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The Art of Looking Sideways
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*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £15.63
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 Product Description
Alan Fletcher's The Art of Looking Sideways is an absolutely extraordinary and inexhaustible "guide to visual awareness", a virtually indescribable concoction of anecdotes, quotes, images and bizarre facts that offers a wonderfully twisted vision of the chaos of modern life. Fletcher is a renowned designer and art director and the joy of The Art of Looking Sideways lies in its beautiful design. Loosely arranged in 72 chapters with titles like "Colour", "Noise", "Chance", "Camouflage" and "Handedness", Fletcher's book, which he describes as "a journey without a destination", is "a collection of shards" that captures the sensory overload of a world that simply contains too much information. In one typical section, entitled "Civilization", the reader encounters six Polish flags designed to represent the world, a photograph of an anthropomorphic hand bag, Buzz Aldrin's bootprint on the moon, drawings of Stone Age pebbles, a painting of "Ireland--as seen from Wales" and a dizzying array of quotations and snippets of information, including the wise words of Marcus Aurelius, Stephen Jay and Gandhi's comment, "Western civilization? I think it would be a good idea". Fletcher's mastery of design mixes type, space, fonts, alphabets, colour and layout combined with a "jackdaw" eye for the strange and profound to produce a stunning book that cannot be read, but only experienced. --Jerry Brotton
Customer Reviews
"Your phd for living", 23 Sep 2008
If you search on youtube for "the art of looking sideways" you'll come across a 10 minute interview with the late Alan Fletcher. The man was clearly a visionary and apparently loved his Mac ;-)
If you're not into graphic design that much (like me) yet you're into philosophy or psychology, marketing or coaching, leadership or teaching or any other field where the human condition is front & center you'll still find lots of wonderful things in this book, if only by reading the quotes and the stories.
This book has been created by a discovering man, a collecting man and especially a listening and thinking man. He supposedly worked 18! years on this book. No wonder it's such a source of inspiration and insight.
I adore the 'chapters' on creativity and meanings. There are 72 'chapters' in total in this book, each covering a certain 'topic'. I prefer to call them 'mentalities'. Fletcher calls them '72 slices of life' and '72 slices of your brain'.
The two most genius properties of this book are:
- no two pages have similar layout
- you don't know what to expect when turning any page
Only buy this book if you want to discover. Fletcher was a designer but before one can design one has to discover. This book is a discovery by itself and it's filled with thousands of discoveries.
Stuck for an idea? Dive in here..., 24 Mar 2008
Alan Fletcher was one of the creative powerhouses of design from the 1960s on, and this book puts together some of his musings on life, the Universe and everything. The book is designed to spark ideas and thought, so even the paper used changes from page to page.
In typically quirky fashion, only the left hand pages are given a number so if you buy this book you actually get over a thousand pages of inspiring graphics, calligraphy, typography and photographs collected over the course of a long and illustrious career: he founded Pentagram; he designed logos for Reuters and the Victoria and Albert museum. The book gives a glimpse of the thought processes that went in to that work. For the money it's an astonishing bargain.
A homage to concept-driven design and thinking, 27 May 2007
This book provides so many examples of both the mechanics of a good concept and the power of lateral thinking. A great feat to have documented and communicated such an eclectic range of thoughts and ideas.
Inspirational, 27 Jan 2007
This is the book to have next to your desk: dip into it, when you need escape or inspiration. Or start from the beginning and work your way through it: whichever way you do it: I defy you not to find something interesting on virtually every page!!
Rowland Jones
A fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and a good dose of self-indulgence by the author, 31 Dec 2006
What a wonderful title for this book of more than 530 pages. The target is visual awareness and it has 72 chapters devoted to themes such as "ideas", "thinking", "seeing", "camouflage" and "handedness". The author claims it is "a journey without a destination", and he is probably right, the implication being that it is the voyage that counts in life. It is truly a massive collection of bits and pieces collected by the author, thrown on to a basic structure, and presented "shaken not stirred" (to misuse a common quote from James Bond). Her lies the books major asset and its major defect. It is full of interesting images and text bites, yet at the same time it is full of bits of useless or uninteresting trivia. There are times when you get the impression that the author has been overly self-indulgent, but it is certainly a lesson to us all - collect every little bit of dross since it could become a book one day. Yet it also a fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and for the price it is certainly worth having on your shelves. I suspect it is also a book that I will go back to occasionally just to skim through the odd 100 pages. I was planning to give this extravagantly over-indulgent book only 3-stars, but in writing this review I've convinced myself to give it a solid 4-stars for its fun content and the gall of the author in thinking his lifetime collection of "odds and bods" would interest others. It did.
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Customer Reviews
"Your phd for living", 23 Sep 2008
If you search on youtube for "the art of looking sideways" you'll come across a 10 minute interview with the late Alan Fletcher. The man was clearly a visionary and apparently loved his Mac ;-)
If you're not into graphic design that much (like me) yet you're into philosophy or psychology, marketing or coaching, leadership or teaching or any other field where the human condition is front & center you'll still find lots of wonderful things in this book, if only by reading the quotes and the stories.
This book has been created by a discovering man, a collecting man and especially a listening and thinking man. He supposedly worked 18! years on this book. No wonder it's such a source of inspiration and insight.
I adore the 'chapters' on creativity and meanings. There are 72 'chapters' in total in this book, each covering a certain 'topic'. I prefer to call them 'mentalities'. Fletcher calls them '72 slices of life' and '72 slices of your brain'.
The two most genius properties of this book are:
- no two pages have similar layout
- you don't know what to expect when turning any page
Only buy this book if you want to discover. Fletcher was a designer but before one can design one has to discover. This book is a discovery by itself and it's filled with thousands of discoveries.
Stuck for an idea? Dive in here..., 24 Mar 2008
Alan Fletcher was one of the creative powerhouses of design from the 1960s on, and this book puts together some of his musings on life, the Universe and everything. The book is designed to spark ideas and thought, so even the paper used changes from page to page.
In typically quirky fashion, only the left hand pages are given a number so if you buy this book you actually get over a thousand pages of inspiring graphics, calligraphy, typography and photographs collected over the course of a long and illustrious career: he founded Pentagram; he designed logos for Reuters and the Victoria and Albert museum. The book gives a glimpse of the thought processes that went in to that work. For the money it's an astonishing bargain.
A homage to concept-driven design and thinking, 27 May 2007
This book provides so many examples of both the mechanics of a good concept and the power of lateral thinking. A great feat to have documented and communicated such an eclectic range of thoughts and ideas.
Inspirational, 27 Jan 2007
This is the book to have next to your desk: dip into it, when you need escape or inspiration. Or start from the beginning and work your way through it: whichever way you do it: I defy you not to find something interesting on virtually every page!!
Rowland Jones
A fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and a good dose of self-indulgence by the author, 31 Dec 2006
What a wonderful title for this book of more than 530 pages. The target is visual awareness and it has 72 chapters devoted to themes such as "ideas", "thinking", "seeing", "camouflage" and "handedness". The author claims it is "a journey without a destination", and he is probably right, the implication being that it is the voyage that counts in life. It is truly a massive collection of bits and pieces collected by the author, thrown on to a basic structure, and presented "shaken not stirred" (to misuse a common quote from James Bond). Her lies the books major asset and its major defect. It is full of interesting images and text bites, yet at the same time it is full of bits of useless or uninteresting trivia. There are times when you get the impression that the author has been overly self-indulgent, but it is certainly a lesson to us all - collect every little bit of dross since it could become a book one day. Yet it also a fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and for the price it is certainly worth having on your shelves. I suspect it is also a book that I will go back to occasionally just to skim through the odd 100 pages. I was planning to give this extravagantly over-indulgent book only 3-stars, but in writing this review I've convinced myself to give it a solid 4-stars for its fun content and the gall of the author in thinking his lifetime collection of "odds and bods" would interest others. It did.
Lovely jelly rolls..., 20 Aug 2008
I just love jelly rolls, they look delicious without undoing them, so imagine how I felt unrolling my first one, and then horror at what I was going to do with it, actually I had bought 2 identical rolls. So with this book in one hand, and stroking my fabric with the other I launched into the book, and I chose a quilt to make. The instructions are very easy to follow, and the diagrams are a breeze to understand. So my first quilt is underway, thank you ladies for a fabulous book and instant inspriation!
Jelly Rolls Review, 02 Aug 2008
This is a fabulous book with plenty of ideas and alternatives using some wonderful fabrics. I can't wait to get stuck in with some of the ideas.
Lovely inspiring designs, 10 Jul 2008
I'm new to quilting but experienced at sewing. I love the fabrics you can buy from Moda in jelly rolls. ......So bought this book
No stuffy designs, inspiring photos although some instructions need reading a few times to understand (if you are new to quilting). Very little basic info on making up the "top" into a quilt.
