Customer Reviews

Visual Grammar (Design Briefs)

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The standard for visual literacy was set by Dondis A. Dondis in 1973 with "A Primer of Visual Literacy". However, it was (is) a heavy read. Christian Leborg's "Visual Grammar" gives us a more visual approach to the subject. His thesis is that we cannot understand the visual images that assault our eyes unless we share a common understanding of the symbols involved. Leborg enlightens us with a symplified but nonetheless complex view of symbols that are abstract, concrete, active, and relative. It's an interesting exploration using only basic geometric shapes. This is a "must have" book for those who teach design and a desirable book for students. All you need to know is that it is published by Princeton Architectural Press. Princeton publishes some of the most important books on design. Their positive discrimination is evident in all of their publications.

This book certainly takes the simplicity route. It is ruthlessly straightforward in regards to expressing it's information, in a layout that is without a doubt concise and efficient. The nadir? It also unfortunately reads like stereo instructions and the knowledge it tries to impart is thoroughly basic at best. Simple shapes and the like may be the building blocks of structure, but without any really tangible information to be gleaned we are left with an attractive skeleton. Yes there are some bits of wisdom in this book as well as some fetching Adobe Illustrator rendered graphics, but by and large we're just left with more white space than a snowstorm. I really do think people should form their own opinions about reference materials however, maybe you could learn a great deal from this work. Buy it, try it, but I honestly can't envision the need for this volume in light of so many other exemplary works on the subject.

Basic definitions of terms you probably had in high school geometry and grade school art classes. Devoid of insights. If you are really looking for a book that dissects how objects on the page relate to each other dynamically and relate to the viewer emotionally - if you are looking for a great introduction to visual literacy - buy Molly Bang's book instead: Picture This: How Pictures Work.

I finished reading this book in an hour, its short and sweet but sometimes i terms used to describe the diagrams seem too simplified and summarized.

The book itself was poorly designed, with minuscule font on red/pink background on many pages. The content itself was engaging, a solid basic introduction, but the enjoyment that would typically come with learning something new was lost dealing with the design inadequacies of the book itself.

I stumbled on this book at the local library and found it a very fascinating read. I've been involved in graphic production for years and can push the objects around on the comp, but never really knew the basics and foundation of visual language.

This is a great primer to learn the basic concepts that lead one to want to learn the syntax and the structure of the visual nouns learned.

This is something I will purchase and pore over until I learn the concepts.

Everything was excellent except the quality of the binding on the book. it isn't bad enough for me to want to return it but it is something to mention.

Although shipping seemed to take longer than I had hoped for the book arrived in good shape as described. I would not hesitate from buying used books!

Wow. Thats just it for this book. Seriously, someone wanted a publication and farted this thing out. I mean, it gives you the vocab of the elements...thats it. Im a college design teacher and this book would be great for a middle-school art/design class.

If you want simplistic...this may be for you.