good introduction to web graphics.
Good for Beginner Designer
does what it says on the box
Concise, Comprehensive, Compact - I liked it.

Web Graphics for Non-Designers
Nick Boyce , Isaac Forman , Dave Gibbons , and Adrian Roselli
Manufacturer: A-Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1590591712

Book Description

Have you ever wished that you could make your web pages look fantastic and professional, as well as having great functionality? Well, look no further. In this book we take you through the basics of web design, looking at using color effectively on sites, visual elements that work, and how to use text effectively, before going on to show how to put these elements together to make a well designed, brilliantly laid out web page. We also compare and contrast graphics formats, look at how to optimize your graphics for best site performance, and review the best tools currently available for producing graphics for the Web, and which to choose to suit your needs best. In this book we cover: - Effective use of color, visual elements, and text - Professional web page design and layout - The ins and outs of bitmaps and vector graphics, including using Flash, SVG and SMIL - Optimizing web graphics, for better site performance - Includes tutorials on Photoshop/Image Ready, Paint Shop Pro, and Fireworks MX From the Publisher This book is for any web professional who wants to get up to speed with web design quickly and effectively. No previous design experience is necessary, but knowledge of HTML is assumed, and some knowledge of CSS and a graphics package is recommended.

About the Author

NICK BOYCE Nick is an art school dropout who became interested in interactive design through his involvement with photography and digital media. He has been using Photoshop since version 2, and spent a lot of time using Macromedia Director before getting involved in web design. After working at an educational production unit developing CD-ROMs and videos, Nick went on to become a lecturer in Interactive Multimedia, and started maintaining a mailing list to keep his students informed of the most interesting design on the Web. In 1999 he decided to build a site that assembled the information from the mailing list into a database. The result was Anarchitect.net, which has become a popular destination for designers and still maintains a mailing list. Anarchitect also functions as a space for collaborative artwork, with several projects running per year both online and offline. Nick has been a Director at Triplezero, a web design consultancy based in Adelaide, South Australia since 1998. His goal is to buy a helicopter by the age of 25. At the time of publishing he is 24.

ISAAC FORMAN Isaac Forman is a Director of Triplezero in Adelaide, South Australia. Discovering what to do, and how not to do it, has come from a variety of opportunities including a brief stunt in educational multimedia. Since the founding of Triplezero in 1998, he has provided professional Internet design and strategy service to local and international clients. In addition, Isaac is a founder of, and prolific contributor to, the international web developer community evolt.org. He whiles away much of his spare time fighting with his cat, and playing with his kitten. Distractions include digital photography, sport, and a giant tennis ball ñ possibly the greatest purchase in his retail history. Isaac lives to eat, travel, and destroy opponents at Racing Scrabble. He has eaten a spider.

DAVE GIBBONS Dave Gibbons is a writer and web designer from Beaverton, Oregon, US. He recently worked for five years as a writer, Web/Intranet Designer and programmer, and usability tester at Intel. When not losing sleep over proper web design, Dave writes humor ("humour" in the rest of the English-speaking world), novels, and screenplays.

ADRIAN ROSELLI Adrian Roselli is a founder and partner at Algonquin Studios, located in Buffalo, New York, and also holds the moderately confusing title Vice President of Interactive Media. Adrian has almost 10 years of experience in graphic design, web design, and multimedia development, as well as extensive experience in interface design and usability. He has been developing for the World Wide Web since its inception, when he should have been falling asleep in a video-editing suite. Adrian is also a board member of the American Advertising Federation affiliate in Buffalo (Brainstorm). One of the founders of evolt.org, Adrian has even found time to send scathing site critiques to some of the regulars on the evolt.org mailing list, which is where he spends much of his free time. Adrian is known as "aardvark" in the wild jungles of the Internet, although if you ask him how he got that nickname, he'll just change the subject and try to steal your sandwich.

Customer Reviews:

A good introduction to web graphics........2005-06-12

_Web Graphics for Non-Designers_ is definitely a book for beginners. Most experienced web designers and graphic artists will probably find very little new information. However, for someone who has just started to set up web pages and has not had any formal training in graphics or layout, the book is very valuable.

It touches on a number of basic things needed for a good web page and web site, including images, tables, borders, different types of layout, text vs. images, and ways to control file sizes and download times.

It also goes into more depth about presentation, covering issues such as color theory, uses of color, how color displays on different monitors, fonts, typefaces, print vs. screen typefaces, and text layout.

There is also quite a bit of information on image files, such the uses of GIF and JPEG files, formats such as PNG, and other formats such as Flash animation and scalable vector graphics. A brief description of the major web graphics packages is included as well.

