Product Description

This book describes some of the most important design rules and techniques that are drawn from the rational, functionalist design aesthetic seen in modern graphic design, industrial design, interior design, and architecture - and applies them to various graphical user interface problems experienced in commercial software development.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #257304 in Books
• Published on: 1995-01-17
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Synopsis
For anyone responsible for designing, specifying, implementing, documenting, or managing the visual appearance of computer-based information displays. Ironically, many designers of graphical user interfaces are not always aware of the fundamental techniques that are applied to communication-oriented visual design - techniques that can be used to enhance the visual quality of GUIs, data displays, and multimedia documents. This book describes some of the most important design rules and techniques that are drawn from the rational, functionalist design aesthetic seen in modern graphic design, industrial design, interior design, and architecture - and applies them to various graphical user interface problems experienced in commercial software development.

Customer Reviews

is this made on a photocopier?
When I opened this book I was genuinely shocked by the deplorable quality of the images used to demonstrate the textual points. I can get over the fact that ALL the images are in black and white (although at over £30 for a paperback one might expect some colour) but I expect to be able to make out what the images contain... there is an image (no 13) on page 18 of a radio, the text points out to the reader the elegance and beauty of the lines and the circular dial which is the focul point of the whole design... yet in the very dark and grainy image all of this is lost... I could go on and on but suffice to say that as a book of which the sole purpose is to teach and enlighten about designing VISUAL!!!! interfaces... they have used THE worst visual language I have ever seen in a book....
This is without doubt the worst book purchase I have made... it will now be available at a discount in the new and used section!!!

Design thought
I was very impressed when I first read this book. Complex ideas are clearly explained in the most simple words they can be explained. Examples from an intelligent understanding of what is useful history of design are wisely approached. Very proud to be a designer :)

A "must have" book for serious UI Designers
There are very few good books on UI Design. This one definitely rates in the top 5. The authors make a very good observation - now that we have high resolution displays and high definition colour, the rules of UI Design have changed since the 1980s. UI Design is now much more like pure graphic design. This book walks the reader through the basic principles of pure graphic design and is copiously illustrated with examples. It then takes the principles being explained and applies them to UI problems. The examples pre-date Java but this is still a valuable book and all of its lessons should be liberally applied to the design of modern software and websites