Book Review: The Non-designer's Design Book, Second Edition
One of the books I strongly recommend for non-designers like me
is Robin Williams' "Non-Designer's Design Book". It is a must
for dummies who want to have a career on graphic designing even
without the formal education. The book is a good primer for
novices and amateurs to help them produce layouts that can catch
attention.
The Book provides a practical introduction to the basic
principles of design, which makes it more appropriate for those
who need to put together a media material such as a
presentation, a newsletter or a flyer, but doesn't have the
degree or even the background in design.
Written in a pamphlet-sized, 200-page book, the author explores
designs for the printed page.
Robin Williams has put into this book the basic principles of
good design and typography. It explains step-by-step the
concepts and methods to help aspiring graphic artists to begin
producing more sophisticated, professional and
attention-grabbing pages right away.
The book is written in a relaxed manner--- full of humor and
free of graphics jargon usually found in other books. To help
readers produce great materials instantly, Williams has infused
her book with exercises, quizzes, illustrations, and dozens of
examples to make learning a snap.
She gamely discussed the concept of layout around four (4) basic
design principles, namely: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and
Proximity. Each of these has its own chapter with several
examples that can be done even in the comforts of your home.
The typography section, on the other hand, explains the
principles of Concord, Conflict, and Contrast. The three (3)
principles have been based by Williams on typefaces by style,
weight, shape, and spacing.
Totally clueless on graphic design, I wanted to have knowledge,
even if the most basic, on the good and bad of designing. This
book definitely provided me with the basic technical ability to
do so. Suggestions on creating one-page designs for simple
newsletters, brochures, or business cards have been an
eye-opener for me. Also, it has given me helpful and useful
insights on the world of layout.
Mind you, the book does not make you an instant expert and
professional designer who is capable of producing sophisticated
works of art. For this, you really need to have a formal degree
to achieve this.
However, if your goal is to be able to have the ability to
produce easy and decent media pieces, this book can help you on
that department. Maybe someday I can venture into the graphics
design business.
Provide yourself the time to read the book and do the exercises.
It will definitely help you improve your designs. I know mine
did.
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