Extreme Design [Hardcover]

Spencer Drate (Author), Jutka Salavetz (Author), Scott Clum (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2001

Designers are always in need of new books to help spark their imagination and fill their work with fresh ideas. This guide delivers all that and more with examples of today's most earth-shattering design and illustration achievements from 40 top designers. Extreme Design also helps designers incorporate its ideas into their own work by providing practical information on the concept and development of every design. From brochures to print ads to CD covers, Extreme Design features work from the world's most innovative design houses, including Chris Ashworth, Why Not Associates, Graphic Havoc, Sayuri Studio, Attik and many others. It is a must-have idea book for every graphic artist and designer because its inspiration goes beyond the visual.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This volume presents samples of projects designed by a number of established firms whose clients are outside of the mainstream. Collaborations by Drate and Salavetz (designers and coauthors of Cool Type 2wo) command their own section, alongside such firms as Associates in Science, Graphic Havoc, and Smay Vision. This graphic design idea book contains what one might expect from the title: a corpse, nudity, gangsters, and lots of illegible typography. But most of the book reflects a milder counterculture that seeks its voice in music and entertainment. Most of the design is born out of what appears to be modest budgets original commissioned photography is used infrequently, and a range of patterns, sketches, illustrations, found art, and experimental typography repeatedly overcome financial limitations. Other books of note in a similar vein but with more specific focus are Roger Walton's Typographics 1: The Art of Typography from the Digital to Dyeline (Hearst Books International, 1995) and DED Associates' Travel Sickness (Die Gestalten Verlag, 2000). Art and graphic design libraries should include this volume as a record of design trends and leading firms of the age, but it is also appropriate for libraries that have an extensive graphic design section or serve a youthful demographic. Stephen Turner, San Francisco
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Spencer Drate is a noted graphic designer and consultant specializing in CD packaging graphics. His award-winning designs include CD covers for U2, the Beach Boys and Bob Marley. Jütka Salavetz has collaborated with Drate on package design for more than 13 years. They have co-authored several design books including Cool Type 2wo. They live in New York City.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: How Design Books (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581800932
• ISBN-13: 978-1581800937
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,658,359 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Art / Dark Vibe, February 27, 2003

By 

Sharon Russell (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Extreme Design (Hardcover)

I was rather excited about this book when I read the editorial reviews. But after studying it carefully a couple of times, it's now at the bottom of my stack of design books. It's not that the designs aren't good. They're very good, some are excellent. It's just so extremely dark and Euro with a "slasher" edge. If you're looking for images that warm your heart and make you feel good about the world, you won't find them in this book. I would have liked more warmth, more color and just a tad more hope. Thumbing through this book always leaves me feeling as though I've just walked through a graveyard on a cold, dark night. If you enjoy that sort of thing, (and who's to say you shouldn't?) then you might enjoy this book.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A design crime, March 30, 2006

By 

S. Shaw "ladychop" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Extreme Design (Hardcover)

Type is to read, and therefore, this book is fundamentally wrong. It should not be filed under graphic design, rather, it should be fled under "terrible trends".

Type + illegible = crime.