Customer Reviews

Digital Foundations: Intro to Media Design with the Adobe Creative Suite

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Really solid merger of Bauhaus Foundations and practical applications. The episodic portions of art and computational history create a fine narrative arc, and marry the two genres together well. I'm trying to get my college to adopt it in some of our 1st and 2nd-year classes.

Patrick Lichty, Assiatand Professor
Interactive Arts & Media, Columbia College Chicago

I have used several online lessons and files from the Digital Foundations Wiki for classes I am teaching this semester. So far, the students are doing well and I am able to reinforce ideas about composition, balance etc. while teaching Creative Suite---something that was seriously lacking the technical lessons I had used before. The wiki has been particularly helpful since I was hired to teach one class at the last minute and no textbook was ordered or required for the students. This series of lessons is much more engaging, practical and creative than other books out there. I can't wait for my review copy to come in the mail!

I reviewed this book as a possible textbook for an intro to digital media class. As a disclaimer, we are not a graphic-design program; we are focused on interactive front-end development. The book looked very promising at first glance, covering the range of Adobe CS while explaining principles of symmetry, dynamic composition, color theory and much more.

I guess I am on a bit of a crusade to bring "authentic" real-world design challenges to students and I did not find any in this book. After experiencing 50 AIGA design professionals critiquing student portfolios, I realize that dadaist collages have no place in modern design curriculum. This book is devoid of authenticity in education.

The book reminded me of past instructors who know a ton of art history but have never had to satisfy a client. With that said, the book is 30% Illustrator, 30% Photoshop, 20% InDesign, 10% Dreamweaver and 10% Flash. It might be appropriate for a beginning graphic design book, good on basic skills and art history but very weak on addressing real-world challenges.

Digital Foundations
Intro to Media Design by Xtine Burrough and Michael Mandiberg

Digital Foundations bridges the gap between old school traditional design principles (read pre-computer) and their applications within our modern digital world. For starters, the entire book and its accompanying digital exercise files are available online via a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License. This book provides a unique perspective on working with several design programs, taking visual principles and Bauhaus influences and integrating them into the theories presented. Another point (made in its introduction) is the fact that the book was written to be version-independent. Readers will learn useful ways of working regardless of their software version-older, or yet to be released. CS4 screen shots are used in the book; CS3 screen shots are available on the wiki.

I found within the book's pages a variety of useful and not-often taught teaching methods for digital design. Though targeted towards design students, there's a wealth of tidbits that can be of use to professionals as well.

As an instructor of digital art and design courses, I was thrilled with this book. It provides essential introductory instruction in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver and Flash, offering numerous ways for new users to engage with what can seem an overwhelming set of tools. Digital Foundations stands out in this genre because of the care the authors have taken to situate technical instruction within the history of art and design. They take a significant cue from the Bauhaus Basic Course and introduce principles of composition and color theory, teaching skills in 'seeing' as well as 'doing'. Other chapters turn to Dada, net.art, and the early history of photography. Throughout the book the authors present interesting references and creative challenges, encouraging students to go beyond rote learning and engage with the material on a deeper level. Having used a number of technically oriented textbooks in my classes, I can say that the lessons in Digital Foundations are a refreshing change from the assignments given elsewhere. It is readily apparent that the authors are artists-- and that, in this case, is a very good thing. This is a great book for classroom or personal use and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a smart and creative introduction to designing with the Adobe Creative Suite.

(Its worth noting that though the authors use CS4, the book is designed to be version-independent).

This book is a fantastic introduction to graphic design as well as the Adobe Creative Suite. Each chapter begins with a brief history and/or description of an element or principle of design, then segues into a manageably sized and interesting project that illustrates the point. Each project also teaches the basic (and some not-so-basic) tools of one of the Creative Suite applications. Several chapters/projects are devoted to each application. This is my required textbook for a college level course title "Digital Imaging, Design and Illustration." The book is actually available online for free, but it is not expensive to buy, and I prefer reading from an actual text.

All the info you need to understand the various programs of Adobe Creative Suite. It's just what I needed in putting on the final touches on my digital art projects and books.