Jeiiy Roll Quilt Fever. By Pam And Nicky Lintott, 24 May 2008
Superb book, Good for beginners or experienced Quilters. Well written with everything explained fully and diagrams leaving nothing to guess work.Plenty of choice with 17 projects and very exciting designs for the Jelly Rolls that are the rage at the moment.
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Customer Reviews
"Your phd for living", 23 Sep 2008
If you search on youtube for "the art of looking sideways" you'll come across a 10 minute interview with the late Alan Fletcher. The man was clearly a visionary and apparently loved his Mac ;-)
If you're not into graphic design that much (like me) yet you're into philosophy or psychology, marketing or coaching, leadership or teaching or any other field where the human condition is front & center you'll still find lots of wonderful things in this book, if only by reading the quotes and the stories.
This book has been created by a discovering man, a collecting man and especially a listening and thinking man. He supposedly worked 18! years on this book. No wonder it's such a source of inspiration and insight.
I adore the 'chapters' on creativity and meanings. There are 72 'chapters' in total in this book, each covering a certain 'topic'. I prefer to call them 'mentalities'. Fletcher calls them '72 slices of life' and '72 slices of your brain'.
The two most genius properties of this book are:
- no two pages have similar layout
- you don't know what to expect when turning any page
Only buy this book if you want to discover. Fletcher was a designer but before one can design one has to discover. This book is a discovery by itself and it's filled with thousands of discoveries.
Stuck for an idea? Dive in here..., 24 Mar 2008
Alan Fletcher was one of the creative powerhouses of design from the 1960s on, and this book puts together some of his musings on life, the Universe and everything. The book is designed to spark ideas and thought, so even the paper used changes from page to page.
In typically quirky fashion, only the left hand pages are given a number so if you buy this book you actually get over a thousand pages of inspiring graphics, calligraphy, typography and photographs collected over the course of a long and illustrious career: he founded Pentagram; he designed logos for Reuters and the Victoria and Albert museum. The book gives a glimpse of the thought processes that went in to that work. For the money it's an astonishing bargain.
A homage to concept-driven design and thinking, 27 May 2007
This book provides so many examples of both the mechanics of a good concept and the power of lateral thinking. A great feat to have documented and communicated such an eclectic range of thoughts and ideas.
Inspirational, 27 Jan 2007
This is the book to have next to your desk: dip into it, when you need escape or inspiration. Or start from the beginning and work your way through it: whichever way you do it: I defy you not to find something interesting on virtually every page!!
Rowland Jones
A fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and a good dose of self-indulgence by the author, 31 Dec 2006
What a wonderful title for this book of more than 530 pages. The target is visual awareness and it has 72 chapters devoted to themes such as "ideas", "thinking", "seeing", "camouflage" and "handedness". The author claims it is "a journey without a destination", and he is probably right, the implication being that it is the voyage that counts in life. It is truly a massive collection of bits and pieces collected by the author, thrown on to a basic structure, and presented "shaken not stirred" (to misuse a common quote from James Bond). Her lies the books major asset and its major defect. It is full of interesting images and text bites, yet at the same time it is full of bits of useless or uninteresting trivia. There are times when you get the impression that the author has been overly self-indulgent, but it is certainly a lesson to us all - collect every little bit of dross since it could become a book one day. Yet it also a fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and for the price it is certainly worth having on your shelves. I suspect it is also a book that I will go back to occasionally just to skim through the odd 100 pages. I was planning to give this extravagantly over-indulgent book only 3-stars, but in writing this review I've convinced myself to give it a solid 4-stars for its fun content and the gall of the author in thinking his lifetime collection of "odds and bods" would interest others. It did.
Lovely jelly rolls..., 20 Aug 2008
I just love jelly rolls, they look delicious without undoing them, so imagine how I felt unrolling my first one, and then horror at what I was going to do with it, actually I had bought 2 identical rolls. So with this book in one hand, and stroking my fabric with the other I launched into the book, and I chose a quilt to make. The instructions are very easy to follow, and the diagrams are a breeze to understand. So my first quilt is underway, thank you ladies for a fabulous book and instant inspriation!
Jelly Rolls Review, 02 Aug 2008
This is a fabulous book with plenty of ideas and alternatives using some wonderful fabrics. I can't wait to get stuck in with some of the ideas.
Lovely inspiring designs, 10 Jul 2008
I'm new to quilting but experienced at sewing. I love the fabrics you can buy from Moda in jelly rolls. ......So bought this book
No stuffy designs, inspiring photos although some instructions need reading a few times to understand (if you are new to quilting). Very little basic info on making up the "top" into a quilt.
Jeiiy Roll Quilt Fever. By Pam And Nicky Lintott, 24 May 2008
Superb book, Good for beginners or experienced Quilters. Well written with everything explained fully and diagrams leaving nothing to guess work.Plenty of choice with 17 projects and very exciting designs for the Jelly Rolls that are the rage at the moment.
..., 21 Sep 2008
Els projectes i les idees que presenta aquest llibre trobo que tenen molt poc joc per personalitzar-los, són idees massa concretes amb poc marge de maniobra...
La veritat és que m'ha decepcionat força... No se perquè la gent li ha posat una nota tan alta...
Best book bought for a long time...., 14 Sep 2008
The moment i received this book i could barely put it down for days, beautiful pictures and easy to follow, all the projects are items you would want to make! Have already tried two projects from the book and have not been disappointed with the result.
An inspirational delight, 31 Aug 2008
I was fortunate to be able to flick through this book before I ordered it from Amazon. This book is the favourite of both my son (12!) and my daughter, for it's dreamy, shabby-chic inspired theme. It is an ode to the home, and the room-by-room treatment of offerings is a perfect way to inspire the crafter to visualise a complete makeover! I love this book so much, that I ordered the Christmas version, which is just as lovely. However, since I can't see us adding the flying pigs to our Yule-time trimmings, this book remains our favourite to curl up to, with a cup of tea. I made the fabulous living room quilt as my first ever quilting project, and am delighted with the result, even if it is deliberately different to the original. There is not a single project in this book that I don't adore, including the daft little strawberry pin-cushion things. Even projects that I will never make, delight me at every turn of the page.
This book is a must for the armchair decorator, stitcher and crafter. Directions are better suited to those with some experience of following shop-bought, sewing pattern directions, or those who can grasp how to create three-dimentional items from two-dimentional fabric, but there are enough projects to suit complete beginners, too.
Everyone should own this book for the warm-fuzzy-feeling it imparts!
Wonderful projects, 19 Aug 2008
I cannot put this book down! All the projects are beautiful and even if you do not intend to sew anything, it is worth having for the lovely pictures and inspiration. The fabrics used are in gorgeous shades of pale green, blue and pink - some with small flowers, some stripes and some plain. The fabrics are available from a website detailed at the back of the book. I intend to make many of the projects such as the little 'duffle' style bag, make-up bag, wall holder for magazines, needlecase, quilted placemats, angels - there is even a pattern for slippers! The patterns include some embroidery and the applique 'houses' on the quilt can be used for many other projects. The instructions are not the 'step-by-step' picture type but are clear enough if you have some basic sewing experience. I am off to buy some of the other books in this range.
Gorgeous things to make!, 17 Aug 2008
Thought I'd just find one or two things to catch my interest as I am not really into pink, and the cover is pink, pink, pink! But what a gorgeous book, full of lovely things...I just want to make everything! I have already made the cafetiere cover and one of the makeup pouches (though in brighter colours, but they still look great!)
Super book. Lots of inspiration! Makes you want to paint all your furniture white and coordinate everything in your home!
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Customer Reviews
"Your phd for living", 23 Sep 2008
If you search on youtube for "the art of looking sideways" you'll come across a 10 minute interview with the late Alan Fletcher. The man was clearly a visionary and apparently loved his Mac ;-)
If you're not into graphic design that much (like me) yet you're into philosophy or psychology, marketing or coaching, leadership or teaching or any other field where the human condition is front & center you'll still find lots of wonderful things in this book, if only by reading the quotes and the stories.
This book has been created by a discovering man, a collecting man and especially a listening and thinking man. He supposedly worked 18! years on this book. No wonder it's such a source of inspiration and insight.
I adore the 'chapters' on creativity and meanings. There are 72 'chapters' in total in this book, each covering a certain 'topic'. I prefer to call them 'mentalities'. Fletcher calls them '72 slices of life' and '72 slices of your brain'.
The two most genius properties of this book are:
- no two pages have similar layout
- you don't know what to expect when turning any page
Only buy this book if you want to discover. Fletcher was a designer but before one can design one has to discover. This book is a discovery by itself and it's filled with thousands of discoveries.
Stuck for an idea? Dive in here..., 24 Mar 2008
Alan Fletcher was one of the creative powerhouses of design from the 1960s on, and this book puts together some of his musings on life, the Universe and everything. The book is designed to spark ideas and thought, so even the paper used changes from page to page.
