The Designer's Desktop Manual [Paperback]

Jason Simmons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 2007

The best practice, technical desk reference for all professional designers and aspiring pros.

Perfect for professional designers, aspiring pros, and design students alike.

The Designer's Desktop Manual explores, topic by topic, the essential aspects of key areas of print and screen based design-type and typography; color; imaging; layout; and printing, from the most basic, introductory techniques and principles, to more advanced practices, via step-by-step projects and inspirational examples. This in-depth guide offers insight into the technological issues and step-by-step skills needed to bring design to a professional standard. Readers will also find historical background on key topics, allowing them to put up-to-date techniques into context with the evolution of design.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jason Simmons is an award-winning art director and designer. He has over 15 years of editorial design and magazine brand development experience, including the art direction of MacUser magazine. He has also lectured at University Collee for the Creative Arts, UK, and the Associaltion of Illustrators annual conference, and sat on the judging panel for the Association of Illustrators Awards.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: How; 1 edition (September 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160061017X
• ISBN-13: 978-1600610172
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #265,003 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fills in the Knowledge Gaps, May 13, 2009

By 

S. Christie - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Designer's Desktop Manual (Paperback)

This is the book I wish I had starting out in graphic design. I am an in-house designer, with no team of peers, self-trained and responsible for everything from print to web. This book covers all of it, and in a very easy to read, no muss no fuss layout, where each spread of the book is on a different subject. Extremely easy to use. It either verified the things that I was doing right, or made me exclaim "Oh THAT's how you do that . . . " Really good to learn "best practices," things I had to learn the hard way. If you work in a very collaborative design group and have had a lot of formal design training recently, you may not need this. For everyone else, it's a godsend.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best instructional graphics design book around!, June 30, 2008

By 

Liz (Raleigh, New Caledonia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Designer's Desktop Manual (Paperback)

Thanks to the author!!! amazing, amazing, amazing! This book has helped me finally grasp the principles of Adobe Indesign. I have been slowly teaching myself the program and have more than a few instructional books. Concepts that I have previously thought diffictult to understand are now clear! This book is so clear and concise that it makes learning a breeze. It covers information about photoshop, illustrator, web design, Quark, and dreamweaver. It is very well written and the directions for applications are easily understood. I love this book! I give it a 10! If I would have had this book to begin with, I would have learned how to manipulate the program a long time ago...

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent overview of graphic design principles..., April 24, 2009

By 

J. Whitaker - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Designer's Desktop Manual (Paperback)

Really great book for someone who has limited formal training, but a decent amount of hands-on experience. Explains the details and concepts that are easy to overlook until you are forced to meet them while working in the professional world. Great lay-out, pictures, structure of topics. I am thoroughly enjoying each time I sit down with this book and am learning a lot. Great investment.