Customer Reviews

How to Understand and Use Design and Layout

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A frustrating book. My initial impression is that I could have written virtually all of it myself.

The book consists of a large number of 1/2 or 3/4 page essays, superficially describing some aspect of design (color, line, type, shape-with-type, etc), and urging the reader (basically) to try lots of things and see what looks the best. In between the essays are small illustrations of design drafts or finished products, with short and generally unenlightening captions. I expected more!

There are a few bits of concrete advice in the book, but many are so vague as to be unhelpful ("consider the use of color in your design"), and some are simply wrong. For instance, it's hard to credit the statement "it is unlikely that a light, classic serif type will mix with a heavy, sans serif face", when it's printed in a light oldstyle serif face, under a heading that's in (you guessed it!) a heavy sans. On another page, some advice about the cost of color choices seems to show a misunderstanding of how the four-color printing process works. On at least two occasions, the text refers to an illustration "on this page", when no illustration matching the text description actually appears anywhere in the book.

The diction is odd and stilted, as though it were imprefectly translated from the Korean, or perhaps the Icelandic. Can You Parse This: "The emphasis in describing this product range is the link between acceptable branding style described by choice of type and the various options in positioning the visual content." Huh?

Another oddity: the book mentions computers exactly once, in a confused sentence about phototypesetting. Given that the majority of design projects these days use the computer in at least one stage of design (and often many more), this seems unaccountable.

Perhaps there are things in this book that would be helpful to someone with a cognitive style very different from mine, but I found it disappointing, and the few possibly-valid pieces of advice and interesting illustrations not worth the price or the time.

This is a patheticly designed design book by David Dabner that shamefully claims is "based on the best selling edition by Alan Swann" NOT co-authored by Alan Swann as the Amazon listing claims. The original book by the same title, actually written by Alan Swann and was Published by North Light Books in 1987 and paperback 1990 is the bible for understanding graphic design! Nothing short of brilliant! Do NOT buy Dabner's book when you can buy the original by Swann

This book disappoints in many ways. There are other books available on the topic of graphic design that are far more helpful, such as Robin Williams' "The Non-Designer's Design Book".

The most logical place to start with a book on graphic design is with an introduction to the elements of design before then speaking of the principles of design. The book's first chapter is titled "Basic Design Principles" and confuses by mixing elements of design with principles of design.

The layout of the book is uninspired. The pink horizontal hairlines on every page do nothing to improve the look of the book but are instead distracting. The one nice thing about this book is that the examples used are generally high quality design.

This book does not deliver good value for money, especially considering the other graphic design books on the market.

Must have! Learn how to choose shapes, right proportion for lines, typefaces, headings, text size. Learn to mix and match typefaces, colors, sizes of page elements and learn practical applications. The book displays wonderful layout ideas that will get your own ideas flowing. GREAT BOOK!

This was received just as expected. It was in new condition and came quickly! I would recommend this buyer to my friends without hesitation!

I like the exercises in the book to help your understand what you can do outside of the normal designs

Hear, hear to David M. Chess. Your review was right on the money. In addition to his comments, I was horrified at the minute size and choice of the overall text and captions used to design this book. It's very tedious to read. And....the constant references to rag right (or rag left) that are incorrect show me that the author is not typographically savy.
For all of you beginner designers who have the unfortunate experience of trying to read this book-"rag or ragged right" is just that, ragged on the "right" side of the copy which is also referred to as left aligned, and visa versa. Ragged left=Right aligned.
Also, the concept of including working exercises is a great idea, but... assigning an excercise and showing an "exact" sample of the various results does not encourage the reader to experiment further.
This book is uninspiring to say the least, and will not be taking a position on my graphic design bookshelf any time soon. I'm happy to say that with my college training, I can tell a good design book from a bad design book. Beware!

Do not get the updated version of this book, it is terrible! This is the book, and find it while you can, it is the best book on design ever printed.

Please read David M. Chess's eloquent review of this poor-quality book. I intuitively felt much of what he was able to say with his obviously greater design education.

New designers will appreciate Swann's illustrated step-by-step process from learning design principles to developing the concept to completing the project. His case studies also are very good.

Swann has a pleasant writing style that is illustrated nicely throughout the book -- certainly makes it easy to get what he says and apply it. And he still believes in "thumbnail sketches" -- which aren't touted enough in today's digital world. Artists, including graphic artists, should still be able to sketch an idea. I also believe that to be true.

I have used both the old and the revised editions of this book and recommend all of Alan Swann's books (irregardless of age) be added to the beginning design library. There's something valuable to be learned in every one of them.

I am happy to see that "Design and Layout" was selected for revision. It is a fine resource.