In typically quirky fashion, only the left hand pages are given a number so if you buy this book you actually get over a thousand pages of inspiring graphics, calligraphy, typography and photographs collected over the course of a long and illustrious career: he founded Pentagram; he designed logos for Reuters and the Victoria and Albert museum. The book gives a glimpse of the thought processes that went in to that work. For the money it's an astonishing bargain.
A homage to concept-driven design and thinking, 27 May 2007
This book provides so many examples of both the mechanics of a good concept and the power of lateral thinking. A great feat to have documented and communicated such an eclectic range of thoughts and ideas.
Inspirational, 27 Jan 2007
This is the book to have next to your desk: dip into it, when you need escape or inspiration. Or start from the beginning and work your way through it: whichever way you do it: I defy you not to find something interesting on virtually every page!!
Rowland Jones
A fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and a good dose of self-indulgence by the author, 31 Dec 2006
What a wonderful title for this book of more than 530 pages. The target is visual awareness and it has 72 chapters devoted to themes such as "ideas", "thinking", "seeing", "camouflage" and "handedness". The author claims it is "a journey without a destination", and he is probably right, the implication being that it is the voyage that counts in life. It is truly a massive collection of bits and pieces collected by the author, thrown on to a basic structure, and presented "shaken not stirred" (to misuse a common quote from James Bond). Her lies the books major asset and its major defect. It is full of interesting images and text bites, yet at the same time it is full of bits of useless or uninteresting trivia. There are times when you get the impression that the author has been overly self-indulgent, but it is certainly a lesson to us all - collect every little bit of dross since it could become a book one day. Yet it also a fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and for the price it is certainly worth having on your shelves. I suspect it is also a book that I will go back to occasionally just to skim through the odd 100 pages. I was planning to give this extravagantly over-indulgent book only 3-stars, but in writing this review I've convinced myself to give it a solid 4-stars for its fun content and the gall of the author in thinking his lifetime collection of "odds and bods" would interest others. It did.
Lovely jelly rolls..., 20 Aug 2008
I just love jelly rolls, they look delicious without undoing them, so imagine how I felt unrolling my first one, and then horror at what I was going to do with it, actually I had bought 2 identical rolls. So with this book in one hand, and stroking my fabric with the other I launched into the book, and I chose a quilt to make. The instructions are very easy to follow, and the diagrams are a breeze to understand. So my first quilt is underway, thank you ladies for a fabulous book and instant inspriation!
Jelly Rolls Review, 02 Aug 2008
This is a fabulous book with plenty of ideas and alternatives using some wonderful fabrics. I can't wait to get stuck in with some of the ideas.
Lovely inspiring designs, 10 Jul 2008
I'm new to quilting but experienced at sewing. I love the fabrics you can buy from Moda in jelly rolls. ......So bought this book
No stuffy designs, inspiring photos although some instructions need reading a few times to understand (if you are new to quilting). Very little basic info on making up the "top" into a quilt.
Jeiiy Roll Quilt Fever. By Pam And Nicky Lintott, 24 May 2008
Superb book, Good for beginners or experienced Quilters. Well written with everything explained fully and diagrams leaving nothing to guess work.Plenty of choice with 17 projects and very exciting designs for the Jelly Rolls that are the rage at the moment.
..., 21 Sep 2008
Els projectes i les idees que presenta aquest llibre trobo que tenen molt poc joc per personalitzar-los, són idees massa concretes amb poc marge de maniobra...
La veritat és que m'ha decepcionat força... No se perquè la gent li ha posat una nota tan alta...
Best book bought for a long time...., 14 Sep 2008
The moment i received this book i could barely put it down for days, beautiful pictures and easy to follow, all the projects are items you would want to make! Have already tried two projects from the book and have not been disappointed with the result.
An inspirational delight, 31 Aug 2008
I was fortunate to be able to flick through this book before I ordered it from Amazon. This book is the favourite of both my son (12!) and my daughter, for it's dreamy, shabby-chic inspired theme. It is an ode to the home, and the room-by-room treatment of offerings is a perfect way to inspire the crafter to visualise a complete makeover! I love this book so much, that I ordered the Christmas version, which is just as lovely. However, since I can't see us adding the flying pigs to our Yule-time trimmings, this book remains our favourite to curl up to, with a cup of tea. I made the fabulous living room quilt as my first ever quilting project, and am delighted with the result, even if it is deliberately different to the original. There is not a single project in this book that I don't adore, including the daft little strawberry pin-cushion things. Even projects that I will never make, delight me at every turn of the page.
This book is a must for the armchair decorator, stitcher and crafter. Directions are better suited to those with some experience of following shop-bought, sewing pattern directions, or those who can grasp how to create three-dimentional items from two-dimentional fabric, but there are enough projects to suit complete beginners, too.
Everyone should own this book for the warm-fuzzy-feeling it imparts!
Wonderful projects, 19 Aug 2008
I cannot put this book down! All the projects are beautiful and even if you do not intend to sew anything, it is worth having for the lovely pictures and inspiration. The fabrics used are in gorgeous shades of pale green, blue and pink - some with small flowers, some stripes and some plain. The fabrics are available from a website detailed at the back of the book. I intend to make many of the projects such as the little 'duffle' style bag, make-up bag, wall holder for magazines, needlecase, quilted placemats, angels - there is even a pattern for slippers! The patterns include some embroidery and the applique 'houses' on the quilt can be used for many other projects. The instructions are not the 'step-by-step' picture type but are clear enough if you have some basic sewing experience. I am off to buy some of the other books in this range.
Gorgeous things to make!, 17 Aug 2008
Thought I'd just find one or two things to catch my interest as I am not really into pink, and the cover is pink, pink, pink! But what a gorgeous book, full of lovely things...I just want to make everything! I have already made the cafetiere cover and one of the makeup pouches (though in brighter colours, but they still look great!)
Super book. Lots of inspiration! Makes you want to paint all your furniture white and coordinate everything in your home!
Very over valued, 29 Jun 2008
I have to say I am extremely disappointed with this. Everyone at college has said you have just got to buy this book, its amazing. Is it?? No it isn't. Sagmeister is nowhere near being the design genius that he has been tagged with. When you compare it to Alan Fletcher, there is just no competition. I have seen far better work being displayed at the various university degree shows this year to be honest. Especially at Stoke, Birmingham and the fantastic illustration work at Bristol which was truly fantastic.
So whatever you do, keep hold of your money and buy something else. He is very over rated and has been built up on a pedestal when he clearly doesn't deserve to be.
Can graphic design touch someone's heart?, 16 May 2008
There are countless books on design and many of them are good, even brilliant. And yet one looks for something that is more than a design book with lots of designers' work. One always searches for a book that would act as a trigger, as a spark than can light a million ideas in one's own brain.
A book to do that was Alan Fletcher's Art of Looking Sideways.
And a book which surpasses everything that I have ever seen is Stefan Sagmeister's Things I have learned in my life so far.
Why? Because it is brutally honest.
It is what design was meant to be.
Sagmeister uses his own learnings and converts them into magic. You turn the pages and you are mesmerised by the immensity, the sheer scale of ideas there.
Your mind begins to fill up with images and words and ideas you never thought existed.
You turn the pages and it hits you: Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
And `now' to me started with the book. This book truly changed my life.
I have read the critics say many things like this book being self indulgent. Well, a man who take pains to go around the world to encourage design and design students cannot be self indulgent. He is honest. And every page of this book is a primer for honesty.
And of course, brilliant design.
Sagmeister's design and typography are stuff legends are made of. I am a mere mortal to comment upon those. But I can say this, I have never seen an explosion of so many brilliant ideas in one place ever before.
Stefan Sagmeister has always asked the question: Can design touch someone's heart?
This book will touch millions.
A priceless book.
Emperor's New Clothes or Design Genius?, 12 Mar 2008
Is Stefan Sagmeister the Emperor's new clothes of the design world, or does he really deserve the genius tag he's so often given?
After reading Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far, I firmly believe the latter. Sagmeister doesn't disappoint; he makes design fun and accessible, without dumbing down or losing effect - this book illustrates perfectly, both in content and format, that good design works.
The featured projects are fascinating; my reactions ranged from `oh that's sooo gorgeous,' to `how on earth....?' to `what HAPPENED to him to make him think like that?!'
It's beautifully put together - a design book that's not just for designers, with essays and Sagmeister's explanations of the projects, along with fantastic images.
As Sagmeister says, via the help of giant monkeys, "Everybody always thinks they are right," and I think I am in this case - buy it, swap around the covers to your heart's content, and enjoy your very own piece of Sagmeister!
A True Chameleon, 24 Feb 2008
There are lots of design books that are about design. Design books for designers. This isn't one of them - it's much more than that. The sheer richness of this book takes a while to take in - you will find new things every time you dip into it. This book is inventive, poignant, informative and unusual - but above all it is beautiful. There's such a wealth of ideas executed with style and an individual confidence that it is hard to say which is best, but I would say it's worth buying the book for the Singapore 'Keeping A Diary' section alone. Also there are a lot of monkeys, and that can never be a bad thing. Full marks.