Finally, the book talks about some of the things that make a website FUNCTIONAL (and not just a fancy picture), such as simplicity, usability, flexibility, and consistency.

I found this to be a very helpful book for someone (myself) who has just started trying to design and set up websites. I actually feel pretty lucky that I stumbled across this book, as it was almost exactly what I needed to help me figure out what I wanted to do with my sites.

However, I do give this book four stars instead of five because there were some places where it seemed like the authors jumped around a little bit, the section on graphics programs was hard to follow without having actually used those programs before, and I really wish they would have had more information about typefaces and uses of color.

Overall, a very well-written and useful book. I was so impressed I have already bought glasshaus's book on cascading style sheets (CSS).

Good for Beginner Designer.......2004-03-11

The book is well worthwhile for the beginning developer, someone who has a limited web library, or someone who has never done anything on the design side. On the other hand, if you have several years of experience, the book will be of less use. I personally found myself saying, "I know that already" a little too much for me to make the a permanent addition to my shelves.

It is well written, has up-to-date graphics, and would be great for someone wanting to get their library started.

does what it says on the box.......2003-03-07

To start off, the book is easy to read - something which I increasingly need with a very busy lifestyle. It was especially important as design isn't a core skill for me but It is becoming increasingly important for my job. All of the subjects covered were very interesting, although the font chapter was heavy going (i am not sure that fonts will ever be exciting to me) - it didnt provide unnecessary information.

The quality of the printing is not always top quality in chapters 2 - 4 (some of the images are poor - the designers at work found that hard to forgive) but that didnt get in the way of the message.

What have I got out of the book?
I particularly found color theory fascinating.
I now have the vocabulary to find out more on the subjects in the later chapters
I can better critique my own designs, understand what the designers at work are trying to do, and can used designs I like to inspire my own, as I can now take them apart to the constituant parts.
I have already started to benefit from the understanding of what makes good design.

Concise, Comprehensive, Compact - I liked it........2003-01-16

Just what it says: Web graphics, for people without a lick of graphic talent or design sense - like me.

This book goes over just about every common method of making a web page look better than just text. From basic color science and typography to Flash authoring, "Web Graphics for Non-Designers" covers it - thoroughly, and in concise language that does not talk down to those who have been to design school.

I especially enjoyed the chapters on color science and general web-page layout. In each of those chapters, I learned something I didn't know before. If I had to pick a least favorite chapter, I'd say Flash, just because Flash scares me right now.

If you aren't generally creative to begin with, this book will only indirectly help you decide what content to put on your web; it will, however, help you better organize and present what you're planning to put on your web already.

Although this book gives prodigious and beautiful examples of web pages throughout the (English-speaking) world, very few books help you with the creativity and imagination that you need to decide what to come up with in the first place. Since that's the problem I suffer from as a web developer, I pay particular attention to books that claim to help with web creativity but don't deliver. Web Graphics is not such a book, I'm happy to say. But the pictures are pretty, and I could try to emulate them quite easily with this book if I wanted.

I lucked out with this purchase, and it will hold a prominent (small) space on my shelf - and at that, one that I reach for fairly often, and don't loan out. If I need to brush up on a skill, or figure out how to position something without breaking the rest of my layout, I'm fairly confident I'll be able to get the answer out of this book, and at less thickness than the standard King James Bible, that's a good book to have.

Average customer rating:
Classic Book Jackets: The Design Legacy of George Salter
Thomas Hansen
Manufacturer: Princeton Architectural Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Graphic Arts | Graphic Design | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Artists, Architects & Photographers | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Drawing & Modelling | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 156898491X

Book Description

It's said that you can't judge a book by its cover. George Salter, a legendary figure in the field of book design, never subscribed to this belief. For more than forty years, his beautifully drawn and lettered covers served as elegant windows onto the works of such revered authors as Albert Camus, John Dos Passos, Jack London, and Thomas Mann. Salter had the rare ability to reduce the illustrated dust jacket -- a new part of the book package -- to its essential elements. He could visually evoke -- with typography, calligraphy, and pictorial imagery -- the contents of any given book.
Salter's life and work bridged two continents and cultures, and spanned the severest political turmoil of the 20th century. Through a tumultuous life, nothing halted his tireless and brilliant design work. Classic Book Jackets tells Salter's story and describes the innovative design thinking he brought to his design students (including his designation of seven different jacket types that are still valid today). It includes more than 200 reproductions of his finest works, and a complete catalog of his jackets, designs, layouts, and lettering jobs for the book trade.

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