Product Description

Robin Williams introduced design and typographic principles to legions of readers with her best-selling Non-Designer's book series. Now she and designer/co-author John Tollett take you to the next level of creative design with practical advice and lessons in composition, visual impact, and design challenges.

Presented in Robin and John's signature style—writing that is so crystal clear, it's accessible to absolutely anyone—and illustrated with hundreds of full-color design examples, the ideas in this book tackle design theory, visual puns, and layout and graphics strategies for real-world projects. Developing designers will appreciate the author's imaginative approach and well-chosen examples.

• Discover practical and effective design principles and concept–and how to apply them to virtually any project.
• Learn why some designs are attention-getting and others are not.
• Learn how to choose just the right look—corporate or casual, classic or trendy—for specific types of projects, such as business cards, letterhead and envelopes, newsletters and brochures, logos, advertising, and more.
• Test your design acumen by comparing before-and-after examples.
• Find a wealth of inspiration for your own design projects.
• Gain insight into the design process by studying the works of guest designers, who offer their personal commentary and insights.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #232464 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
If you just stumbled into design, maybe via a hobby that grew into a career, and you want to improve your work without having to enrol in a degree program, this book can bridge some of the gaps in your acumen. Not really a primer on basic facts, Design Workshop is more like a guide to style.

The first chapter quizzes readers on mostly technical, basic details of design (like dpi), all of which can be found in Williams's previous publications (for example, The Non-Designer's Design Book). Readers will be dismayed, or maybe annoyed, that the quiz answers are not provided. Even if not knowing the answers means that you need remedial help, it feels like a bit of a tease.

The next chapters show how to use stock images, or your own images, to increase the visual impact of your piece (basically through an increase in contrast). The best part of this section, and the book as a whole, is the "before and after" approach in the examples; they are like a series of makeovers. The captions effectively describe what was changed in the image and how it improved the design.

The book applies a similar set of makeovers to various types of design projects: logos, forms, newsletters, tables of contents, etc. In the final section, seven designers, including co-author Tollett, break down the process they went through on a job of their own.

Self-taught graphic designers would probably make the best audience for this book, but designers who are of their own "school of thought" may find fault with some of the tenets put forth. Graphic design is by nature a subjective enterprise--at the mercy of "styles". What you get in this book is more of a "desktop publisher style". There is a lack of sophistication in the design of the book as well as in the illustrations of posters, letterheads, advertisements and other applications that are used as examples. On the other hand, this same open, naive look gives the book an inviting appeal, and makes it perhaps a bit less daunting than style guides intended for die-hard professionals, such as Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style. --Angelynn Grant

From the Back Cover

Learn design theory and practical know-how from the award-winning author/design team, Robin Williams and John Tollett

Robin Williams introduced design and typographic principles to legions of readers with her best-selling Non-Designer's book series. Now she and designer/co-author John Tollett take you to the next level of creative design with practical advice and lessons in composition, visual impact, and design challenges.

Presented in Robin and John's signature style—writing that is so crystal clear, it's accessible to absolutely anyone—and illustrated with hundreds of full-color design examples, the ideas in this book tackle design theory, visual puns, and layout and graphics strategies for real-world projects. Developing designers will appreciate the author's imaginative approach and well-chosen examples.

• Discover practical and effective design principles and concept–and how to apply them to virtually any project.
• Learn why some designs are attention-getting and others are not.
• Learn how to choose just the right look—corporate or casual, classic or trendy—for specific types of projects, such as business cards, letterhead and envelopes, newsletters and brochures, logos, advertising, and more.
• Test your design acumen by comparing before-and-after examples.
• Find a wealth of inspiration for your own design projects.
• Gain insight into the design process by studying the works of guest designers, who offer their personal commentary and insights.

About the Author

Robin Williams is the author of piles of best-selling and award-winning books, all by Peachpit Press, including The Non-Designer's Design Book, The Little Mac Book, The Non-Designer's Web Book, and many more. Robin has been teaching college-level graphic design for fourteen years.

John Tollett is a designer, art director, and illustrator with over thirty years experience in the graphic design world. He is the co-author of several best-selling books, including The Non-Designer's Web Book and The Little iBook Book.

Customer Reviews

The next step for "Non-designer's"
This book is a sequel to the four "Non-designer's" (ND) books written by Robin Williams - and you'd better read them before reading this book because there's a test as the first chapter! It's a very different book to the ND books. It's far less prescriptive, discussing alternative ways of design, rather than advising on the best way. Consequently it's a book to read and then use to dip into for ideas, rather than a "read and learn" book. It was therefore a surprise to a non-designer like me who was hoping for a little more definite guidance but, let's face it, once you've learnt the basics, design is all about experimentation. In this respect, the book is good. It has many examples, printed in full colour on good paper, with comments on each. It is well structured and laid out and is therefore easy to read and use for ideas. So, if you have read the ND series and feel you're ready to take the next steps, this book is worth buying.

Good inspiration
As a self-taught designer, this book increased my understanding of why I design things the way I do. It also revealed the gaps in my knowledge (which I am now attempting to fill), and offered some good inspiration for new projects. Very easy to read, and dip in and out of.