Usability design is one of the most important though often least attractive tasks for a Web developer. In Don't Make Me Think, author Steve Krug lightens up the subject with good humour and excellent to-the-point examples.

The title of the book is its chief personal design premise. All of the tips, techniques and examples presented within it revolve around users being able to surf merrily through a well-designed site with minimal cognitive strain. Readers will quickly come to agree with many of the book's assumptions. For example, "We don't read pages--we scan them" and, "We don't figure out how things work--we muddle through". Getting to grips with such hard facts sets the stage for Web design that then produces top-notch sites.

Using an attractive mix of full-colour screen shots, cute cartoons and diagrams, and informative sidebars, the book keeps your attention and drives home some crucial points. Much of the content is devoted to proper use of conventions and content layout, and the "before and after" examples are superb. Topics such as the wise use of rollovers and usability testing are covered using a consistently practical approach.

This is the type of book you can blow through in a couple evenings. But despite its conciseness, it will give you an expert's ability to judge Web design. You'll never form a first impression of a site in the same way again. --Stephen W Plain

A useful guide to Usability Testing, 18 Oct 2008
Steve Krug has written this book in plain English in order for everyone to understand web usability testing.
The book contains screenshots, which gives a better picture of the discussed themes.

It's not just for Web Design - apply to everything, 08 Oct 2008
One of the best book I have read this year. Gives you all the basics on usability, how to understand people and how they use websites. It's a must buy as it will be useful for almost everything in business. Don't make people think, due to internet we switch attention so quickly!

All of the basics - and more!, 14 Sep 2008
Just like the method of web design he advocates, Steve Krug explains his craft in a simple, logical manner.

A common sense approach to web design? Yes it certainly is, and as someone who is used to ploughing through text heavy web design and online marketing textbooks, this book is a welcome relief. It is well laid out, logically progressive, while still being easy to dip in and out of as necessary.

The chapters dealing with the guiding principles of web design give simple and, sometimes obvious, basic advice, but somehow the way in which they are delivered still manages to stimulate your creative processes. The later chapters dealing with the internal politics of designing a corporate website with multiple stakeholders shows excellent insight, and gives good practical advice about how to manage this process.

This book is for beginners and experts alike and, despite being relatively short, still delivers comprehensive coverage of the subject.


A little knowledge is a dangerous thing..., 28 Aug 2008
First things first.. this is not a book for web designers, graphic artists, developers or anyone who actually has to do these sorts of tasks for a living (or even for a hobby, for that matter). You will not learn anything from this book that you don't already know and, in fact, there is some stuff in here that I think it would be better off NOT knowing, particularly some of the garishly coloured and clustered monstrosities that are heralded as examples of good design.

The only people who would find this book useful are management-types and marketing people... the kind of people who really should stick to pushing pens and emailing rather than getting involved in the dirty work of designing and developing a succesful website. This book could do a lot of damage in terms of giving delusions of grandeur to these sorts of people!

Much of the advice given in the book is out of date, and many of the example websites are now either not there or have been altered to the extreme. On a posative note, this book does state the obvious to quite a phenominal level and I suppose there may be some people to whom this may be of benefit.

Personally, i'd reccomend any web proffesionals who are thinking of buying this book to stay the heck away!! If you're a manager/marketing person or someone who needs to create the illusion that you know what you're talking about when asked to comment on a website, then this book may be of benefit.

Common sense. Why dont more web developers read it?, 13 Aug 2008
Everything this book says is just common sense. When designing websites, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that people will actually be using your published work! How many times have you been to a site only to think "where's the search box" or when entering some details into your online bank account and then press the "enter key" it doesn't login, it goes off to a "apply for a new savings account". Very confusing. In these circumstances, your brain has to think about what has happened, leaving a negative impression in your mind. Not good if you're trying to sell something!

When it comes to the web, first impressions count. Take Amazons new redesign for 2008. Amazon gets quite a lot of coverage in the book as an example of good design, so it's interesting that they have gone away from their old design, that's been around for about a decade. I don't like the new look, because every time I use it I have to think whereas before it was intuitive. That's the whole point of "dont make me think". You should never have to think about how to use a web site. If you need to use your brain to do something simple, the designer has FAILED.

