Clueless Clay

This book is very compact and very useful. It starts with the 20 rules of design, go on to cover in detail aspects related to forms, colors, typography, layout and also show examples of how the rules are broken.

I found myself gaining more confidence after reading this book, assuring myself that at least I know what the basics of design are.

What can I say? Except a must for every designer, especially like me who is amateur and require a comprehensive and thorough book.

This is a book that offers suggestions on how to get creative; from the use of unusual colors to adopting an atypical view. Each suggestion has some sample works.

Not too helpful for a beginner though.. in fact, I am not too sure who it can be useful for but it is an enjoyable read nonetheless.

A design and layout book that provides clear advice and suited for the beginner. I find myself taking notes on basic design principles for shapes, typography, colors and image. Also a brief section on different design projects such as logo, magazines and newsletter.

There are also suggested exercises and projects for each particular topic. Overall, a good book for one starting out with design.

Layout Workbook covers a comprehensive range of topics from development of the creative brief, establishing hierarchy in layout to offering a list of questions to check whether the design is good.

Layout issues such as color, typograpghy, structure of the layout, margins, columns are all touched on in this book. It gives a lot of examples to show how certain methods are used to make an appropriate statement in posters, packaging etc. but it is not a book that is focused on design projects nor specific areas such as logo/ stationery etc.

Complete Graphic Designer is a comprehensive book and I managed to get some useful tips in areas such as general association with colors, graphic design process, creating a visual hierarchy in layout using size, positioning, shapes, color, contrast, movement and issues to consider for different marketing materials such as poster, invitation and catalogue.

Overall, a book suited for beginner or entrepreneurs who like to design their own materials.

This is a collection of interviews with 40 top designers centred on where they get their insipiration from, which there is actually no magic answer to it.

The designers being interviewed are required to fill in a questionnaire (which in itself, the returned questionnaire is very interesting with some in scribbles and some with drawings), take a picture of their work area and some of their works.

One thing I noticed is that love and God seems a recurring theme among some of the designers. One of it that stands out is a reference to a bible verse Luke 17:32,”Remember Lot’s Wife” where the reminder is to never look back. Another designer, Stefan Bucher, has the almost the same advice ”Failure is never as frightening as regret.”