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Customer Reviews
"Your phd for living", 23 Sep 2008
If you search on youtube for "the art of looking sideways" you'll come across a 10 minute interview with the late Alan Fletcher. The man was clearly a visionary and apparently loved his Mac ;-)
If you're not into graphic design that much (like me) yet you're into philosophy or psychology, marketing or coaching, leadership or teaching or any other field where the human condition is front & center you'll still find lots of wonderful things in this book, if only by reading the quotes and the stories.
This book has been created by a discovering man, a collecting man and especially a listening and thinking man. He supposedly worked 18! years on this book. No wonder it's such a source of inspiration and insight.
I adore the 'chapters' on creativity and meanings. There are 72 'chapters' in total in this book, each covering a certain 'topic'. I prefer to call them 'mentalities'. Fletcher calls them '72 slices of life' and '72 slices of your brain'.
The two most genius properties of this book are:
- no two pages have similar layout
- you don't know what to expect when turning any page
Only buy this book if you want to discover. Fletcher was a designer but before one can design one has to discover. This book is a discovery by itself and it's filled with thousands of discoveries.
Stuck for an idea? Dive in here..., 24 Mar 2008
Alan Fletcher was one of the creative powerhouses of design from the 1960s on, and this book puts together some of his musings on life, the Universe and everything. The book is designed to spark ideas and thought, so even the paper used changes from page to page.
In typically quirky fashion, only the left hand pages are given a number so if you buy this book you actually get over a thousand pages of inspiring graphics, calligraphy, typography and photographs collected over the course of a long and illustrious career: he founded Pentagram; he designed logos for Reuters and the Victoria and Albert museum. The book gives a glimpse of the thought processes that went in to that work. For the money it's an astonishing bargain.
A homage to concept-driven design and thinking, 27 May 2007
This book provides so many examples of both the mechanics of a good concept and the power of lateral thinking. A great feat to have documented and communicated such an eclectic range of thoughts and ideas.
Inspirational, 27 Jan 2007
This is the book to have next to your desk: dip into it, when you need escape or inspiration. Or start from the beginning and work your way through it: whichever way you do it: I defy you not to find something interesting on virtually every page!!
Rowland Jones
A fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and a good dose of self-indulgence by the author, 31 Dec 2006
What a wonderful title for this book of more than 530 pages. The target is visual awareness and it has 72 chapters devoted to themes such as "ideas", "thinking", "seeing", "camouflage" and "handedness". The author claims it is "a journey without a destination", and he is probably right, the implication being that it is the voyage that counts in life. It is truly a massive collection of bits and pieces collected by the author, thrown on to a basic structure, and presented "shaken not stirred" (to misuse a common quote from James Bond). Her lies the books major asset and its major defect. It is full of interesting images and text bites, yet at the same time it is full of bits of useless or uninteresting trivia. There are times when you get the impression that the author has been overly self-indulgent, but it is certainly a lesson to us all - collect every little bit of dross since it could become a book one day. Yet it also a fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and for the price it is certainly worth having on your shelves. I suspect it is also a book that I will go back to occasionally just to skim through the odd 100 pages. I was planning to give this extravagantly over-indulgent book only 3-stars, but in writing this review I've convinced myself to give it a solid 4-stars for its fun content and the gall of the author in thinking his lifetime collection of "odds and bods" would interest others. It did.
Lovely jelly rolls..., 20 Aug 2008
I just love jelly rolls, they look delicious without undoing them, so imagine how I felt unrolling my first one, and then horror at what I was going to do with it, actually I had bought 2 identical rolls. So with this book in one hand, and stroking my fabric with the other I launched into the book, and I chose a quilt to make. The instructions are very easy to follow, and the diagrams are a breeze to understand. So my first quilt is underway, thank you ladies for a fabulous book and instant inspriation!
Jelly Rolls Review, 02 Aug 2008
This is a fabulous book with plenty of ideas and alternatives using some wonderful fabrics. I can't wait to get stuck in with some of the ideas.
Lovely inspiring designs, 10 Jul 2008
I'm new to quilting but experienced at sewing. I love the fabrics you can buy from Moda in jelly rolls. ......So bought this book
No stuffy designs, inspiring photos although some instructions need reading a few times to understand (if you are new to quilting). Very little basic info on making up the "top" into a quilt.
Jeiiy Roll Quilt Fever. By Pam And Nicky Lintott, 24 May 2008
Superb book, Good for beginners or experienced Quilters. Well written with everything explained fully and diagrams leaving nothing to guess work.Plenty of choice with 17 projects and very exciting designs for the Jelly Rolls that are the rage at the moment.
..., 21 Sep 2008
Els projectes i les idees que presenta aquest llibre trobo que tenen molt poc joc per personalitzar-los, són idees massa concretes amb poc marge de maniobra...
La veritat és que m'ha decepcionat força... No se perquè la gent li ha posat una nota tan alta...
Best book bought for a long time...., 14 Sep 2008
The moment i received this book i could barely put it down for days, beautiful pictures and easy to follow, all the projects are items you would want to make! Have already tried two projects from the book and have not been disappointed with the result.
An inspirational delight, 31 Aug 2008
I was fortunate to be able to flick through this book before I ordered it from Amazon. This book is the favourite of both my son (12!) and my daughter, for it's dreamy, shabby-chic inspired theme. It is an ode to the home, and the room-by-room treatment of offerings is a perfect way to inspire the crafter to visualise a complete makeover! I love this book so much, that I ordered the Christmas version, which is just as lovely. However, since I can't see us adding the flying pigs to our Yule-time trimmings, this book remains our favourite to curl up to, with a cup of tea. I made the fabulous living room quilt as my first ever quilting project, and am delighted with the result, even if it is deliberately different to the original. There is not a single project in this book that I don't adore, including the daft little strawberry pin-cushion things. Even projects that I will never make, delight me at every turn of the page.
This book is a must for the armchair decorator, stitcher and crafter. Directions are better suited to those with some experience of following shop-bought, sewing pattern directions, or those who can grasp how to create three-dimentional items from two-dimentional fabric, but there are enough projects to suit complete beginners, too.
Everyone should own this book for the warm-fuzzy-feeling it imparts!
Wonderful projects, 19 Aug 2008
I cannot put this book down! All the projects are beautiful and even if you do not intend to sew anything, it is worth having for the lovely pictures and inspiration. The fabrics used are in gorgeous shades of pale green, blue and pink - some with small flowers, some stripes and some plain. The fabrics are available from a website detailed at the back of the book. I intend to make many of the projects such as the little 'duffle' style bag, make-up bag, wall holder for magazines, needlecase, quilted placemats, angels - there is even a pattern for slippers! The patterns include some embroidery and the applique 'houses' on the quilt can be used for many other projects. The instructions are not the 'step-by-step' picture type but are clear enough if you have some basic sewing experience. I am off to buy some of the other books in this range.
Gorgeous things to make!, 17 Aug 2008
Thought I'd just find one or two things to catch my interest as I am not really into pink, and the cover is pink, pink, pink! But what a gorgeous book, full of lovely things...I just want to make everything! I have already made the cafetiere cover and one of the makeup pouches (though in brighter colours, but they still look great!)
Super book. Lots of inspiration! Makes you want to paint all your furniture white and coordinate everything in your home!
Very over valued, 29 Jun 2008
I have to say I am extremely disappointed with this. Everyone at college has said you have just got to buy this book, its amazing. Is it?? No it isn't. Sagmeister is nowhere near being the design genius that he has been tagged with. When you compare it to Alan Fletcher, there is just no competition. I have seen far better work being displayed at the various university degree shows this year to be honest. Especially at Stoke, Birmingham and the fantastic illustration work at Bristol which was truly fantastic.
So whatever you do, keep hold of your money and buy something else. He is very over rated and has been built up on a pedestal when he clearly doesn't deserve to be.
Can graphic design touch someone's heart?, 16 May 2008
There are countless books on design and many of them are good, even brilliant. And yet one looks for something that is more than a design book with lots of designers' work. One always searches for a book that would act as a trigger, as a spark than can light a million ideas in one's own brain.
A book to do that was Alan Fletcher's Art of Looking Sideways.
And a book which surpasses everything that I have ever seen is Stefan Sagmeister's Things I have learned in my life so far.
Why? Because it is brutally honest.
It is what design was meant to be.
Sagmeister uses his own learnings and converts them into magic. You turn the pages and you are mesmerised by the immensity, the sheer scale of ideas there.
Your mind begins to fill up with images and words and ideas you never thought existed.
You turn the pages and it hits you: Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
And `now' to me started with the book. This book truly changed my life.
I have read the critics say many things like this book being self indulgent. Well, a man who take pains to go around the world to encourage design and design students cannot be self indulgent. He is honest. And every page of this book is a primer for honesty.
And of course, brilliant design.