"Dont make me think" is a quick and easy read. It's quite small at 200 pages. It's often reduced on Amazon so keep an eye out for a bargain.

Highly recommended for all developers, even if you don't often do user interfaces. The advice can be applied to all interfaces and not just the web.

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

A useful guide to Usability Testing, 18 Oct 2008
Steve Krug has written this book in plain English in order for everyone to understand web usability testing.
The book contains screenshots, which gives a better picture of the discussed themes.

It's not just for Web Design - apply to everything, 08 Oct 2008
One of the best book I have read this year. Gives you all the basics on usability, how to understand people and how they use websites. It's a must buy as it will be useful for almost everything in business. Don't make people think, due to internet we switch attention so quickly!

All of the basics - and more!, 14 Sep 2008
Just like the method of web design he advocates, Steve Krug explains his craft in a simple, logical manner.

A common sense approach to web design? Yes it certainly is, and as someone who is used to ploughing through text heavy web design and online marketing textbooks, this book is a welcome relief. It is well laid out, logically progressive, while still being easy to dip in and out of as necessary.

The chapters dealing with the guiding principles of web design give simple and, sometimes obvious, basic advice, but somehow the way in which they are delivered still manages to stimulate your creative processes. The later chapters dealing with the internal politics of designing a corporate website with multiple stakeholders shows excellent insight, and gives good practical advice about how to manage this process.

This book is for beginners and experts alike and, despite being relatively short, still delivers comprehensive coverage of the subject.


A little knowledge is a dangerous thing..., 28 Aug 2008
First things first.. this is not a book for web designers, graphic artists, developers or anyone who actually has to do these sorts of tasks for a living (or even for a hobby, for that matter). You will not learn anything from this book that you don't already know and, in fact, there is some stuff in here that I think it would be better off NOT knowing, particularly some of the garishly coloured and clustered monstrosities that are heralded as examples of good design.

The only people who would find this book useful are management-types and marketing people... the kind of people who really should stick to pushing pens and emailing rather than getting involved in the dirty work of designing and developing a succesful website. This book could do a lot of damage in terms of giving delusions of grandeur to these sorts of people!

Much of the advice given in the book is out of date, and many of the example websites are now either not there or have been altered to the extreme. On a posative note, this book does state the obvious to quite a phenominal level and I suppose there may be some people to whom this may be of benefit.

Personally, i'd reccomend any web proffesionals who are thinking of buying this book to stay the heck away!! If you're a manager/marketing person or someone who needs to create the illusion that you know what you're talking about when asked to comment on a website, then this book may be of benefit.

Common sense. Why dont more web developers read it?, 13 Aug 2008
Everything this book says is just common sense. When designing websites, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that people will actually be using your published work! How many times have you been to a site only to think "where's the search box" or when entering some details into your online bank account and then press the "enter key" it doesn't login, it goes off to a "apply for a new savings account". Very confusing. In these circumstances, your brain has to think about what has happened, leaving a negative impression in your mind. Not good if you're trying to sell something!

When it comes to the web, first impressions count. Take Amazons new redesign for 2008. Amazon gets quite a lot of coverage in the book as an example of good design, so it's interesting that they have gone away from their old design, that's been around for about a decade. I don't like the new look, because every time I use it I have to think whereas before it was intuitive. That's the whole point of "dont make me think". You should never have to think about how to use a web site. If you need to use your brain to do something simple, the designer has FAILED.

"Dont make me think" is a quick and easy read. It's quite small at 200 pages. It's often reduced on Amazon so keep an eye out for a bargain.

Highly recommended for all developers, even if you don't often do user interfaces. The advice can be applied to all interfaces and not just the web.


"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.

A useful guide to Usability Testing, 18 Oct 2008
Steve Krug has written this book in plain English in order for everyone to understand web usability testing.
The book contains screenshots, which gives a better picture of the discussed themes.

It's not just for Web Design - apply to everything, 08 Oct 2008
One of the best book I have read this year. Gives you all the basics on usability, how to understand people and how they use websites. It's a must buy as it will be useful for almost everything in business. Don't make people think, due to internet we switch attention so quickly!

