Customer Reviews

Street Graphics India

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

 

 

This book is fascinating on several levels. As a photography book of the street advertising in India; great photos of the very colourful and strange ads found there. As a graphic design book; creative inspiration for advertising in ways not done here in the U.S., using materials and styles we don't see here. As an insight into Indian culutre; symbols, colours, methods that make sense to them, seem wonderful and exotic to us. Keep this handy as the kind of picture book you like to look through occasionally; it is fascinating, creative, inspriational, and a good buy for the price.

This book really conveys a feeling of what it is like traveling through India. For me, is really allowed me to reminisce about my trips with my parents to Madras. I can't think of a better book that gives the feel of what traveling through India is like. The colors and creativity are really special. I think this book makes a great gift and coffee table reading.

This is realy the best and also the-one-and-only book that i know of this kind of ("ugly":) graphic designs. I have been in India and also in Africa and you see this beautiful -mostly by hand painted- grafic designs everywhere !!! I realy LOVE IT ! The letters and figures are mostly out of proportions, but just that makes it so beautifull ! In this book there are a lott of photo's from the very big Bollywood signboards/posters to the little packaging-designs. There are also religious motifs and and politic symbols in this book. If you also like graphic design that is not produced by the Mac, than you MUST have this one !!! If somebody know more grapicdesign-books like this (from Africa or Indonesia or South America, MAIL ME ! echt@casema.net - Thanx, Johan Manschot (Holland)

If you're looking for some Bollywood style inspiration to add spark
to your own art, or just want a shocking infusion of glorious color
now and again, this is a book which will deliver on both accounts.
You may want several copies - one to keep on the shelf as an
opulent resource, one to cut up and alter, and one for a perfect
impromptu gift. Bursting with brilliant color, the photographic
images of advertising signs, comic book covers, murals, circus and
movie posters (and so much more) within the covers of this 8.5" x
9" paperback volume represent Indian street culture at its lushest
and most exuberant.
Barry Dawson has documented the graphic panoramas of city
streets and village roads alike with an eagle eye trained on details
and the Big Picture equally. From the intricate hennaed hands
featured in the fashion pages, to a pair of giant lovebirds painted
on the cab of a truck in the transport section, he takes us on a
whirlwind photographic journey through a continent of wild
contrasts, breathtaking colors, extreme poverty and incredible
spiritual and visual wealth.
If you can't book your ticket immediately, this book will let you curl
up in your comfiest chair and take an irresistible journey to a land
where mystery and magic are the rule rather than the exception.

India is a colorful country. A myriad of colors can be seen in the clothes people wear, product packaging, architecture, designs on vehicles and many other places. This book purports to have captured the essence of Indian advertising but ends up shocking the reader, even those who have lived in that country all their lives. It is true that the advertising there comprises of large billboards, generous use of colors and use of every available inch of space. It is indeed more colorful than anyone in west would have ever seen or imagined. That being said, it should also be pointed out that the garish advertisements pictured in the book are seen more in the southern part of India and are not representative of the entire country. The author seems to have concentrated his picks on certain regions, selected the gaudiest images he could find and ignored the tasteful advertisements that now dot the Indian landscape. Every country has its pros and cons. Selectivity of the author tends to strengthen the stereotypical image of India as a rural third-world country. To be fair to the author, his book does highlight the individuality and skills of the artists but even that would not encourage recommendation of this book. Whether you are an Indian or someone looking to visit India, money spent on this ugly book would be well spent somewhere else. Artists and art students may want to thumb through the book. Not recommended for other folks.