Sagmeister's design and typography are stuff legends are made of. I am a mere mortal to comment upon those. But I can say this, I have never seen an explosion of so many brilliant ideas in one place ever before.
Stefan Sagmeister has always asked the question: Can design touch someone's heart?
This book will touch millions.
A priceless book.
Emperor's New Clothes or Design Genius?, 12 Mar 2008
Is Stefan Sagmeister the Emperor's new clothes of the design world, or does he really deserve the genius tag he's so often given?
After reading Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far, I firmly believe the latter. Sagmeister doesn't disappoint; he makes design fun and accessible, without dumbing down or losing effect - this book illustrates perfectly, both in content and format, that good design works.
The featured projects are fascinating; my reactions ranged from `oh that's sooo gorgeous,' to `how on earth....?' to `what HAPPENED to him to make him think like that?!'
It's beautifully put together - a design book that's not just for designers, with essays and Sagmeister's explanations of the projects, along with fantastic images.
As Sagmeister says, via the help of giant monkeys, "Everybody always thinks they are right," and I think I am in this case - buy it, swap around the covers to your heart's content, and enjoy your very own piece of Sagmeister!
A True Chameleon, 24 Feb 2008
There are lots of design books that are about design. Design books for designers. This isn't one of them - it's much more than that. The sheer richness of this book takes a while to take in - you will find new things every time you dip into it. This book is inventive, poignant, informative and unusual - but above all it is beautiful. There's such a wealth of ideas executed with style and an individual confidence that it is hard to say which is best, but I would say it's worth buying the book for the Singapore 'Keeping A Diary' section alone. Also there are a lot of monkeys, and that can never be a bad thing. Full marks.
On being paged., 30 Oct 2007
Socrates said "Know thyself" and artistic journaling is one approach towards personal discovery. "Artists' Journal and Sketchbooks: Exploring and Creating Personal Pages" gives non-artists tips on how to begin creative and self-revelatory journaling.
Diaries are not just about words and Perrella encourages the use of paper that's painted, glued, stitched, scratched, bleached and in any other way manipulated. Standardization is out and replaced by the act of altering what's already around to make something new as women, the true bricoleurs, often do.
From the examples given of various artists' journals comes the confirmation that women are generally the family historians documenting via foto albums, scrapbooks, journals and keepsakes.
Perrella, of rubber stamp fame, is part of an internet salotto specializing in "self-exploratory" art making. This artistic trend is reinforced and propagated by numerous workshops organized via internet.
I Love Lynne Perrella, 06 Apr 2007
This is my biggest mistake, not purchasing it the day i first saw it. This book is just "wow". Its packed full of inspiration, techniques, just about everything a design student would want. I purchased this because i wanted to start a graphic design journal on typography, and graphic design that interests me, but not in the style of your standard scrapbooking. This book fufilled that request no problems. A must for anyone who loves unique ways of expressing themselves
A triumph of decoration over content, 26 Feb 2007
I ordered this book on the strength of the rave reviews on Amazon and was rather disappointed. Although several artists are represented, there is basically only one style: that on the front of the book. If you like this, you'll love the book, and I won't deny it is beautifully produced. However, all it seems to be about is cramming as much decoration onto one page as possible: ribbons, buttons, stencils, washes, poems, individual letters etc. This is all in the contemporary scrapbooking style, and to me seems to be more about decoration than exploring different artistic ideas or keeping a real journal. The pages scream: "Look, I'm a really creative, funky person." But what have vintage photos and shreds of old sheet music really got to do with keeping a journal or sketchbook? I thought a sketchbook was about recording what we see around us. Evidently not. Interestingly, like the scrapbooking genre, this seems to be by and for women only; not that I'm against such things in principal (I'm into patchwork), but it does seem somehow very girly and overly pretty.
Luscious book, 15 Apr 2006
A gorgeous book that you can look at again and again. Full of inspiration both visually and in it's supporting text. Perfect for inspiring students, pages of exciting exempar material.
I can't rave on about this book enough!, 17 May 2005
This book is top of its class! This a book that you'll want to digest inside and out! It is full of inspiration, colour, techniques, and a wow factor it will just inspire you each time you open and flick through it time after time after time! I love this book, I have quite a number of books on art journals and book art and this is the winning one! You will want to dig your teeth deep into a project the moment you put this book down! Every time I flick through this book I find a new 'discovery' every single time. Go do yourself a favour now go beg, borrow or steal this book because you will need to have it! :)
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From Image to Stitch
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Customer Reviews
"Your phd for living", 23 Sep 2008
If you search on youtube for "the art of looking sideways" you'll come across a 10 minute interview with the late Alan Fletcher. The man was clearly a visionary and apparently loved his Mac ;-)
If you're not into graphic design that much (like me) yet you're into philosophy or psychology, marketing or coaching, leadership or teaching or any other field where the human condition is front & center you'll still find lots of wonderful things in this book, if only by reading the quotes and the stories.
This book has been created by a discovering man, a collecting man and especially a listening and thinking man. He supposedly worked 18! years on this book. No wonder it's such a source of inspiration and insight.
I adore the 'chapters' on creativity and meanings. There are 72 'chapters' in total in this book, each covering a certain 'topic'. I prefer to call them 'mentalities'. Fletcher calls them '72 slices of life' and '72 slices of your brain'.
The two most genius properties of this book are:
- no two pages have similar layout
- you don't know what to expect when turning any page
Only buy this book if you want to discover. Fletcher was a designer but before one can design one has to discover. This book is a discovery by itself and it's filled with thousands of discoveries.
Stuck for an idea? Dive in here..., 24 Mar 2008
Alan Fletcher was one of the creative powerhouses of design from the 1960s on, and this book puts together some of his musings on life, the Universe and everything. The book is designed to spark ideas and thought, so even the paper used changes from page to page.
In typically quirky fashion, only the left hand pages are given a number so if you buy this book you actually get over a thousand pages of inspiring graphics, calligraphy, typography and photographs collected over the course of a long and illustrious career: he founded Pentagram; he designed logos for Reuters and the Victoria and Albert museum. The book gives a glimpse of the thought processes that went in to that work. For the money it's an astonishing bargain.
A homage to concept-driven design and thinking, 27 May 2007
This book provides so many examples of both the mechanics of a good concept and the power of lateral thinking. A great feat to have documented and communicated such an eclectic range of thoughts and ideas.
Inspirational, 27 Jan 2007
This is the book to have next to your desk: dip into it, when you need escape or inspiration. Or start from the beginning and work your way through it: whichever way you do it: I defy you not to find something interesting on virtually every page!!
Rowland Jones
A fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and a good dose of self-indulgence by the author, 31 Dec 2006
What a wonderful title for this book of more than 530 pages. The target is visual awareness and it has 72 chapters devoted to themes such as "ideas", "thinking", "seeing", "camouflage" and "handedness". The author claims it is "a journey without a destination", and he is probably right, the implication being that it is the voyage that counts in life. It is truly a massive collection of bits and pieces collected by the author, thrown on to a basic structure, and presented "shaken not stirred" (to misuse a common quote from James Bond). Her lies the books major asset and its major defect. It is full of interesting images and text bites, yet at the same time it is full of bits of useless or uninteresting trivia. There are times when you get the impression that the author has been overly self-indulgent, but it is certainly a lesson to us all - collect every little bit of dross since it could become a book one day. Yet it also a fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and for the price it is certainly worth having on your shelves. I suspect it is also a book that I will go back to occasionally just to skim through the odd 100 pages. I was planning to give this extravagantly over-indulgent book only 3-stars, but in writing this review I've convinced myself to give it a solid 4-stars for its fun content and the gall of the author in thinking his lifetime collection of "odds and bods" would interest others. It did.
Lovely jelly rolls..., 20 Aug 2008
I just love jelly rolls, they look delicious without undoing them, so imagine how I felt unrolling my first one, and then horror at what I was going to do with it, actually I had bought 2 identical rolls. So with this book in one hand, and stroking my fabric with the other I launched into the book, and I chose a quilt to make. The instructions are very easy to follow, and the diagrams are a breeze to understand. So my first quilt is underway, thank you ladies for a fabulous book and instant inspriation!
Jelly Rolls Review, 02 Aug 2008
This is a fabulous book with plenty of ideas and alternatives using some wonderful fabrics. I can't wait to get stuck in with some of the ideas.
Lovely inspiring designs, 10 Jul 2008
I'm new to quilting but experienced at sewing. I love the fabrics you can buy from Moda in jelly rolls. ......So bought this book
No stuffy designs, inspiring photos although some instructions need reading a few times to understand (if you are new to quilting). Very little basic info on making up the "top" into a quilt.
Jeiiy Roll Quilt Fever. By Pam And Nicky Lintott, 24 May 2008
Superb book, Good for beginners or experienced Quilters. Well written with everything explained fully and diagrams leaving nothing to guess work.Plenty of choice with 17 projects and very exciting designs for the Jelly Rolls that are the rage at the moment.
