Customer Reviews

Looking Good in Print, Fourth Edition

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

 

 

As a freelance writer who dabbles in desktop publishing, I've been searching for months for a concise, well-written, easy-to-grasp "how-to" book on DTP. I've consulted with graphic artists, posted messages online, and asked everyone I know for just such a book. I can't believe no one ever suggested "Looking Good in Print!" I stumbled across this book here on Amazon.com and decided to give it a whirl, and I couldn't be happier. This guide provides practical, step-by-step advice on conceptualizing your design, mastering the tools and techniques, and putting it all together to create great looking publications. With sections on illustrations and photos, printing techniques, and dealing with service bureaus, this book covers all the bases. Highly recommended!

This is the most "readable" book on graphic design for desktop publishing that I own. This book assumes you are already familiar with your software. Examples are outstanding; often the same text & graphic elements are presented in a variety of ways. Content is concise and simple, and directed at the intermediate to advanced user. The first half of the book deals with elements of design; the second half incorporates that info with special pointers for newsletters, ads, brochures, catalogs, letterheads, reports, resumes, forms, business cards, etc. My favorite chapter was "Common Design Pitfalls", followed by a chapter of redesigns.

I like this book because it not only covers the technical side of print and web work, but it also covers style and to some degree content. I like how the author encourages the reader to reel the design elements in. All to often the lure of the design pallette becomes too tempting and the design overshadows the content. This book will have your design complementing the content, which is how it should be.

I consider myself a specialist in wordprocessing, presentations, and spreadsheets; but this book has given me a lot of wonderful pointers. In time, anyone can run out of ideas. I have gained 3 new ideas since purchasing this book; needless-to-say, my ideas were well received. Book has been worth every penny spent.

If you do anything with print or web media (aka desktop publishing), you probably know how easy it is to make mistakes and produce amateurish results. Looking Good in Print (6th Edition) by Roger C. Parker gives you the background and practical advice you need to start, well... looking good in print.

Contents:
Part 1 - Elements Of Design: Getting Started; Tools of Organization; The Architecture of Type; Building Blocks of Graphic Design; The Art of Illustration; Working with Photographs
Part 2 - Putting Your Knowledge To Work: Publications; Advertisements; Sales Material; Business Communication; Response Devices - Forms, Surveys, and Coupons; Designing Large Documents and Publications; Common Pitfalls; Redesign; Designing Documents for Web Distribution
Appendix; Prepress Tips and Techniques
Index

Any book that makes it past the 2nd edition is one I usually figure has stood the test of time, and must have something to offer. This book definitely fulfills that. It starts off with the basics of fonts, lines, alignment, and all those things that you probably just take for granted. There's a real science behind it, and Parker does a good job of clearly explaining it. But rather than just dealing in generalities and theory, he applies the knowledge to real areas of writing. Part 2 is valuable both for the explanation of how things should be done, as well as visual examples of how things go wrong. Unless you can see "what's not right", it's often hard to know why something would be considered a good practice. There's an abundance of example layouts and samples to illustrate his points, and you'd be hard pressed to find this much quality information in a single source anywhere else.

This will be a book I'll keep close at hand when I do my writing assignments. I'm normally more focused on content rather than form, but knowing what an editor might do to your work (both good *and* bad) can help you make sure that you come out looking polished, and that your content doesn't get lost in the layout.

The sixth updated edition of Roger C. Parker's LOOKING GOOD IN PRINT tops fifteen years in print with another edition addressing the latest potentials of desktop design. From creating professional-quality letterhead and business cards to learning how to print Internet documents, advice for desktop publishers assume no special program or experience but survey different design pitfalls, how to work with large documents, and how to create designs which 'wow'. Design tips apply to either PC or MAC users alike and are packed with techniques and tips that avoid the common pitfalls.

'Looking Good in Print' by Roger Parker is an absolute must have for anyone working with print media and how it travels from the production house to the reader/end-user. Now in its 6th Edition, this guide provides essential advice, tips, and tricks from someone in the know who has been working with said topic for over a decade and a half.

Discussion in this book revolves around layouts, design, working with images, text, and how to output content itself in the wisest and slickest way possible.

For anyone that works with the design of laying out information in Print form (live or online), this book is an absolute best buy!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Are you discovering the challenges of desktop publishing? If you are, then this book is for you! Author Roger C Parker, has done an outstanding job of writing the sixth edition of a book that has been in print for 16 years, which is for those who want to make the most of their publishing investment.

Parker, begins by exploring the organizational tools you'll use in creating your published projects. Then, the author discusses in some detail the rules you must follow when selecting and arranging type. Next, the author explores the graphic page elements that are used in conjunction with type, to highlight and enhance the printed word. The author then shows you how to choose graphic elements and position them on the page for maximum effect. He continues by focusing on the techniques of designing a range of documents from newsletters to business communications to coupons. Then, the author discusses planning and design techniques that are important for any larger project. He then lists and illustrates the most common errors that sabotage otherwise effective designs. Finally, the author takes a look at some sample documents that are riddled with errors, while others are teetering on the brink of success; and, shows you how they can be improved, through the application of basic design concepts and a smattering of common sense.

This most excellent book has grown over the years to become the "Bible" for many students and publishers. More importantly, the best part of this book is that it will encourage you to learn while practicing your craft.

Well, it is a good book, full of sound and useful basic advice - but if you have some practical experience with design for print, you may be exceptionally bored and you may also get angry, because the author always seems to stop just where you want more information - o.k., this may be quite normal given this format, anyway, bewarned.

...for any person who is in charge of print matter . Great design basics. If you want your organization to produce professional looking printed matter without paying a professional big $ to design it, this book is a great place to start.