Multimedia Graphics: The Best of Global Hyperdesign [Hardcover]

Jorinde Seijdel (Author, Editor), Willem Velthoven (Editor), Neville Brody (Preface)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1996

From Laurie Anderson's Puppet Motel to David McCauley's The Way Things Work to cutting-edge electronic magazines like HotWired and UnZip, this volume showcases 36 ground-breaking projects selected by an international panel of designers, journalists, and scholars -- setting the standard for inter-active design in the years to come. Hundreds of images from CD-ROMs, Web sites, and computer games orient readers to the brave new world of digital design and its technical and aesthetic challenges. This visually stunning, thought-provoking survey will fascinate design professionals and anyone who wants to keep up with the latest in multimedia.

Editorial Reviews

Review

--Communication Arts, January/February 1997
Multimedia Graphics is a refreshing break from the gusher of "how-to" books that are currently pouring out of publishers' pipelines. This handsomely produced. desktop-sized survey attempts to present the best of multimedia graphic design from around the world. Edited by Willem Velthoven of Mediamatic, a Dutch multimedia production company, Multimedia Graphics brings together 36 examples of awardwinning design. arranged in categories such as Art & Culture, Education, Family (that is, games), Magazines, Promotional (read: advertising & marketing) and Reference. Each of the winning projects is accompanied by a short introductory essay and lavishly illustrated with full-color screen grabs that provide a tantalizing, and all-too-thin slice of the interactive experience.

The examples, most of which date from 1994 and '95, represent an excellent cross-section of an industry emerging from its infancy and beginning to crawl. With resources like full-screen, full-motion video, 3-D environments, sound, music, voice-over and 360 degrees navigable worlds at its disposal, interactive multimedia is at last beginning to fulfill its promise. Designers who work in this medium will find that Multimedia Graphics provides an excellent showcase of imaginative communication solutions, ranging from CD-ROMS to Web sites and children's games to visionary artistic creations.

Designers who work in this medium will find that Multimedia Graphics provides an excellent showcase of imaginative communication solutions, ranging from CD-ROMS to Web sites and children's games to visionary artistic creations. Communication Arts

About the Author

Neville Brody is one of the world's most influential experimental graphic designers.

Willem Velthoven is the director of Mediamatic, which for the past decade has been at the forefront of new media in both theory and practice.

Jorinde Seijdel is an editor at Mediamatic magazine.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Printing edition (August 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811814041
• ISBN-13: 978-0811814041
• Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 9.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,055,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fluff 'n' stuff, and lo-res at that, June 20, 2001

By 

Thomas Lundin (Lakeville, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Multimedia Graphics: The Best of Global Hyperdesign (Hardcover)

How about a more precise title for this book, like "The Big Book of Screen Shots"? That pretty much sums up the height and depth of it. Although "depth" is perhaps too strong a word. This oversized tome spared no expense in printing materials (the paper is high-quality), but is woefully lacking so far as content goes. Of course, the publication date of 1996 means that the "best" in "global hyperdesign" was pretty much limited to fancy navigation menus and interactive game play published on CD-ROM. In 1996, multimedia on the web was just starting to take off, and there was none of the cool streaming media, creative Flash animation, and mature graphic design that we see today, so this book pretty much ignores the web altogether. It's amazing what a difference half a decade makes.

For instance, screen shots are enlarged to fill a 9"x13" page at the front of each chapter, but from 640x480 resolution, the images end up being blurry and aliased, and the colors weak. The other small cut photos in each section are similarly uninspiring -- more lo-res screen shots. There's nary a behind-the-scenes production photo or how-it-was-done image to be found. Of course, I might be being unfair. After subjecting myself to the first couple of chapters, I simply wiffled through the remaining pages looking for something -- anything -- that appeared eye-catching enough to stop and read. Alas, it was for naught.

For a discriminating fan of graphic design, this book is disappointing in its shallow content and weak reproduction quality, and even a bargain outlet price doesn't make it worthwhile reading. Sorry, Amazon. The next stop for my copy is on a table at my next garage sale.