All of the basics - and more!, 14 Sep 2008
Just like the method of web design he advocates, Steve Krug explains his craft in a simple, logical manner.

A common sense approach to web design? Yes it certainly is, and as someone who is used to ploughing through text heavy web design and online marketing textbooks, this book is a welcome relief. It is well laid out, logically progressive, while still being easy to dip in and out of as necessary.

The chapters dealing with the guiding principles of web design give simple and, sometimes obvious, basic advice, but somehow the way in which they are delivered still manages to stimulate your creative processes. The later chapters dealing with the internal politics of designing a corporate website with multiple stakeholders shows excellent insight, and gives good practical advice about how to manage this process.

This book is for beginners and experts alike and, despite being relatively short, still delivers comprehensive coverage of the subject.


A little knowledge is a dangerous thing..., 28 Aug 2008
First things first.. this is not a book for web designers, graphic artists, developers or anyone who actually has to do these sorts of tasks for a living (or even for a hobby, for that matter). You will not learn anything from this book that you don't already know and, in fact, there is some stuff in here that I think it would be better off NOT knowing, particularly some of the garishly coloured and clustered monstrosities that are heralded as examples of good design.

The only people who would find this book useful are management-types and marketing people... the kind of people who really should stick to pushing pens and emailing rather than getting involved in the dirty work of designing and developing a succesful website. This book could do a lot of damage in terms of giving delusions of grandeur to these sorts of people!

Much of the advice given in the book is out of date, and many of the example websites are now either not there or have been altered to the extreme. On a posative note, this book does state the obvious to quite a phenominal level and I suppose there may be some people to whom this may be of benefit.

Personally, i'd reccomend any web proffesionals who are thinking of buying this book to stay the heck away!! If you're a manager/marketing person or someone who needs to create the illusion that you know what you're talking about when asked to comment on a website, then this book may be of benefit.

Common sense. Why dont more web developers read it?, 13 Aug 2008
Everything this book says is just common sense. When designing websites, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that people will actually be using your published work! How many times have you been to a site only to think "where's the search box" or when entering some details into your online bank account and then press the "enter key" it doesn't login, it goes off to a "apply for a new savings account". Very confusing. In these circumstances, your brain has to think about what has happened, leaving a negative impression in your mind. Not good if you're trying to sell something!

When it comes to the web, first impressions count. Take Amazons new redesign for 2008. Amazon gets quite a lot of coverage in the book as an example of good design, so it's interesting that they have gone away from their old design, that's been around for about a decade. I don't like the new look, because every time I use it I have to think whereas before it was intuitive. That's the whole point of "dont make me think". You should never have to think about how to use a web site. If you need to use your brain to do something simple, the designer has FAILED.

"Dont make me think" is a quick and easy read. It's quite small at 200 pages. It's often reduced on Amazon so keep an eye out for a bargain.

Highly recommended for all developers, even if you don't often do user interfaces. The advice can be applied to all interfaces and not just the web.


"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.

Had very little presentation experience, never heard of Garr, gave a ppt based on this book - really positive feedback on my ppt, 19 Nov 2008
I have never left a review before but this book really helped me. I have made the odd slide before but nothing fancy. I needed to give a full presentation as part of an assignment and as part of my work role. I had created the usual text laden ppt that I had experience of seeing others present. I needed some literature to back up my decision in my assignment and found this book. In one day it transformed my whole presentation. I had lots of fun using pictures suggested from istockphoto and the critical audience that I presented to was really impressed with the slides I had produced. Yes most of what he says is common sense when you think about it - but the book is so easy to follow and you will kick yourself for not realising it all by yourself! However sometimes you need things pointed out to you simply! Its an easy read and can make a difference! I would strongly recommend this book - in fact I already have!

Should be required reading for presenters, 14 Nov 2008
Bought this on "spec", and found it extremely useful. Written in a light and easy manner, never preachy, yet supplying valuable concepts and rules for all presentations.

Should be required readings for anybody wanting to create a powerpoint presentation, as there are soooo many bad PP's out there.

