Customer Reviews

Desktop Publisher's Idea Book

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

With so many desktop publishing books on the market, it's easy to get confused as to quality. The truth is that there's something of knowledge to be gained in just about every book. What's difficult is finding one right for your current level of knowledge-and one that will help you move on in your education.

This book will be of such help to at least three distinct types of reader.

First, despite the fact that it's not the book's focus, design theory makes its way almost unintentionally onto each page. This isn't a design book, so it doesn't actually _instruct_ you in the art. But the images in the book are competent, generic examples of standard principles of design. If you follow the basic constructs the author offers, you will, perhaps without meaning to, produce work that is suitably well-designed for almost any commercial purpose.

Second, the book gives an overview of how to get your designs from idea to computer to paper. It doesn't tell you specifically how to use your particular software or a particular printing company. I'm not sure the word "Adobe" or "Corel" appears anywhere in the text. What it gives you are the steps necessary to create high quality work on a shoestring budget. It gives you information about where to get clip art, how to deal with an illustrator specifically hired for a certain job, what are the most common fonts used in professional applications, how to ensure you're not violating copyright. These are areas that have had relatively minimal coverage in the instructional press, so the somewhat scant attention this book gives is a comparative abundance. In particular, the book has helpful information on how to find a good service bureau for your final output. The notion of contracting with printers in other parts of the country is a concept that will be foreign to a number of readers. It's a common practice to large companies, but this book makes real the possibility for smaller businesses and home enthusiasts.

Third, the book reaches people who have a great deal of experience with desktop publishing, but may need a single, unified resources for the multiplicity of "special" projects they infrequently may be called upon to make. How do you make buttons, for instance? How do you label a shipping tube? How do you create a magnetized memo? Who makes baseball caps and can I create my own design for them? Can I really make personalized coasters for my 15th high school reunion? Where can I have personalized Post-It (tm) Notes made? These, and many other "unusual" projects are given great attention in this book.

Indeed, this is really the book's focus. The author, Chuck Green, has an obvious passion for personalization. He wants you to know that for any purpose, be it commercial or personal, there's a way to make a great impression that you haven't thought about. In that quest, Mr. Green has used his book to centralize thousands of disparate addresses, phone numbers, and ideas into one location so that you can get started almost immediately. For its modest price it will give you more solid, usable advice than many more expensive, application-specific volumes.

And the book doesn't stop with the last page. There's a very cool website associated with the book that will help you continue on in your knowledge. To be sure, you don't need to read the book to access the website, but I think it's a measure of the passion the author has for his subject that he's willing to continue devoting time to it by maintaining an active, growing website. This is no `hack' author trying to cash in on the desktop publishing phenomenon. This is someone who really cares about what he writes and wants to continue giving you the most up-to-date information possible.

Despite all this, I think there are groups who might be disappointed with the book. If you already do a lot of specialized jobs for your clients, the ideas may seem quite basic. I think, too, that if you're just printing newsletters or the occasional flyer, you might think this book is full of useless information.

But I think that such people are entirely in the minority. This book has a tremendous amount to offer for the even slightly creative. Even if you _thought_ you only did newsletters for your church or flyers for your club, the wealth of information here makes you _want_ to do more and better work than you've done before. And that, I suppose, is the very point of desktop publishing in the first place.

I used this book as a classroom text for a DTP course I was running. The students loved it, not just because it showed sample layouts with good use of contrasting fonts and plenty of white space, but also because the projects were practical and small scale, aimed at someone with a laser printer and office supplies. Green's ideas show that with a couple of quality fonts and classy clip art anyone can potentially do good design. I'd like to see a new edition that takes advantage of the low costs of digital presses, but as it stands the book is inspiring. Note, by the way, that most of the projects are designed for US-sized stationery, but can be adapted.

The first edition of the Chuck Green's Desktop Publisher's Idea Book was an important book; the second edition is even more important. It covers more topics and includes a very important section on web design.

The Desktop Publisher's Idea Book is noteworthy from several points of view. For example:

1) Text is limited, providing space for large, informative story-telling illustrations.

2) Full information is provided, including typeface, type size and other formatting specifications.

3) Unlike many so-called "design" books, the Desktop Publishing Idea Book practices what it preaches. Pages are open and uncluttered, with plenty of white space.

4) A far wider variety of projects are included than most desktop publishing design books.

This is an easy book to like.

This book is good to browse through and get tips on. However, after one or two readings, the book can basically be "discarded". This book is not worth buying. It's worth reading at a bookstore, but that's about it.

This book is a goldmine of ideas. Not only can you see what the finished result will look like but you are given measurements (albeit imperial) for the placement of graphics and text. You are also told what fonts and paper to use. For me it was easy to create professional looking documents quickly. Well worth the money.

As a small desktop publishing business, I do not regret ordering this book, and it has become a part of my reference material. I am always looking for more information and ideas. This book is good to browse through and get ideas. Chuck's ideas can be modified to suite your needs or inspire you to create something unique. Beginners will gain a better of understanding of good designs but advance desktop professional might have created similar products. Chuck's website is also a good resource and I ordered the PrePage templates for PageMaker (satified). I would share this book with others and recommend it.

I have purchased a number of desktop publishing books and would have to say when compared to others this is extremely dated. By that I mean many of the examples are no longer relevant... that is unless you and your customers still use floppy disks, VHS, and a roladex on a daily basis! Not too cutting edge. However, it was not a total loss of $$$. There are many ideas that are useful and while a few of the others are outdated, they may still trigger some ideas to transition to applications for modern times. I feel if you get one good idea from a book, it may be worth the price of admission.

This is an incredible book. Chuck Green shows us how he produces clean, professional, fresh, striking ideas for a large variety of design applications and he tells us how he produces them. His instructions, like his designs, are well laid out and very clear. Novice designers can now produce very professional and effective design by following his advice and examples. Experienced designers will find a wealth of information.

I have gone to Chuck's web site Ideabook.com for years to get ideas and reference. I was always amazed how Chuck could have so much information and by the use of layout, colour and graphics make the site inviting, fun and yet not cluttered. His book follows his web site design in that he shows both great design and how to instructions in a very appealing and easy to follow way. Chuck's ability to simplify the complex is unique and to me very valuable. Tremendous value, a must have reference book.

I'm sure this book would be helpful to people with out-dated computer software. It is basically a book of templates. Almost all current desktop publishing programs come with a wide variety of useful templates. The book was useless to me. I'm sure to other people it would be helpful, but definitely not for anyone with an ounce of experience in design.

I just received the "Desktop Publishing Idea Book" and I am in love. One of the sections I enjoyed is the Resource section in the back in respect to Project Materials. I would love to see a section on the ideabook.com web site relative to these type resources. I spent about three hours on the ideabook.com web
site this morning. What a wonderful source of information in addition to this valuable book, and the site's structure and navigation is commendable.
Having been developing web sites myself for over five years, I am slowly making my way into DP because my clients think that because I am a professional web developer and graphic designer, I should be able to whip up a business card or brochure for them. The concept isn't hard for me. I have been artistic and a natural brainstormer all my life and enjoy dabbling with new software. The problem is taking the time out to branch into
another area and going through that uncomfortable learning curve. Chuck's book is a wonderful tool to set my brain in motion and it has done just that. Having only browsed through a few chapters and jumping from section to section, I already have pages of notes and ideas to help promote my existing dot com businesses. This morning I also ordered Chuck's newest "Logo" book too and anticipate the wealth of information it likely contains. Thank you, Chuck Green, for the inspirations
and nudge forward into DP. It undoubtedly will take some of that uncomfortable learning curve away.