Graphic Design: A User's Manual [Paperback]

Adrian Shaughnessy (Author), Michael Bierut (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1856695913 | ISBN-13: 978-1856695916 | Publication Date: October 21, 2009

This book offers students, novice designers, and battle-toughened professionals alike an insider's guide to the complexities of current graphic design practice and thinking.

It contains all you need to know to survive and prosper in the complex, ever-shifting world of graphic design. Set out in A-Z style and written in a realistic, conversational, and insightful way, the book provides advice on the fundamental topics and issues that face designers in their daily lives. It looks at everything from kerning to presenting, from budgeting to dealing with rejection, from annual reports to interface design.

Adrian Shaughnessy, author of the best-selling How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul, is himself a successful designer, and brings a wealth of experience to this very useful and entertaining book.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Adrian Shaughnessy is a designer and writer. He co-founded the design company Intro and, since leaving in 2003, has worked as a consultant to various design studios and clients. He has lectured extensively on design and hosts the radio show "Graphic Design On The Radio".

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Laurence King Publishers (October 21, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1856695913
• ISBN-13: 978-1856695916
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #214,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Directions Please, March 11, 2010

By 

John Sutton - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Graphic Design: A User's Manual (Paperback)

The content of Graphic Design: A User's Manual is fantastic. I enjoyed and learned something from every entry, and I would recommend it to anyone who has anything to do with graphic design in even the most tangential capacity. Every essay, without exception, contains nuggets of gold. I've bought copies for friends and I recommend you too, dear reader, secure a copy for yourself.

The only problem, and a glaring one in my opinion, is the lack of a table of contents. Without a table of contents good luck in getting a content overview. For that you have to physically flip through the pages of the whole book! What a pain in the neck. The index is comprehensive enough but I'm sorry, it doesn't help in this regard.

Someone wasn't thinking and whoever that someone is should carefully read and take to heart the section on 'Wayfinding' so clearly articulated on page --let me see now I have to flip through the whole book to find it.... ah yes, that would be on page 299. And while this person is at it they should also glance through the section on 'Accessibility'. One second now, that...would...be...page...8.

Other than this one criticism, congratulations on a fantastic book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for any level of designer, January 22, 2010

By 

Corey Allen "Reviewer of Books" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Graphic Design: A User's Manual (Paperback)

Graphic Design: A User's Manual written and designed by Adrian Shaughnessy is an absolute must read for a graphic designer. Actually, I should rephrase that, this book is an absolute must-reference for any designer. Structured as a very concise reference tool with each chapter, titled simply with a letter of the alphabet, addressing common and not so common topics in the design world.

If you're anything like me when flipping through a new book, regardless of it's topic there has to be plenty of visual stimulation and an equal amount of brain bending insight pulled from the text to summarize what I'm about to read (or summing up what I just read). [...].

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful User's Manual, December 18, 2009

By 

Jason A. Tselentis (Charlotte, North Carolina U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Graphic Design: A User's Manual (Paperback)

Shaughnessy's 'Graphic Design: A User's Manual' covers all aspects of the creative process. It includes insight into business practices, media use, self-promotion, education and research, among others. Shaughnessy presents the information in a friendly, accessible manner without talking over your head or boring you with long-winded details.