Customer Reviews

Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

An excellent book on the basics of graphic design. One of the hardest books to find (despite the seeming abundance of them being published) is a well rounded book of design that is useful to both the beginning and advanced student of graphic design. This book provides a strong overview of topics ranging from the pragmatic (project briefs, client interaction) and the technical (grids, hierarchies, typography) to the elusive (intuition, conceptualization). It also provides specific information (anatomy of grids, use of em and en dashes, classification of typefaces) that I've had to go to separate books for in the past. As the title implies though, it does not cover issues that don't directly relate to graphic layouts (e.g. logos, signage, websites) though many of the principles can be applied to them. It also does not delve deeply into color systems, just looking at the role of color in hierarchies and compositions.

I find the title slightly misleading in that it is not what I would normally consider a workbook. It covers the entire design process step by step, so in that sense its very instructional but when I think of workbooks I imagine sample projects, worksheets, etc. It has more in common with an instructional / reference / design specimen book (a third of the book is a catalog of design projects done by professional designers). As mentioned above its focus is print layouts so there is little direct reference to web or interface design.

Overall, it is a well conceived, well designed book that gives a design student the basics of print design and can replace a variety of other books on your shelf.

The Layout Workbook if not only thorough in covering the fundamentals of designing a layout, but in addition the second half of the book contains a gallery of examples of successful layout.

Another of my favorite features is that the author not only addresses the topics like "grid" and "space" but they also cover the mental process behind design; there is a section just about intuition and creativity.

Above all the book was enjoyable to read - not just informative.

Ok, so what does the word "workbook" mean to you? To me it means there will be exercises in the book for the reader to complete which aid in learning. Not in "The Layout Workbook" there aren't. I realize that a topic as subjective as graphic design isn't the easiest to do that for without an instructor actually looking at what you do, but I'm disappointed that there isn't something more hands-on than sidebars with factors to consider in a design. Designers who've been to art school probably already know everything in this book and have no need for it but those of us flying by the seat of our pants could use all the help they can get. And holy smokes, NO INDEX!! That said, the information in the book is extremely useful, but it is a mostly narrative-based presentation of information with example pieces telling "what works" (not even any examples of "what doesn't work"), but it isn't a "workbook".

It's too bad that this book is not a workbook and that it does not provide very much information about layout. Primarily, it's a look at what the authors consider good design in print media.

The book discusses the function of design, the design process, the role of inspiration and intuition in design, the function of grids, the factors that effect composition, typography and the importance of design analysis. The book concludes with a look at several examples of design with some comments on each. There are no exercises or tutorials.

Most designers would agree that the layout of printed materials should enhance the ability of the printed media to communicate its message without calling attention to the layout. I presume that there are some principles to laying out a piece of media to achieve that goal. The authors recognize that there are such principles and even offer some of those in general terms. Thus the authors suggest that using more then one typeface or font in a piece may enhance communication, but also point out that some fonts are unattractive when combined. The logical development of this point would have provided readers with some examples of combinations both compatible and in conflict, and perhaps even a discussion of why fonts fit together or conflict.

The authors offer profuse illustrations that they believe show good design. Unfortunately most of illustrations are so small that they provide little help in understanding the teaching points. The examples in the final chapter are larger. For the latter, the accompanying text often illustrates the design considerations but just as often the text is merely descriptive. I found that most of the examples throughout the book called attention to their design, without showing how the design contributed to the communication.

For me, the chapter on compositional factors seemed like it would be the real meat of layout. The authors listed fifteen factors ranging from space to tension. Several of the factors are then discussed in a few paragraphs. For the space factor, the authors point out that grouping several items together, with space around them, leads the eye to them, and that centering a visual element renders it ineffective. I accepted these principles, but wanted the illustrations to show how and why these principles worked, which they did not. Moreover, only 12 of the fifteen factors were explained.

I was driven by an interest in the layout of images in photographic books. The compositional factors were useful in a general way but I wanted just a little bit of spoon-feeding. I went away hungry.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe layout is such an intuitive and inspirational process that it is impossible to deal in specifics, but I don't believe it. In almost every art and craft field there are principles of general application that good practitioners then press against to create unusual products. Unfortunately this book only shows us the outliers. This book may provide inspiration to experienced designers, but won't be of much help to those with less experience.

Deceptive title. Expected more in-depth material on layouts, grids and publication design. Turned out to be more of a graphic design basics book that gives surface level info on various design concepts. Not really a workbook either - no interactive exercises or anything. Last 1/3 of the book basically profiles various design firms and certain print publications they've created. Again - very surface level analysis.

Not recommended for intermediate/advanced designers.

This was the first book that I bought in Rockport's series of graphic design books. It provides great information for designing layouts and even shows examples from real publications. The only gripe I have is the small font was a bit hard to read in a dimly lit room (but most trendy publications are that way now). But despite that, the book is still readable in good lighting and provides extremely helpful design tips. With its glossy pages and a sophisticated design style, even if you don't actually read the book (although you should!), the style of the book itself provides inspiration for creating a modern, clean and dynamic look.

This book is part of a TERRIFIC series of graphic design books by Rockport. (The series also visually looks great together since the publishers shrewdly designed all the bindings to match and line up together on the shelf.)
So far there are only 5 (including Layout Workbook), but hopefully they will add more books to the very useful series:
Logo Design Workbook: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Logos

Typography Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Using Type in Graphic Design

Publication Design Workbook

Color Design Workbook: A Real World Guide to Using Color in Graphic Design

When I first got this book, I thought it was going to be more in the layout like a textbook that has a lot of words and few pictures. When I opened it up and read through it, it was quite the opposite. It shows everything visually and minimizes type wherever it can. It really goes into good detail about the design process and the best way to brainstorm and come up with ways to stop artist-block. It shows good solid design across multiple different styles. It mostly focuses on print pieces, but the messaging and intent can be carried across to web design as well. Great examples at the end and helps to break out of the normal art concepts that I come up with. For me, it is more of an inspiration book than a "learn design" book.

So what if it's not a workbook. The content more than makes up for the misname. This book is designed for people that are annoyed by those books filled with "content", that really only repeat the same thing over and over again. This book was written in a brief concise writing style and, to me, that is priceless. That title says layout workbook, but in reality it deals with more than just that. It deals with design process, which is very important for every designer, the overall mentality of what a designer should think like, and most of the fundamentals that all designers should come to learn in their long and hard design journey. Most people that write 5 star reviews only say things like it's a great book or truly wonderful, which I find very useless. Nonetheless, it's a great book, and I strongly recommend you get a copy as it will change the way you view design, especially if you starting out, or find yourself being an auto-didactic person. Thanks to this book I'll be starting my freelance carrier soon.

I'm a web designer and I've found this book really useful for the various phases of the creativity process! It covers the aspects of the work of a designer. I've really appreciate this book!

I like this book a lot and it is clearly influenced by the authors graduate education at RISD, her undergraduate education at UIUC (with influence by Renate Gokl) and her on the job experience in the Chicago design world.

I think the reason why it has the word "workbook" in it is that is the title of a series of books by Rockport. This is, unfortunately, a persistent trend in design books which is forcing authors to title, change, or redesign books so they fit an editor's idea of a series. Even if it really does not fit that series.
(Why can't publishers let design authors simply publish a book on type, a book on identity design, whatever..., and not have it be part of a "series"?!)

One criticism is that some of the typography is a little crazy in section spreads and chapter intro pages. I think a bit more restraint could have been used for these to make them more functional in nature while still interesting. But it is a minor thing.

Forget the title. It is simply a very useful book. I wish I had found it in 2005 when it was first published or at least in 2007 for the paperback.