What makes good design? How can you make your publications more readable, more professional, more elegant — even more fun? Roger C. Parker has written a number of books designed to help folks struggling to find answers to these questions, but The Makeover Book is different. It contains over 100 “before and after” examples of documents covering all categories of printed materials, from newsletters to invoices and from brochures to price lists.
Parker manages to distill many of the principles of good design down to just a few easy-to-understand concepts, and he presents these in the first chapter: twenty-five questions to ask yourself about major problem areas of design. These pages alone would be worth the price of admission. Many of the principles come down to keeping things simple and striving to find a balance between contrast and unity. Parker steers the course well.
The Makeover Book
by Roger C. Parker
Ventana Press; $17.95
There is a lexicon used by graphic arts professionals which can be a mystery to laymen and newcomers. Furthermore, some terms are context-sensitive, and some terms are defined differently by different segments of the industry. Add to this the fact that, as the technology changes, some definitions evolve into totally new meanings.
Graphically Speaking is subtitled “An Illustrated Guide to the Working Language of Design and Printing.” It could just as easily be called a dictionary or encyclopedia of the graphic arts. Its stated purpose is to aid communication between designers, customers, printers, and other vendors so as to facilitate the accurate, efficient, and cost-effective production of printed pieces.
The book contains 2,782 definitions and 287 illustrations — many in full color. The topics include prepress options, writing specifications, paper choices for halftones and separations, binding techniques, negotiating missed deadlines, and many more. Whether you’re in advertising, marketing, or public relations, and whether you freelance, work for a agency, service bureau, or color separator, this book can be helpful. A Spanish index is also included.
Graphically Speaking
by Mark Beach
Elk Ridge Publishing (North Light Books); $29.50
Deke McClelland might well be Macdom’s most prolific writer — at least when it comes to graphic topics. In addition to his regular reviews in national magazines, he has also authored (or co-authored) books on FreeHand, Illustrator, and Canvas, as well as more general books on painting programs, drawing programs, and even system software. His latest is The Macintosh Bible Guide to MacDraw Pro, which actually covers versions from MacDraw II 1.1 to MacDraw Pro 1.5.
After beginning with a big (approximately 100 page) overview of the program, McClelland goes on to explore key areas such as editing and reshaping techniques, fills (including gradients), text controls, layers, slide shows, printing, and even QuickTime movies(!). The book goes beyond Claris’ adequate manual to suggest useful visual ideas, rather than simply showing a catalog of tools and techniques. Thorough without becoming too dry.
The Macintosh Bible Guide to MacDraw Pro
by Deke McClelland
Goldstein & Blair (Peachpit Press); $22
Are T-shirts the new advertising medium of the decade? Where else can you have your customers pay to be walking billboards? Print magazine has found T-shirts to be an exciting and innovative advertising vehicle, and has included them in recent editions of Print’s influential Regional Design Annual — one of the most important documentors of trends in graphic design. Because of the format of the Annual, which includes all types of graphic communications, T-shirts as a category often get lost. This new book changes that by providing over 200 T-shirt photos in full color and at generous sizes.
The variety of designs is exhilarating. The activities promoted range from an exhibit of women’s art to a chile society’s annual cookoff, and from a grocery store chain to restaurants, bicycle shops, and bars. This is a fun book, and it’s likely to be both an inspiration for designers and a pleasant diversion for others.
Print’s Best T-Shirt Promotions
edited by Linda Silver
RC Publications (North Light Books); $34.95
On the Acknowledgment page of this new Peachpit Press book, author Seth Godin states that his labors are “the result of many years of research and computation.” At the end of the book, a “historical note” tells of a top secret “Emoticon Project” which was worked on by such notables as Albert Einstein and Guy Kawasaki, and which led ultimately to the Institute for Non-Verbal Written Communication. So what are these “emoticons?” The Smiley Dictionary, subtitled Cool Things To Do With Your Keyboard, leads us through a topic that is both tongue-in-cheek and very real.
Smilies are those little symbols that telecommunicators use online to provide an emotional context for words. If I say something which would normally be insulting to you, but I say it with a wink and a smile, you know I’m kidding you. Because you can’t see my wink over a modem, I might add the following characters to my statement: ;-). If you lean your head over to the left, you’ll see the wink and smile.
Smileys have come a long way, proliferating on the wires and evolving into a bewildering array of critters: toupee-wearing smileys, robot smileys, smileys with handlebar moustaches, punk smileys, pointy-nosed smileys in an updraft. Finally, a roadmap has appeared.
So this is the world’s most complete book of smileys. At that, it’s a pretty short book, but it’s fun, and it might even help your powers of communication. Who knows — it might help keep you from being terminally tongue-tied. :-&
The Smiley Dictionary
by Seth Godin
Peachpit Press; $6.95
As a source of inspiration, Fresh Ideas in Letterhead and Business Card Design will be a valuable addition to any designer’s library. It consists of 120 striking examples which have not been previously published. The designs are presented one to a page, and are accompanied by brief statistics, including a concept statement, special techniques used, typefaces and paper stock used, printing method, and budget.
Following an introductory discussion of the field of letterhead systems and a glossary of terms, the main body of the book is divided into four sections: “Low Budget” shows how many great things can be done without spending a lot of money. The second section, “Type,” focuses on ideas that use unusual type treatments. “Visual Effects” explores unusual ideas such as creating designs from woodcuts or old maps. Finally, “Special Production Techniques” demonstrates the use of split fountain printing, embossing, die cutting, and other unusual printing effects.
The book is in full color and the ideas are creative. Fresh Ideas in Letterhead and Business Card Design is recommended for both students and professionals.
Fresh Ideas in Letterhead and Business Card Design
The article above is reprinted from Mac Monitor, the newsletter of The Savannah Macintosh Users Group. It may be reprinted in a single issue of newsletters published by non-profit user groups. Payment shall consist of a single issue of the newsletter in which the article appears, sent to the following address:
