Customer Reviews

The Designer's Toolkit: 500 Grids and Style Sheets: Adobe InDesign, Quark XPress and Dreamweaver CSS Template Files (The Designer's Toolkit)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've recently bought this book and expected some nice illustrations, modern grids, stylish examples, but found nothing. Whether you are experienced graphic/web designer or inexperienced you will find it mostly useless. In comparison with other books about grids: Josef Muller-Brockmann "Grid Systems", Kimberly Elam "Grid Systems, Timothy Samara "Making and breaking the grid", etc. this book has very poor, not stylish examples and explanations. Expected so much more, moreover there are not so many books about Grids. Thanks for attention!

When I purchased this book, no reviews yet existed for it; I bought it solely based on the alluring title and cover. Next time I'll wait for another canary shopper to drop dead in this hazardous mine of a book.

The main problem with the book is in how little relevant content there actually is. The author cuts each section into 1-3 pages, and the examples look about a decade removed from the date of this review. With the examples bringing so little to the reader, there just isn't anything else to learn from.

I'm not sure who this book would benefit. Graphic design students will learn more in a half-semester than this book can teach. People like me who simply wish to learn about grids will certainly be disappointed. This is a book that only a mother could love.

I wish I would have had some kind of insight into this book before buying it. It seemed like they had a good break down of each, and what they had available. Not so. Even worse, a lot of the templates are very outdated. About 50% of the templates on here are webpage tempates, and they really aren't that good. If I could go back, I certainly wouldn't pay $15+s&h for this. It's just not that good at all...
As for information, don't bet on it. You get maybe 2 pieces of information. This book is decently organized, but that's about it.
Not recommended at all.

This book is good for basics: open a file from the CD, and start building from the blocks it provides. I would not pay the full price for it, though. (My copy is from a discount book store). My advice -- get is used after having made sure that the CD is included and is functional.

This is a great book for those who are new to designing. It provides templates for almost every kind of document someone could think of, which is often a good starting point.

This works well for beginners but it is not a comprehensive guide. I thought it was mostly web, however it's got more print media than anything else. I would have preferred more web layouts...

This is a book of basic grids. It is great for me. I design real estate fliers, hospital pamphlets, etc. The designs are not ground breaking. They are basic but give someone a good place to start. There is a bonus CD of both Quark and InDesign templates which is perfect. And the files match a guide in the book. I just match it up, open up the file and work my magic. I do wish they made a 2nd edition with more complex designs, as they are on a good path here. The web designs are an odd addition to the book and should have been kept separate. I hate when books try to mix print and web together when it's unnecessary in 99% examples. If you need basic design ideas and templates, this is good for you. If you liked the "Graphic Design Cookbook" then you'll like this. If you are looking for flashy and wild examples, this is not for you.