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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Overwritten, December 13, 2011
This review is from: Distinctive Design: A Practical Guide to a Useful, Beautiful Web (Paperback)
I'll keep this short and sweet... The book is simply overwritten for the concepts that it attempts to demystify. Although the concepts explored in the book are simple to understand, the way in which they are explained is far from it. Reading this book is like reading a book on Physics written by a tenured professor. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who is just cutting their teeth in the field of web design and usability or perhaps even for intermediate designers. The book would be far better if written on a level that even the entry-level and intermediate designer can understand. No one wants to read a book that you have to have a companion dictionary to read and understand. Books are easier to digest and retain knowledge from when then are written in simple, old-fashioned English. Period.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not entirely useful, really., September 19, 2011
This review is from: Distinctive Design: A Practical Guide to a Useful, Beautiful Web (Paperback)
Although it claims to be an applicable book for someone already studying design, or web designers who already know how to code, the material covered in this book should either be common sense or self-explanatory for designers or web developers. For example, one "tip" found in Chapter 2 is, "Perhaps one reason paper remains popular is that it offers accuracy and immediacy. No waiting, no apps, no learning curve; you just apply the pencil to the paper and create something that gives an impression." Thanks, now I know why people sketch and take notes! There's plenty of similar extraneous text to be found here. Another problem with Distinctive Design is that the depth of theory and design principles covered is very shallow. This could make the material difficult for some readers to apply to real world situations, of which there are no examples. Without seeing examples of these theories actually operating in web design, the book does not make me trust that the author actually has experience with what he is talking about at a professional level (even though he supposedly does). After looking at the author's personal homepage, I was still unable to find solid, working examples of "distinctive designs" which worried me further. Based on the description of this book, I expected much more. I was hoping this would be a good accompaniment to other books I have purchased for the purpose of teaching myself better practices in web design, but it seems to be just a nice cover with a clever title. If your purposes are similar to mine, you'll probably find more use in "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug (which it's obvious he has read and is citing) and "Thinking With Type" by Ellen Lupton (while this is strictly about typography and predominately print, it goes into much more detail about the history and theories, and has an entire section about the grid that uses web examples). Both of those titles use real-world examples and point you towards other reading they have found useful. I think maybe if he took Steve Krug's advice and removed half of the content, and then removed half of what was left over, this might be a more worthwhile read, rather than an annoying and kind of insulting read.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Common Sense Design...more Theory than Application, September 22, 2011
This review is from: Distinctive Design: A Practical Guide to a Useful, Beautiful Web (Paperback)
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Having had my own website for a few years I am always looking for ways to improve it by making it more user friendly and beautiful to visit at the same time. I was hoping to gain some insight into "distinctive design" by reading this book. Unfortunately, I did not find anything useful for my needs. Much of the book read as a textbook based on theory, rather than application. After reading the table of contents I couldn't wait to read each chapter...expecting to read the book and come away with all sorts of practical ways to improve my site. Instead I found that most theories discussed were common sense, or not explored to the depth I would have liked. I also found that the examples and even the graphics contained within the book were rudimentary. I would only recommend this book for someone who is starting to design websites and has more technical experience rather than design experience. This will not teach you how to create good design, just what is considered to be good design in theory. Distinctive Design was not at all what I was expecting and frankly I came away with absolutely nothing that I felt would improve my own site. It may be great for a classroom discussion, but not for real world application in my opinion.
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