Customer Reviews

flatnessisgod

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

flatnessisgod - things you can do with lines and dots, crowns and shredding, mixing clip era media with social commentary by the strategic placement of graphic elements. logos, logos, logos. the next warhol of sorts? perhaps. the next saville? some would say. but what is reinvented by ryan's work is an intellectual mysticism that can affront, obey, and even disregard multicultural values in one solitary statement. this book is full of em. brilliance with relevance. not an easy thing to achieve, but mcginness has done it... again and again.

McGuiness tells the designers of the world to stop for a few brief seconds and consider the melange of visual stimuli that we wade through every day. He both shows us how and asks us why we so easily idendify with the vernacular. The ideas in this book are simply and effectively illustrated and serve as a modern suplement the other great graphic design references such as Gregg Barryman's Notes on Graphic Design.

well, where to start. i'm glad i didn't buy this book, it's a complete sham, which may very well be the point - but it's completely superficial, and insulting to real graphic designers and design students to pass these exercises off as a touchstone of modern design principle. the dadaist overtones are not lost on me, but the straight forward design solutions are just that - straightforward, highly derivative (IF NOT TRITE), and quite frankly, boring. if this is the present and future of design, we're in serious trouble. i'm the biggest proponent of thumbing my nose at established design, but you have to know who you're thumbing it towards. breaking from the past requires a knowledge of that past, i see no evidence of such hind- and/or fore-sight in this book. it's been reiterated ad nauseum that picasso was probably the finest draftman of his day, if not history. point being he didn't simply begin with cubism or collage. i fear that the computer has caused such a horrible deterioration of the design process, that this book is what the masses will consider 'good' design. unfortunately those masses include potential clients and students who are our future designers. for those students i recommend beale, lustig, hoffman, rand, lissitzky, malevich, mondrian. go to the source, otherwise you've resigned yourself to a future of luke warm, rehashed gruel. eat up kiddies, hope you choke. this doesn't deserve any stars in my opinion, but as a matter of default i must give it 1. designers are not rock stars, but this guy is the equivalent of britney spears - all filler, literally and figuratively.

This book will help lure to reading youngsters who may not have previously been very interested. The sense of humor crosses age boundaries. I was surprised at the target age, because I'm 63 and can't wait to read it to my grandchildren. My husband and children are not "safe" either, but I know they will enjoy it, too! A review I read somewhere on this book said "not for those with limited library funds." I couldn't disagree more. Fun reading is healthy and worth the investment for all ages. ("You go, Ryan!") I can thank PBS in Norfolk, VA again for calling my attention to a pleasure I might otherwise have missed.

This book will help lure to reading youngsters who may not have previously been very interested. The sense of humor crosses age boundaries. I was surprised at the target age, because I'm 63 and can't wait to read it to my grandchildren. My husband and children are not "safe" either, but I know they will enjoy it, too! A review I read somewhere on this book said "not for those with limited library funds." I couldn't disagree more. Fun reading is healthy and worth the investment for all ages. ("You go, Ryan!") I can thank PBS in Norfolk, VA again for calling my attention to a pleasure I might otherwise have missed.

The author's artistic imagination was working overtime - amazing! I found myself studying a design, mezmerized. At a glance, simplistic, but many individual designs came together and I couldn't stop searching the overall design. Genius!

WOW! If this is truly the brainchild of one man than Ryan McGinness has not only proven his theory that flatnessisgod but he has himself become a god in my eyes. McGinness' bible is a fascinating trip behind the creative process of a genius designer. I can't recommend this book enough to anyone from the novice to the seasoned vet who has any interest in the creative process of an artist. If flatnessisgod I am its shepherd.

I'm familiar with Ryans' "art" work, and it truley is inspiring. So I bought this book and got a bunch of his logo and design stuff...which is cool...just not exactly what I was looking for.

This book is mesmerizing, compelling, and beautiful. It is simply astonishing that it was all written by one man. What a marvelous read! My only complaint is that it should have cost more! I feel so guilty that I got so much for so little.

As Soon As I Finished It, I Wanted to Start Again! This book is mesmerizing, compelling, and beautiful. It is simply astonishing that it was all written by one man. What a marvelous read! My only complaint is that it should have cost more! I feel so guilty that I got so much for so little.