Customer Reviews

Studio Culture: The Secret Life of a Graphic Design Studio

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

 

 

The interviews in this book are excellent, but visually it is a chore to read. Poor typography choices, from the typeface to the grid to the complete lack of typographic color make what should be an enjoyable, fast and riveting read a tedious one. I still recommend the book for fans of the studios interviewed -- their thoughts are a great insight into their processes -- but am disappointed by the irony of a book about designers that lacks such fundamentals of design.

The book content follows a linear path as most of the interviewed studios are asked simmilar questions so you can compare. Here is what I got from it, most studios:

- are small (75% of them have 1-10 people),
- suggest you get a good accountant (and project manager),
- don't want to get a loan,
- use macs,
- don't compromise their creative vision,
- don't do it for the money,
- have lot's of books, toys,
- are painted white,
- quote each other as their inspiration, or quote no one.

That being said, the layout of the book is suboptimal. The font in particular is very small (I am guessing 9pt), thin weight and sans serif. Part of it is light grey and it is a pain to read.
All photos are thumbnails and lack detail. On the other hand, the paper of both the cover and the inside is very nice.

Not only is this beautifully compiled and delivered book. Its textures, stock and imagery are mere fluff around a truly fantastic read. An insightful and an expanse knowledge resource for people such as myself running my own agency.

I loved this book I found the information to be very useful and illuminating, it is true that some of the interviews lead to similar answers but thats always going to be the case with business all in the same market.

As for the design of the book, I loved it. I like the minimal design and the duotone images, it provides a pretty design without distracting from the text.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in design studios or those looking to start up.

I found the interviews and photos of the workspaces of these people very insightful. I'm familiar with the work of most of them so it didn't bother me too much to not see many examples of the work various people have done. I just checked online to find the people I wasn't familiar with. I like the design of the book. Doyle's interview was my favorite. I hope being in the book helps everyone in it. I'm an illustrator so many of these people are among my desired clients-I definitely have a better sense of who they are now. There is a psychology to how people arrange their space, you can build a good intuitive picture of what people are like in their minds I think.

The book is jammed with raw content, fresh from the horses' mouths, so to speak, but lacks the visual umph to match. Each new studio featured in the book is illustrated with only one full-page photo, and it is screened back and printed in greyscale. For the visual people who will likely be reading this, it's a let-down.

I was disappointed to see the photos were secondary to the text. This is not automatically a bad thing, but it was, perhaps, slightly misleading from the marketing and buzz. I would have liked to see the book larger in size, and each chapter filled with more full-page, full-colour images. Considering the nature of this book, I don't see the studio work was included at all -- we could simply look that stuff up if we're interested.