The Designer's Lexicon: The Illustrated Dictionary of Design, Printing, and Computer Terms [Spiral-bound]

Alastair Campbell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000

The digital revolution has brought with it a dizzying multiplication of new styles and techniques in the field of graphic design not to mention a whole new professional jargon. The Designer's Lexicon is the only cross-disciplinary technical dictionary that captures this rich and often confusing profusion of design-speak. It is packed with over 4000 terms that cover the broad spectrum of practices a modern designer must be familiar with: traditional graphics, pre-press, photography, printing, typography, and computers. Four hundred color diagrams and illustrations visually supplement the definitions. With a sturdy concealed spiral binding that reduces wear-and-tear, The Designer's Lexicon exemplifies the criterion designers seek most in a reference book utility. For established professionals navigating new design terrain, as well as students, production managers, and printers, this is an essential dictionary for a new century.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Communication Arts
Illustration Annual 2000
The Designer's Lexicon is a technical, crossdisciplinary dictionary that successfully integrates the many far-reaching aspects of design-speak: computer, Internet, photography, typography, prepress, paper, printing, finishing and general terms. Directly after the introduction is a diagram on How To Use This book and another helpful feature, Word Finder: where every term is listed in alphabetical order with the specific chapter it can be found in as well as its designated number, And last, but certainly not least, is the bibliography, and everyone knows the value of a good bibliography. This spiral-bound (concealed) reference book is filled with a plethora of pertinent information specifically 5,000 terms and 400 color diagrams and illustrations. Professionals, both established and new, as well as students, will find The Designer's Lexicon to be a valuable tool.

About the Author

Alastair Campbell is the author of The New Mac Designer's Handbook and The Graphic Designer's Handbook. Principal of Digital Wisdom Publishing, recipient of the 1996 MacUser Eddy Award for the best new graphic resource, he lives in England.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 320 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811826252
• ISBN-13: 978-0811826259
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,188,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A definite reference book worth owning!, August 12, 2002

By 

Dennis A. Amith (kndy) (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Designer's Lexicon: The Illustrated Dictionary of Design, Printing, and Computer Terms (Spiral-bound)

Have you read about the story of a designer who went for an interview with a design company and was not considered because they didn't know terms such as "gutter" or the difference between "seriff" and "sans-seriff".

Sure, many of us should know those terms but if you are an individual who wants to continue to learning these terms that printers or professionals tend to use and you are asking yourself in yourself "what the heck are they talking about?". Sure, no one will blame you if you were nodding off in your graphic design class or didn't really read that chapter on print terminology or just plainly forgotten the terms but the thing is, if you really want that job, don't want to look ignorant in front of certain people or if you don't want to continually badger that professional, printer or broker of terminology, then "the designer's LEXICON" is the book that you will find quite helpful.

The book is broken down to chapters for terms such as:

· Computer Terms
· Internet Terms
· Photography Terms
· Typography Terms
· Prepress Terms
· Paper Terms
· Printing Terms
· Finishing Terms
· General Terms

And to find these words, you are provided with a word finder which helps finding that word in a jiffy.

You know paper but you are asked by a client about satin laid paper, a printer wants you to ad a bleed, a designer asks you about glyphs or asks you about a pica size for print where you usually are working more with pixels, it's important to know these words and it's good to have a book that you can look to and get the definition quickly.

There are a few reference books that I highly recommend which include popular books such as "Artist's & Graphic Designer's Market", "Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color" to name a few, "the designer's LEXICON" is one of those books that is worth owning.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reference tool for all in the graphics field, January 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Designer's Lexicon: The Illustrated Dictionary of Design, Printing, and Computer Terms (Spiral-bound)

A great book for defining all those confusing terms in all the computer and design books. It clearly defines the terms you will come across in the design, layout, pre-press, and printing fields as well as offering many illustrations and diagrams or useful charts further explaining terms.

I looked long and hard to find it and for this price, EVERYONE who works in the field should own it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An education in itself, September 1, 2002

By 

Tiffany Bridge "digital citizen" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Designer's Lexicon: The Illustrated Dictionary of Design, Printing, and Computer Terms (Spiral-bound)

I have a fairly minimal background in graphic design, except for a two week class I took when I was 12 (I'm 24 now). Other than that, I'm just computer literate and I learn things quickly. This book gave me a wealth of knowledge in an easy to digest form- Running into terms in your Adobe help files that you don't recognize? Get out the lexicon. Talking to a printer and you don't want to sound like an idiot? Get out the lexicon. Everyone from beginners to pros should have this book. The definitions are simple but precise, with examples of the more difficult terms to make them easier to understand. I wish I could give it more than 5 stars.