Customer Reviews

Area

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This book is an incredible asset to anyone involved in design professions or the creative process as a means of income.
There is little text, but lots and lots and lots of visualizations. The graphics are stunning, from the cutting edge to the everyday of the New York Times. The point is that this book runs the spectrum of graphic arts - and these are very fine arts on display. Each graphic artist was hand selected by a jury of critics - the format is similar to many of Phaidon's (the publisher) other titles in related design/art professions. 10 x 10 in architecture, Vitamin P in contemporary painting, Cream3 and Fresh Cream as well. I happen to own many of these other titles and find them all fascinating, artistically enriching and visually compelling.
I cant say that everyone will be as awe struck as I, nor can I say that all will have some sort of deep, penetrating and profound revelation viewing this book. What I can say is that this is a quality piece. Even if these artist/professionals are not new to you, or the mediums and concepts employed are old news, the book is still well made and keenly organized.
I know nothing of the finer points to graphic design. Sure I know a few names such as Paul Rand, but I know that I enjoy opening this book and examining the contents. Good design is good design and I am very fascinated by the thought of applying the visual stimulation and pleasure, gleaned from this book, to the work I do as an architect.

Being a creative designer you constantly look for graphic design books to help inspire the inner ideas and concepts that you long for. On the weekends, you constantly look for inspiration and design to help cure your fix. While, during the week you strive at your job or in school pumping out projects to feed the deadlines that you are constrained by. If you are like me and absolutely cannot get enough design than you should read further. I can honestly say that, this is the best design book that you can ever buy. Looking at Graphic Design books every week (I'm talkin 1000's of books) you see the same sort of books, about 100 pages 1 example or project every 3 pages and the price is about $40. Area is the one book that blew me out of the water for how much explosive design can actually grace a cover. Their is about 2 to 8 designs per page! The book has 448 pages! You cannot go wrong with this book. Do not waste your money on any other book, Area will impress and will be a fountain of creativity and design for all creative designers. I want to congratulate every designer that is in this book on outstanding work! Also thanks to Valerie Vago-Laurer, Patrick Busse, Jesse Donaldson, Julia Hasting, and Karen Farquhar, and Phaidon for anoter impressive book. If you are kind of shakey about the price, don't be, just get a copy as soon as you can, $69.99 is a steal for a book at this magnitude. You won't be dissapointed! Being a creative design student this is the best weapon in your arsenal!

BUY IT!

After seeing a friend's copy of area I purchased two copies; one for myself and another for my bestfriend, for we are both inspiring designers.

You just can't really go wrong with this book. It's such a good introduction to fabulous designers around the WORLD and it's amazing to see such different styles all together next to each other in one book. also it's a great way for people to want to learn more about these great designers and learn more about their work and grow to be even more inspired by them.

People in this field all know inspiration is the key, and this book is def. full of it. just can't go wrong with it.

This book is full of new and refreshing design from around the world. It helps to educate someone like me who, while getting a Graphic Design education, is getting a more traditional rundown of the field and less of a modern-day acknowledgment. "Area" addresses the artists' perspectives and shows a wide variety of visual styles and formats, and will have something extremely interesting for everyone. A great book for any designer's collection. Worth every penny.

I am an artist and instructor who needs an occasional design inspiration for myself or my students. This book features artwork from artists and designers around the world. It is good to see some pieces that depict an idea I've had and an artist has already created it. This gives me the motivation to keep my creative fluids active. I can also compare my work with other artists worldwide.

The service was great, however, when I opened the book, the cover fell off. I know that it was not their fault as my friends have had the same problem, but I am very upset that whomever shipped the item did not notice the spine detached from the book.

You can't go wrong with a Phaidon publication. The book is a very in-depth look at design world-wide. It has tons of examples of great design. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

There is so much inspiration in this book. It's a graet resource for any designer. It will get your little design wheels spinning with fresh ideas every time you open it. There is so much in here and such a broad range of styles and subject matter. Some incredible artists.

There is something amazing in the way consumerism has birthed its own brand of art. In the 1880's, when Coca-Cola pushed their first few dollars across the table and asked for a slogan, I wonder if anyone ever dreamed what their industries would become and how much they would owe to this type of expression? I wonder if the idea that Frank L. Balm had about The Storefront Window, saying it was more than a place to keep a store's useless stuff, went beyond the United States becoming the frontrunner in glass consumption and into a field all its own? I ask because the field of Marketing Psychology intrigues me and, accordingly, the things we've birthed to sell items also intrigues me. Maybe "intrigue" isn't even the right world - maybe I should say that they captivate me, forcing me to search high and low for the best lightbulbs burning in the brightest phosphorescent starlight so to influence the migratory patterns of items that are pushed forth by a culmination of thought and a well-oiled pen.
That is what is so beautiful about Area; it breathes what we are, what we consume, and how this meshes with the very fabric of how we conceive pitch and pitches, ticking and timeless, making up the very definition of art that is more than pictures generated "for art's sake." Looking here, it really reflects how the world has become vibrant and how pictures have shaped the world.
Locked inside this book is more than a few pictures - its a blueprint of an overlooked history that America wears all over its geography.

When I look at the field of graphic design, I am always tantalized by the creations that come from it, wanting to pour myself into page after page and see the "next big idea." It is somewhat like listening to the heartbeat of millions of people thumping in unison; if it clicks it happens to click, and you know what started the motion. Area proves that, too, showing you how far we've moved past the simple pixel lay-outs and into the realm of technological highs and really ingenious methods of salesmanship, making so many things seem desirable. In Marketing Psychology it is called tapping into the "ideal self" and making people buy a dream that the "actual self" doesn't seem to be able to supply.
The idea seems easy enough to understand, too, and sometimes people laugh at the power wielded by the pen and call the "needing" lemmings. Here, in this book, I find a lot of laughter falling short of its mark and even the bigger birds of prey noticing things they adore and why they learned to adore it.

When I first bought this book I thought it would simply feed my tastes and purse my lips with the hum of more curiosity, but lately I've noticed how much influence the book has. It has thousands of pictures, quite literally, and sometimes I catch my friends standing with their eyes glued to an item and that blank stare of "something remembering something" coming out as they slow move through the pages. Its as if Ford's comments on the heart of the new type of manufacturing, "machinery is the new messiah," have found application in ways he never intended.
If you want to see how great that can become, how powerful advertising can become, then you should look at this book and see what I mean. Currently the one I own has been in my clutches for well over a year, and I still have around one hundred pages tabbed just so I can look back over them and marvel at the creativity that thrives in make-believe places orbiting some very real horizons.

Even if you know nothing about art, you know what beauty is and this book comes highly recommended in that department.

This is a great book for designers trying to generate ideas for their own work. It is huge and a little overwhelming. The neat thing is it showcases individual artists from all over the world so one can get a more global design perspective.
I would get the hard copy if you can afford it.