..., 21 Sep 2008
Els projectes i les idees que presenta aquest llibre trobo que tenen molt poc joc per personalitzar-los, són idees massa concretes amb poc marge de maniobra...
La veritat és que m'ha decepcionat força... No se perquè la gent li ha posat una nota tan alta...
Best book bought for a long time...., 14 Sep 2008
The moment i received this book i could barely put it down for days, beautiful pictures and easy to follow, all the projects are items you would want to make! Have already tried two projects from the book and have not been disappointed with the result.
An inspirational delight, 31 Aug 2008
I was fortunate to be able to flick through this book before I ordered it from Amazon. This book is the favourite of both my son (12!) and my daughter, for it's dreamy, shabby-chic inspired theme. It is an ode to the home, and the room-by-room treatment of offerings is a perfect way to inspire the crafter to visualise a complete makeover! I love this book so much, that I ordered the Christmas version, which is just as lovely. However, since I can't see us adding the flying pigs to our Yule-time trimmings, this book remains our favourite to curl up to, with a cup of tea. I made the fabulous living room quilt as my first ever quilting project, and am delighted with the result, even if it is deliberately different to the original. There is not a single project in this book that I don't adore, including the daft little strawberry pin-cushion things. Even projects that I will never make, delight me at every turn of the page.
This book is a must for the armchair decorator, stitcher and crafter. Directions are better suited to those with some experience of following shop-bought, sewing pattern directions, or those who can grasp how to create three-dimentional items from two-dimentional fabric, but there are enough projects to suit complete beginners, too.
Everyone should own this book for the warm-fuzzy-feeling it imparts!
Wonderful projects, 19 Aug 2008
I cannot put this book down! All the projects are beautiful and even if you do not intend to sew anything, it is worth having for the lovely pictures and inspiration. The fabrics used are in gorgeous shades of pale green, blue and pink - some with small flowers, some stripes and some plain. The fabrics are available from a website detailed at the back of the book. I intend to make many of the projects such as the little 'duffle' style bag, make-up bag, wall holder for magazines, needlecase, quilted placemats, angels - there is even a pattern for slippers! The patterns include some embroidery and the applique 'houses' on the quilt can be used for many other projects. The instructions are not the 'step-by-step' picture type but are clear enough if you have some basic sewing experience. I am off to buy some of the other books in this range.
Gorgeous things to make!, 17 Aug 2008
Thought I'd just find one or two things to catch my interest as I am not really into pink, and the cover is pink, pink, pink! But what a gorgeous book, full of lovely things...I just want to make everything! I have already made the cafetiere cover and one of the makeup pouches (though in brighter colours, but they still look great!)
Super book. Lots of inspiration! Makes you want to paint all your furniture white and coordinate everything in your home!
Very over valued, 29 Jun 2008
I have to say I am extremely disappointed with this. Everyone at college has said you have just got to buy this book, its amazing. Is it?? No it isn't. Sagmeister is nowhere near being the design genius that he has been tagged with. When you compare it to Alan Fletcher, there is just no competition. I have seen far better work being displayed at the various university degree shows this year to be honest. Especially at Stoke, Birmingham and the fantastic illustration work at Bristol which was truly fantastic.
So whatever you do, keep hold of your money and buy something else. He is very over rated and has been built up on a pedestal when he clearly doesn't deserve to be.
Can graphic design touch someone's heart?, 16 May 2008
There are countless books on design and many of them are good, even brilliant. And yet one looks for something that is more than a design book with lots of designers' work. One always searches for a book that would act as a trigger, as a spark than can light a million ideas in one's own brain.
A book to do that was Alan Fletcher's Art of Looking Sideways.
And a book which surpasses everything that I have ever seen is Stefan Sagmeister's Things I have learned in my life so far.
Why? Because it is brutally honest.
It is what design was meant to be.
Sagmeister uses his own learnings and converts them into magic. You turn the pages and you are mesmerised by the immensity, the sheer scale of ideas there.
Your mind begins to fill up with images and words and ideas you never thought existed.
You turn the pages and it hits you: Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
And `now' to me started with the book. This book truly changed my life.
I have read the critics say many things like this book being self indulgent. Well, a man who take pains to go around the world to encourage design and design students cannot be self indulgent. He is honest. And every page of this book is a primer for honesty.
And of course, brilliant design.
Sagmeister's design and typography are stuff legends are made of. I am a mere mortal to comment upon those. But I can say this, I have never seen an explosion of so many brilliant ideas in one place ever before.
Stefan Sagmeister has always asked the question: Can design touch someone's heart?
This book will touch millions.
A priceless book.
Emperor's New Clothes or Design Genius?, 12 Mar 2008
Is Stefan Sagmeister the Emperor's new clothes of the design world, or does he really deserve the genius tag he's so often given?
After reading Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far, I firmly believe the latter. Sagmeister doesn't disappoint; he makes design fun and accessible, without dumbing down or losing effect - this book illustrates perfectly, both in content and format, that good design works.
The featured projects are fascinating; my reactions ranged from `oh that's sooo gorgeous,' to `how on earth....?' to `what HAPPENED to him to make him think like that?!'
It's beautifully put together - a design book that's not just for designers, with essays and Sagmeister's explanations of the projects, along with fantastic images.
As Sagmeister says, via the help of giant monkeys, "Everybody always thinks they are right," and I think I am in this case - buy it, swap around the covers to your heart's content, and enjoy your very own piece of Sagmeister!
A True Chameleon, 24 Feb 2008
There are lots of design books that are about design. Design books for designers. This isn't one of them - it's much more than that. The sheer richness of this book takes a while to take in - you will find new things every time you dip into it. This book is inventive, poignant, informative and unusual - but above all it is beautiful. There's such a wealth of ideas executed with style and an individual confidence that it is hard to say which is best, but I would say it's worth buying the book for the Singapore 'Keeping A Diary' section alone. Also there are a lot of monkeys, and that can never be a bad thing. Full marks.
On being paged., 30 Oct 2007
Socrates said "Know thyself" and artistic journaling is one approach towards personal discovery. "Artists' Journal and Sketchbooks: Exploring and Creating Personal Pages" gives non-artists tips on how to begin creative and self-revelatory journaling.
Diaries are not just about words and Perrella encourages the use of paper that's painted, glued, stitched, scratched, bleached and in any other way manipulated. Standardization is out and replaced by the act of altering what's already around to make something new as women, the true bricoleurs, often do.
From the examples given of various artists' journals comes the confirmation that women are generally the family historians documenting via foto albums, scrapbooks, journals and keepsakes.
Perrella, of rubber stamp fame, is part of an internet salotto specializing in "self-exploratory" art making. This artistic trend is reinforced and propagated by numerous workshops organized via internet.
I Love Lynne Perrella, 06 Apr 2007
This is my biggest mistake, not purchasing it the day i first saw it. This book is just "wow". Its packed full of inspiration, techniques, just about everything a design student would want. I purchased this because i wanted to start a graphic design journal on typography, and graphic design that interests me, but not in the style of your standard scrapbooking. This book fufilled that request no problems. A must for anyone who loves unique ways of expressing themselves
A triumph of decoration over content, 26 Feb 2007
I ordered this book on the strength of the rave reviews on Amazon and was rather disappointed. Although several artists are represented, there is basically only one style: that on the front of the book. If you like this, you'll love the book, and I won't deny it is beautifully produced. However, all it seems to be about is cramming as much decoration onto one page as possible: ribbons, buttons, stencils, washes, poems, individual letters etc. This is all in the contemporary scrapbooking style, and to me seems to be more about decoration than exploring different artistic ideas or keeping a real journal. The pages scream: "Look, I'm a really creative, funky person." But what have vintage photos and shreds of old sheet music really got to do with keeping a journal or sketchbook? I thought a sketchbook was about recording what we see around us. Evidently not. Interestingly, like the scrapbooking genre, this seems to be by and for women only; not that I'm against such things in principal (I'm into patchwork), but it does seem somehow very girly and overly pretty.
Luscious book, 15 Apr 2006
A gorgeous book that you can look at again and again. Full of inspiration both visually and in it's supporting text. Perfect for inspiring students, pages of exciting exempar material.
I can't rave on about this book enough!, 17 May 2005
This book is top of its class! This a book that you'll want to digest inside and out! It is full of inspiration, colour, techniques, and a wow factor it will just inspire you each time you open and flick through it time after time after time! I love this book, I have quite a number of books on art journals and book art and this is the winning one! You will want to dig your teeth deep into a project the moment you put this book down! Every time I flick through this book I find a new 'discovery' every single time. Go do yourself a favour now go beg, borrow or steal this book because you will need to have it! :)
Another great book from Maggie, 26 Jul 2008
Just bought this - an excellent purchase. Full of inspiring examples, great ideas to try out, and hints and tips - all illustrated with clear colour photos. Recommended for anyone doing City & Guilds - especially the "Creative Computing into Textiles" course.
