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Name: Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual: Timothy Samara: 0080665001765: Amazon.com: Books
Rating: 4.3 (113 reviews)

Timothy Samara

Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual Paperback – April 1, 2007

by Timothy Samara (Author)

113 ratings

Part of: Design Elements (3 books)

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Design Elements, Third Edition: Understanding the rules and knowing when to break them - A Visual Communication Manual
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The graphic design equivalent to Strunk & White's The Elements of Style

This book is simply the most compact and lucid handbook available outlining the basic principles of layout, typography, color usage, and space.

Being a creative designer is often about coming up with unique design solutions. Unfortunately, when the basic rules of design are ignored in an effort to be distinctive, design becomes useless. In language, a departure from the rules is only appreciated as great literature if recognition of the rules underlies the text. Graphic design is a "visual language," and brilliance is recognized in designers whose work seems to break all the rules, yet communicates its messages clearly.

This book is a fun and accessible handbook that presents the fundamentals of design in lists, tips, brief text, and examples. Chapters include Graphic Design: What It Is; What Are They and What Do They Do?; 20 Basic Rules of Good Design; Form and Space-The Basics; Color Fundamentals; Choosing and Using Type; The World of Imagery; Putting it All Together?Essential Layout Concepts; The Right Design Choices: 20 Reminders for Working Designers; and Breaking the Rules: When and Why to Challenge all the Rules of this Book.

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Rockport Publishers
Publication date

April 1, 2007
Dimensions

8.25 x 0.75 x 10.25 inches
ISBN-10

1592532616
ISBN-13

978-1592532612
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Timothy Samara is a graphic designer based in New York City, where he divides his time between teaching, writing, lecturing, and consulting through STIM Visual Communication. His 18-year career in branding and information design has explored projects in print, packaging, environments, user interface design, and animation. He has been a senior art director at Ruder Finn, New York's largest public relations firm, and senior art director at Pettistudio, a small multidisciplinary design firm. Before relocating to Manhattan, he was principal of Physiologic in Syracuse, located in upstate New York. In 1990, he graduated a Trustee Scholar from the Graphic Design program at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia. Mr. Samara is a faculty member at New York's School of Visual Arts, New York University, Purchase College/SUNY, and The New School, and has published six books on design and typography, all through Rockport Publishers: Making and Breaking the Grid; Typography Workbook; Publication Design Workbook; Type Style Finder; Design Elements, Design Evolution, and, most recently, Letterforms, released in September, 2018. Mr. Samara and his partner live in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rockport Publishers; 1st Edition (April 1, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1592532616
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1592532612
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.23 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.25 x 0.75 x 10.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #945,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,922 in Graphic Design Techniques
- #4,762 in Commercial Graphic Design (Books)
- #5,752 in Design & Decorative Arts

Customer Reviews:
113 ratings

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Timothy Samara

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Timothy Samara is a graphic designer and educator based in New York City, where he teaches at the School of Visual Arts and Fashion Institute of Technology. He's also the author of Typography Workbook (Rockport 2004). He lives in New York's Chelsea district.

Customer reviews

5 star		66%
4 star		16%
3 star		7%
2 star		6%
1 star		4%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Matt Jarvis

Graphic Design textbook

Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2012

Verified Purchase

Good Content but graphic design needs improvement in typography.

The preface with the beige text on a black ground at the small size is extremely hard to read which is a shame because of the subject matter. The Introduction is readable. The book has sections on Form & Space, Color, Typography, Image, and Layout that have really good content but the text with the examples is also too small. The information is good for teaching but the text is a good example to students on why you have to consider the purpose for your text, apparently it was too cut down on the ammount of pages and price.

Terminology in Graphic Design is interchangeable so when there is a difference it is customizable but the information in this book does a good job of explaining the subjects it discusses so that students can adjust to their situation. The chapters on Form & Space and Color are real good. Personally the 20 Rules and later How to Break Them should be gone over with students so the teacher can put their own input in on them. They are not necessarily wrong but can be misinterpreted or misunderstood.

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2007

Verified Purchase

From the design elements of a unique placement of page numbers in the margin to very colorful representations of design elements, this book is well-worth the price. Far to often, other books attempt to explain color rendering and shape meanings without investing in professional demonstrations of the concepts. The mechanics of type, the texture of form and space, and composition strategies are well presented. A veteran graphics designer will find this book a refreshing creativity stimulant, and the new designer will find this book a genesis of ideas. I reach for this book whenever I need some brain/eye design candy.

Ok, the book was not perfect. My technical communication background is the source of my quibble with the author's choice to use a light gray type in the body text against a white page. When the reader struggles with the difficulty of the read, there is a reduction in the transfer of information. It is as if to say, look only at the color because all the information is in the graphics - yet there was good information presented in the body text.

25 people found this helpful

Helpful

Jon Brandt

Good, but...

