Another Book About Design: Complicated Doesn't Make It Bad (Hardcover)

by Mark Gonyea (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 1–5—This lively volume is just as successful as the author's A Book about Design: Complicated Doesn't Make It Good (Holt, 2005). Once again, Gonyea presents a deceptively simple introduction that effectively combines concise text and dramatic visuals to illuminate some of the basic principles of graphic design. Catchy chapter titles ("Don't Stand So Close to Me") and a vibrant palette of blues, reds, and yellows make the title appealing and entertaining. Artistic concepts such as foreground and background, positive and negative space, unity, and complexity are explained in terms that children can easily understand. The culminating chapter employs each principle, step by step, to show how an artist creates a finished picture—the eye-catching superhero featured on the cover. Youngsters will gain a deeper understanding of just what goes into a scene in a comic strip or graphic novel, and may be inspired to create their own graphic designs. A welcome addition.—Robin L. Gibson, Granville Parent Cooperative Preschool, OH
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From Booklist
Gonyea follows up his A Book about Design: Complicated Doesn't Make It Good (2000) with another title that aims to make basic design concepts accessible to young people. "Every design begins with a foundation to build on—The Big Picture" reads the opening text, which is illustrated with three vertical bars, each shaded in a primary color. Throughout the book, Gonyea uses this visual foundation, demonstrating how ideas such as foreground and background, repetition and size of shapes, and positive and negative space can affect a final composition. The definitions of terms are as minimal and clear as the visuals: "The foreground in a design is what's closest to you," for example. With just a few sentences or words on each page, and many questions aimed at viewers ("Where would you place another dot?"), this is an interactive sequel that will leave kids eager to play with the concepts in their own pictures, while the final image—of a flying, muscled superhero—will have particular appeal to aspiring comics artists. Engberg, Gillian

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) (August 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805075763
• ISBN-13: 978-0805075762
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 8.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #542,408 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bit by bit, putting it together, September 2, 2007

By	E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Combining the terms "good design" and "children" often sends me into fits of mild hysteria. There is nothing in this world that I find funnier than adults creating tasteful/mindless toys, games, and books for kiddies that utilize the principles of good design. I used to work across the street from the ultimate in hoity-toity children's goods. The kind of place where the mobiles looked like something out of a Klee painting, and rocking horses were one single sinuous unseamed piece of polished wood. In short, stuff that no self-respecting child would touch with a ten foot pole. Children's books are often the same way. The Graphic Alphabet is the book I like to single out as the grossest offender (nore does the fact that it won a Caldecott Honor does not help its case any). There are exceptions, though. Follow the Line and One Red Dot, for example, are truly charming titles as fun to kids as they are to PoMo minded adults. One of the best, however, was Mark Gonyea's, A Book About Design: Complicated Doesn't Make It Good. Regardless of whether or not you agree with Gonyea's conclusions at all times, you have to admit that he has an ear for making this most peculiar of art forms comprehensible to young kids. I was pleased as punch to see that his follow up title was coming out this year. "Another Book About Design," breaks down the elements of a complex image and gives children everywhere a book that they can understand.

Working with primary colors, bold lines, and simple terms, "Another Book About Design," picks up where its predecessor left off. The premise of this book is simple. "Just because it looks complicated doesn't mean that it is." Breaking down complex images, Gonyea considers foreground and background, familiar images, positive and negative space, how elements are laid out in an image, and so on. Chapters are rarely longer twenty pages, and often whiz by. This is because Gonyea writes his text in big bold letters, often with just a sentence a page. Ideas are easy to follow because he doesn't engage in complex paragraphs and excess ideas. The principle guiding factor of this book is simplicity. And though you don't initially realize it, each chapter introduces a concept or element of design that will make a significant contribution to the final image (which is to say, the cover image) in the book.

At the moment I'm currently enjoying Scott McCloud's book, Understanding Comics, which tackles many of the same elements Gonyea is discussing here but in an adult context. I should clarify, though, that even though Gonyea has featured a superhero on the cover of his book, this is not a how-to-draw-comic-book-characters title. It's undoubtedly going to end up purchased that way, and possibly even checked out by kids for that reason, but that is not what the book is about. Like McCloud, title is concerned with the elements on the page or canvas before you. Unlike McCloud, though, there is no discussion of the melding of text and image. Gonyea is all image all the time, and that's not a bad thing. Art teachers can gleefully pull from his book all kinds of lesson plans. After all, if this book can be used in a practical manner at some point in the future, more power to it.

In terms of titles, Gonyea's sort of dug himself into a hole. If he keeps writing books in this series (and I certainly hope that he does) he's going to have to come up with monikers that don't go the inevitable route of "Yet Another Another book About Design," etc. That said, this is a more than worthy sequel too his original concept. Simple enough to be almost considered a picture book, but with terms and ideas that break down complex ideas without ever condescending to its audience, "Another Book About Design" is one of the better non-fiction titles coming out this year. Seek it out.