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Customer Reviews
"Your phd for living", 23 Sep 2008
If you search on youtube for "the art of looking sideways" you'll come across a 10 minute interview with the late Alan Fletcher. The man was clearly a visionary and apparently loved his Mac ;-)
If you're not into graphic design that much (like me) yet you're into philosophy or psychology, marketing or coaching, leadership or teaching or any other field where the human condition is front & center you'll still find lots of wonderful things in this book, if only by reading the quotes and the stories.
This book has been created by a discovering man, a collecting man and especially a listening and thinking man. He supposedly worked 18! years on this book. No wonder it's such a source of inspiration and insight.
I adore the 'chapters' on creativity and meanings. There are 72 'chapters' in total in this book, each covering a certain 'topic'. I prefer to call them 'mentalities'. Fletcher calls them '72 slices of life' and '72 slices of your brain'.
The two most genius properties of this book are:
- no two pages have similar layout
- you don't know what to expect when turning any page
Only buy this book if you want to discover. Fletcher was a designer but before one can design one has to discover. This book is a discovery by itself and it's filled with thousands of discoveries.
Stuck for an idea? Dive in here..., 24 Mar 2008
Alan Fletcher was one of the creative powerhouses of design from the 1960s on, and this book puts together some of his musings on life, the Universe and everything. The book is designed to spark ideas and thought, so even the paper used changes from page to page.
In typically quirky fashion, only the left hand pages are given a number so if you buy this book you actually get over a thousand pages of inspiring graphics, calligraphy, typography and photographs collected over the course of a long and illustrious career: he founded Pentagram; he designed logos for Reuters and the Victoria and Albert museum. The book gives a glimpse of the thought processes that went in to that work. For the money it's an astonishing bargain.
A homage to concept-driven design and thinking, 27 May 2007
This book provides so many examples of both the mechanics of a good concept and the power of lateral thinking. A great feat to have documented and communicated such an eclectic range of thoughts and ideas.
Inspirational, 27 Jan 2007
This is the book to have next to your desk: dip into it, when you need escape or inspiration. Or start from the beginning and work your way through it: whichever way you do it: I defy you not to find something interesting on virtually every page!!
Rowland Jones
A fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and a good dose of self-indulgence by the author, 31 Dec 2006
What a wonderful title for this book of more than 530 pages. The target is visual awareness and it has 72 chapters devoted to themes such as "ideas", "thinking", "seeing", "camouflage" and "handedness". The author claims it is "a journey without a destination", and he is probably right, the implication being that it is the voyage that counts in life. It is truly a massive collection of bits and pieces collected by the author, thrown on to a basic structure, and presented "shaken not stirred" (to misuse a common quote from James Bond). Her lies the books major asset and its major defect. It is full of interesting images and text bites, yet at the same time it is full of bits of useless or uninteresting trivia. There are times when you get the impression that the author has been overly self-indulgent, but it is certainly a lesson to us all - collect every little bit of dross since it could become a book one day. Yet it also a fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and for the price it is certainly worth having on your shelves. I suspect it is also a book that I will go back to occasionally just to skim through the odd 100 pages. I was planning to give this extravagantly over-indulgent book only 3-stars, but in writing this review I've convinced myself to give it a solid 4-stars for its fun content and the gall of the author in thinking his lifetime collection of "odds and bods" would interest others. It did.
Lovely jelly rolls..., 20 Aug 2008
I just love jelly rolls, they look delicious without undoing them, so imagine how I felt unrolling my first one, and then horror at what I was going to do with it, actually I had bought 2 identical rolls. So with this book in one hand, and stroking my fabric with the other I launched into the book, and I chose a quilt to make. The instructions are very easy to follow, and the diagrams are a breeze to understand. So my first quilt is underway, thank you ladies for a fabulous book and instant inspriation!
Jelly Rolls Review, 02 Aug 2008
This is a fabulous book with plenty of ideas and alternatives using some wonderful fabrics. I can't wait to get stuck in with some of the ideas.
Lovely inspiring designs, 10 Jul 2008
I'm new to quilting but experienced at sewing. I love the fabrics you can buy from Moda in jelly rolls. ......So bought this book
No stuffy designs, inspiring photos although some instructions need reading a few times to understand (if you are new to quilting). Very little basic info on making up the "top" into a quilt.
Jeiiy Roll Quilt Fever. By Pam And Nicky Lintott, 24 May 2008
Superb book, Good for beginners or experienced Quilters. Well written with everything explained fully and diagrams leaving nothing to guess work.Plenty of choice with 17 projects and very exciting designs for the Jelly Rolls that are the rage at the moment.
..., 21 Sep 2008
Els projectes i les idees que presenta aquest llibre trobo que tenen molt poc joc per personalitzar-los, són idees massa concretes amb poc marge de maniobra...
La veritat és que m'ha decepcionat força... No se perquè la gent li ha posat una nota tan alta...
Best book bought for a long time...., 14 Sep 2008
The moment i received this book i could barely put it down for days, beautiful pictures and easy to follow, all the projects are items you would want to make! Have already tried two projects from the book and have not been disappointed with the result.
An inspirational delight, 31 Aug 2008
I was fortunate to be able to flick through this book before I ordered it from Amazon. This book is the favourite of both my son (12!) and my daughter, for it's dreamy, shabby-chic inspired theme. It is an ode to the home, and the room-by-room treatment of offerings is a perfect way to inspire the crafter to visualise a complete makeover! I love this book so much, that I ordered the Christmas version, which is just as lovely. However, since I can't see us adding the flying pigs to our Yule-time trimmings, this book remains our favourite to curl up to, with a cup of tea. I made the fabulous living room quilt as my first ever quilting project, and am delighted with the result, even if it is deliberately different to the original. There is not a single project in this book that I don't adore, including the daft little strawberry pin-cushion things. Even projects that I will never make, delight me at every turn of the page.
This book is a must for the armchair decorator, stitcher and crafter. Directions are better suited to those with some experience of following shop-bought, sewing pattern directions, or those who can grasp how to create three-dimentional items from two-dimentional fabric, but there are enough projects to suit complete beginners, too.
Everyone should own this book for the warm-fuzzy-feeling it imparts!
Wonderful projects, 19 Aug 2008
I cannot put this book down! All the projects are beautiful and even if you do not intend to sew anything, it is worth having for the lovely pictures and inspiration. The fabrics used are in gorgeous shades of pale green, blue and pink - some with small flowers, some stripes and some plain. The fabrics are available from a website detailed at the back of the book. I intend to make many of the projects such as the little 'duffle' style bag, make-up bag, wall holder for magazines, needlecase, quilted placemats, angels - there is even a pattern for slippers! The patterns include some embroidery and the applique 'houses' on the quilt can be used for many other projects. The instructions are not the 'step-by-step' picture type but are clear enough if you have some basic sewing experience. I am off to buy some of the other books in this range.
Gorgeous things to make!, 17 Aug 2008
Thought I'd just find one or two things to catch my interest as I am not really into pink, and the cover is pink, pink, pink! But what a gorgeous book, full of lovely things...I just want to make everything! I have already made the cafetiere cover and one of the makeup pouches (though in brighter colours, but they still look great!)
Super book. Lots of inspiration! Makes you want to paint all your furniture white and coordinate everything in your home!
Very over valued, 29 Jun 2008
I have to say I am extremely disappointed with this. Everyone at college has said you have just got to buy this book, its amazing. Is it?? No it isn't. Sagmeister is nowhere near being the design genius that he has been tagged with. When you compare it to Alan Fletcher, there is just no competition. I have seen far better work being displayed at the various university degree shows this year to be honest. Especially at Stoke, Birmingham and the fantastic illustration work at Bristol which was truly fantastic.
So whatever you do, keep hold of your money and buy something else. He is very over rated and has been built up on a pedestal when he clearly doesn't deserve to be.
Can graphic design touch someone's heart?, 16 May 2008
There are countless books on design and many of them are good, even brilliant. And yet one looks for something that is more than a design book with lots of designers' work. One always searches for a book that would act as a trigger, as a spark than can light a million ideas in one's own brain.
A book to do that was Alan Fletcher's Art of Looking Sideways.
And a book which surpasses everything that I have ever seen is Stefan Sagmeister's Things I have learned in my life so far.
Why? Because it is brutally honest.
It is what design was meant to be.
Sagmeister uses his own learnings and converts them into magic. You turn the pages and you are mesmerised by the immensity, the sheer scale of ideas there.
Your mind begins to fill up with images and words and ideas you never thought existed.
You turn the pages and it hits you: Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
And `now' to me started with the book. This book truly changed my life.
I have read the critics say many things like this book being self indulgent. Well, a man who take pains to go around the world to encourage design and design students cannot be self indulgent. He is honest. And every page of this book is a primer for honesty.
And of course, brilliant design.
Sagmeister's design and typography are stuff legends are made of. I am a mere mortal to comment upon those. But I can say this, I have never seen an explosion of so many brilliant ideas in one place ever before.