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2014

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Great textbook, but riddled with so many typographical errors it's unbelievable. One single run of spell check would have fixed most, if not all, of them. I really struggle to believe the writer knows what they're talking about when every other spread has an incredibly obvious error on it. Not only are they grammatical in nature, but there are a few times when there is an illustration that explains some rather complicated concept, and the caption/explanation is explaining the concept in the wrong order or paired with the wrong illustration entirely. You have to read it with your thinking cap on to filter through the errors and get at what the writer is actually meaning to say, rather than what he actually says.

Good material. Poor presentation. I hope any subsequent editions fix the stupid errors so readers aren't left bewildered.

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2011

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This book is so concise, and the explanations really well-worded and illustrated, that I have actually come to love it. It is forming the foundation of my understanding of graphic design, and in doing so sheds new light on design in general. It is dense, so expect to spend some time making your way through it. However, it is refreshingly lacking in any of the superfluous text so many authors include in their books; you won't find any personal stories or words of encouragement within these pages. What you will find is a reliable demystification of the fundamentals of graphic design. Kudos and thanks to Timothy Samara and Rockport publishers for producing such a great reference.

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N. Gilbert

Ironic and badly distracting

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2010

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How frustrating! By the time you've squinted your way through a sentence of what seems to be 7-point narrow gray type, you're exhausted and can't remember how the sentence began, so you can't make sense of it. I'm sure there must be good content in the text, but I just can't get at it. I've even tried reading it aloud so that I can remember hearing it. That kind of works.

I don't think this is a style manual, even though that's its subtitle. It's a collection of examples that fight on the page.

I love my first design books: Non-Designer's Design Book, The (3rd Edition) and The Non-Designer's Design and Type Books, Deluxe Edition , by Robin Williams. Those spoiled me -- I hadn't realized that another design book wouldn't come close to their value.

5 people found this helpful

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Aaron in Portland

Excellent information

Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2012

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Yes, it's true the caption text is tiny and low-contrast; I ranted about this issue in a review of Samara's previous book 'Making and Breaking the Grid'. (Mr Samara, consider including a magnifying glass with your books.)

However the writing is superb and lucid -- no-nonsense design fundamentals with generous examples. One of the best fundamentals books I've read. A surprising lack of fluff for a Rockport publication. I have a renewed respect for Samara and will buy this one.

Helpful

Alicia L. Houser

Design Elements: Cheaper/New From Amazon

Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2009

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I'm really happy with this design book. It explains a lot more than just the basic elements of design. It has colorful, clear, and clean examples that are up to standards with this day and time compared to other design books that break down the basics with stuff that has been done back in the 1800's (sure, I love Van Gough; however, I need something new to look at to drag my attention). It was also cheaper to buy this text through Amazon then buying it at the school's bookstore (of coarse).

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Michael Efrem

Exceptional resource for learning and design inspiration

Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2009

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I'm an amateur-to-semipro designer and found this book to be absolutely wonderful.

Besides some great principles it offers an amazing collection of examples, several on each page. They illustrate Samara's points well, and also provide a profusion of design ideas.

I started by using post-its to mark pages that made especially good points, or that I wanted to revisit. By the time I was half-way through I realized I'd marked nearly every page.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Pekka

Worth every penny

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 14, 2012

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Being a non-schooled, part-time graphic designer, who's learnt everything on his own during about 10 years of doing print-design, this book has provided quite a useful resource. I just bought it, and it certainly isn't completely perfect (small gripes, such as too small print and at times a bit messy layout that perhaps aimed at something artistic but fell short), but for its price, it has already done some wonders and has given me quite a lot of food for thought.

Actually, inspired by this, I designed a nice propositional layout and managed to get a good contract doing the design for a 250-page text book with loads of pictures, graphs, tables, and all those nice, giddy little bits that one can spend a ton of time with. For me, this book has been quite educational and reasonably inspirational, though if you've been through a formal education in design, this might not be up to scratch. But for every self-taught designer, I would heartily recommend this nice little piece.

I suppose the main gist of what I would say is that if you're thinking of whether or not you should buy this, my advice would be to go ahead.

4 people found this helpful

Patsy Porter

but a great overview. One worth having on your shelf even ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2015

Verified Purchase

More for beginners/those newer to the trade, but a great overview. One worth having on your shelf even if you've been at it for years. A handy reference.

kubus

hard to read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 8, 2013

Verified Purchase

I bought this book to learn more about print design issues and was disappointed to find how hard it was to read. The text is too small and too pale, especially in the picture headings which carry much of the information. Although the book contains good ideas, I wouldn't recommend it anyone with less than perfect eyesight because of these issues.

3 people found this helpful

Home project manager

perfect

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 22, 2014

Verified Purchase

great book which covers all you need to know in easily accessible form. Bought it for my graphic design son who rates it highly.

ian hughes

Full of information

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 8, 2013

Verified Purchase

Great creative book. Full of very informative ideas, styles and graphic structure. Lots of stuff that makes you want to better your own portfolio.

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