Stefan Sagmeister has always asked the question: Can design touch someone's heart?
This book will touch millions.
A priceless book.
Emperor's New Clothes or Design Genius?, 12 Mar 2008
Is Stefan Sagmeister the Emperor's new clothes of the design world, or does he really deserve the genius tag he's so often given?
After reading Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far, I firmly believe the latter. Sagmeister doesn't disappoint; he makes design fun and accessible, without dumbing down or losing effect - this book illustrates perfectly, both in content and format, that good design works.
The featured projects are fascinating; my reactions ranged from `oh that's sooo gorgeous,' to `how on earth....?' to `what HAPPENED to him to make him think like that?!'
It's beautifully put together - a design book that's not just for designers, with essays and Sagmeister's explanations of the projects, along with fantastic images.
As Sagmeister says, via the help of giant monkeys, "Everybody always thinks they are right," and I think I am in this case - buy it, swap around the covers to your heart's content, and enjoy your very own piece of Sagmeister!
A True Chameleon, 24 Feb 2008
There are lots of design books that are about design. Design books for designers. This isn't one of them - it's much more than that. The sheer richness of this book takes a while to take in - you will find new things every time you dip into it. This book is inventive, poignant, informative and unusual - but above all it is beautiful. There's such a wealth of ideas executed with style and an individual confidence that it is hard to say which is best, but I would say it's worth buying the book for the Singapore 'Keeping A Diary' section alone. Also there are a lot of monkeys, and that can never be a bad thing. Full marks.
On being paged., 30 Oct 2007
Socrates said "Know thyself" and artistic journaling is one approach towards personal discovery. "Artists' Journal and Sketchbooks: Exploring and Creating Personal Pages" gives non-artists tips on how to begin creative and self-revelatory journaling.
Diaries are not just about words and Perrella encourages the use of paper that's painted, glued, stitched, scratched, bleached and in any other way manipulated. Standardization is out and replaced by the act of altering what's already around to make something new as women, the true bricoleurs, often do.
From the examples given of various artists' journals comes the confirmation that women are generally the family historians documenting via foto albums, scrapbooks, journals and keepsakes.
Perrella, of rubber stamp fame, is part of an internet salotto specializing in "self-exploratory" art making. This artistic trend is reinforced and propagated by numerous workshops organized via internet.
I Love Lynne Perrella, 06 Apr 2007
This is my biggest mistake, not purchasing it the day i first saw it. This book is just "wow". Its packed full of inspiration, techniques, just about everything a design student would want. I purchased this because i wanted to start a graphic design journal on typography, and graphic design that interests me, but not in the style of your standard scrapbooking. This book fufilled that request no problems. A must for anyone who loves unique ways of expressing themselves
A triumph of decoration over content, 26 Feb 2007
I ordered this book on the strength of the rave reviews on Amazon and was rather disappointed. Although several artists are represented, there is basically only one style: that on the front of the book. If you like this, you'll love the book, and I won't deny it is beautifully produced. However, all it seems to be about is cramming as much decoration onto one page as possible: ribbons, buttons, stencils, washes, poems, individual letters etc. This is all in the contemporary scrapbooking style, and to me seems to be more about decoration than exploring different artistic ideas or keeping a real journal. The pages scream: "Look, I'm a really creative, funky person." But what have vintage photos and shreds of old sheet music really got to do with keeping a journal or sketchbook? I thought a sketchbook was about recording what we see around us. Evidently not. Interestingly, like the scrapbooking genre, this seems to be by and for women only; not that I'm against such things in principal (I'm into patchwork), but it does seem somehow very girly and overly pretty.
Luscious book, 15 Apr 2006
A gorgeous book that you can look at again and again. Full of inspiration both visually and in it's supporting text. Perfect for inspiring students, pages of exciting exempar material.
I can't rave on about this book enough!, 17 May 2005
This book is top of its class! This a book that you'll want to digest inside and out! It is full of inspiration, colour, techniques, and a wow factor it will just inspire you each time you open and flick through it time after time after time! I love this book, I have quite a number of books on art journals and book art and this is the winning one! You will want to dig your teeth deep into a project the moment you put this book down! Every time I flick through this book I find a new 'discovery' every single time. Go do yourself a favour now go beg, borrow or steal this book because you will need to have it! :)
Another great book from Maggie, 26 Jul 2008
Just bought this - an excellent purchase. Full of inspiring examples, great ideas to try out, and hints and tips - all illustrated with clear colour photos. Recommended for anyone doing City & Guilds - especially the "Creative Computing into Textiles" course.
Beautiful!!!, 08 May 2008
This isn't so much a book as a labour of love. Beautifully presented, extremely clear photographs, high quality paper. It remains to be seen whether it can teach me how to make jewellery - if it can't that'll be down to me - but in any case it is a lovely book to own.
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Vivienne Westwood (VA)
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Customer Reviews
"Your phd for living", 23 Sep 2008
If you search on youtube for "the art of looking sideways" you'll come across a 10 minute interview with the late Alan Fletcher. The man was clearly a visionary and apparently loved his Mac ;-)
If you're not into graphic design that much (like me) yet you're into philosophy or psychology, marketing or coaching, leadership or teaching or any other field where the human condition is front & center you'll still find lots of wonderful things in this book, if only by reading the quotes and the stories.
This book has been created by a discovering man, a collecting man and especially a listening and thinking man. He supposedly worked 18! years on this book. No wonder it's such a source of inspiration and insight.
I adore the 'chapters' on creativity and meanings. There are 72 'chapters' in total in this book, each covering a certain 'topic'. I prefer to call them 'mentalities'. Fletcher calls them '72 slices of life' and '72 slices of your brain'.
The two most genius properties of this book are:
- no two pages have similar layout
- you don't know what to expect when turning any page
Only buy this book if you want to discover. Fletcher was a designer but before one can design one has to discover. This book is a discovery by itself and it's filled with thousands of discoveries.
Stuck for an idea? Dive in here..., 24 Mar 2008
Alan Fletcher was one of the creative powerhouses of design from the 1960s on, and this book puts together some of his musings on life, the Universe and everything. The book is designed to spark ideas and thought, so even the paper used changes from page to page.
In typically quirky fashion, only the left hand pages are given a number so if you buy this book you actually get over a thousand pages of inspiring graphics, calligraphy, typography and photographs collected over the course of a long and illustrious career: he founded Pentagram; he designed logos for Reuters and the Victoria and Albert museum. The book gives a glimpse of the thought processes that went in to that work. For the money it's an astonishing bargain.
A homage to concept-driven design and thinking, 27 May 2007
This book provides so many examples of both the mechanics of a good concept and the power of lateral thinking. A great feat to have documented and communicated such an eclectic range of thoughts and ideas.
Inspirational, 27 Jan 2007
This is the book to have next to your desk: dip into it, when you need escape or inspiration. Or start from the beginning and work your way through it: whichever way you do it: I defy you not to find something interesting on virtually every page!!
Rowland Jones
A fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and a good dose of self-indulgence by the author, 31 Dec 2006
What a wonderful title for this book of more than 530 pages. The target is visual awareness and it has 72 chapters devoted to themes such as "ideas", "thinking", "seeing", "camouflage" and "handedness". The author claims it is "a journey without a destination", and he is probably right, the implication being that it is the voyage that counts in life. It is truly a massive collection of bits and pieces collected by the author, thrown on to a basic structure, and presented "shaken not stirred" (to misuse a common quote from James Bond). Her lies the books major asset and its major defect. It is full of interesting images and text bites, yet at the same time it is full of bits of useless or uninteresting trivia. There are times when you get the impression that the author has been overly self-indulgent, but it is certainly a lesson to us all - collect every little bit of dross since it could become a book one day. Yet it also a fantastic collection of interesting "factlets" and for the price it is certainly worth having on your shelves. I suspect it is also a book that I will go back to occasionally just to skim through the odd 100 pages. I was planning to give this extravagantly over-indulgent book only 3-stars, but in writing this review I've convinced myself to give it a solid 4-stars for its fun content and the gall of the author in thinking his lifetime collection of "odds and bods" would interest others. It did.
Lovely jelly rolls..., 20 Aug 2008
I just love jelly rolls, they look delicious without undoing them, so imagine how I felt unrolling my first one, and then horror at what I was going to do with it, actually I had bought 2 identical rolls. So with this book in one hand, and stroking my fabric with the other I launched into the book, and I chose a quilt to make. The instructions are very easy to follow, and the diagrams are a breeze to understand. So my first quilt is underway, thank you ladies for a fabulous book and instant inspriation!
Jelly Rolls Review, 02 Aug 2008
This is a fabulous book with plenty of ideas and alternatives using some wonderful fabrics. I can't wait to get stuck in with some of the ideas.
Lovely inspiring designs, 10 Jul 2008
I'm new to quilting but experienced at sewing. I love the fabrics you can buy from Moda i | | |