Only looses five full stars because it relies a lot on asking you to use stock photographs from sites such as iStockPhoto, that need a subscription - which few can afford.

Replace Bullet Points with Dental Posters That Evoke Positive Feelings, Tell Stories, and Be Mentally Present, 21 Oct 2008
Long before there was PowerPoint, most presentations contained more columns of numbers and bullet points than pictures. PowerPoint seemed designed to capture the essence of those transparencies and make it faster to create them . . . while adding color. Compared to those ugly transparencies, PowerPoint seemed like an improvement.

By comparison, my dentist has always covered his walls with beautiful bleed images of gorgeous places combined with intriguing sayings about life. Those posters are the only uplifting thing about my trips to the dentist's office. He doesn't tell me any entertaining stories.

In presentationzen, Garr Reynolds shares with us that today's audiences like a standard PowerPoint presentation about as much as I like going to the dentist (I doubt if you are surprised by that). His prescription is to turn the typical presentation into a series of stories aided by exhibits that remind me of those dental posters while being very responsive (present . . . in his terminology) to the audience.

The book's main strength, and one that makes it well worth reading and following, is in describing a process that can be used to create a presentation that will be compelling. Even when I see a presentation that I like, I don't learn much from the example because the presenter doesn't share the process behind the result.

The examples almost all showed someone in a black turtle neck, black pants, and black shoes who looked like a Steve Jobs acolyte. As a result, there's an Apple versus Microsoft tone to the book that didn't match any environment where I ever see or give presentations (usually board rooms and senior corporate conference rooms).

Most presentations should be much shorter, should have a lot less material, and should be much easier to grasp. This book will help you if that's the way you want to go. Beware, however, that you don't go over the edge into becoming an "artiste" in your presentations. This book will probably push you a little too far in that direction.

For those who cannot imagine how an image might fit into a presentation, this book will be a great breath of fresh air. To those who want to copy the advice closely, keep your audience in mind. You might try to take them places where they don't want to go.

In my 30-plus years of presentation experience, I find that the story is the key to success. One good story will more than carry the day. You can draw on a chalk board with your fingernails for graphics and a good story will still work just fine. To me, the weakness of this book is that it doesn't pay enough to the story telling aspect of successful presentations.

I recommend Stephen Denning's books on story telling to help you with that aspect of presentations.


Must read for people doing Presentation, 08 Oct 2008
This book is a must read on the Topic. Some people might find it not practical but I don't agree, it's just that it makes you think on the way we've been taught to do Powerpoint presentation. And from there Garr Reynolds gives you the keys on how to prepare, design and deliver your presentation. Presentation is in our everyday life, face to face, powerpoint, meeting, selling etc... Presentation Zen is a classic in Business (read also his blog)

Presentations worth meditating on...., 16 Sep 2008
This concise book is a real breath of fresh air in presentation design. Stripping the art of presenting back to basics, Garr Reynolds advocates a clean and simple form of presentation that he argues strengthens a presentation's quality.

I'd certainly agree and the book is beatifully illustrated with examples of this crisp and clean design style. I used the book as inspiration for a series of presentations (both for myself and my graphic design team) and the resulting presentations were a massive improvement on previous work and very well received.

If you like long lists of bullet points, don't buy this boo. If you like clean and elegant work, get a copy now!

A useful guide to Usability Testing, 18 Oct 2008
Steve Krug has written this book in plain English in order for everyone to understand web usability testing.
The book contains screenshots, which gives a better picture of the discussed themes.

It's not just for Web Design - apply to everything, 08 Oct 2008
One of the best book I have read this year. Gives you all the basics on usability, how to understand people and how they use websites. It's a must buy as it will be useful for almost everything in business. Don't make people think, due to internet we switch attention so quickly!

All of the basics - and more!, 14 Sep 2008
Just like the method of web design he advocates, Steve Krug explains his craft in a simple, logical manner.

A common sense approach to web design? Yes it certainly is, and as someone who is used to ploughing through text heavy web design and online marketing textbooks, this book is a welcome relief. It is well laid out, logically progressive, while still being easy to dip in and out of as necessary.

The chapters dealing with the guiding principles of web design give simple and, sometimes obvious, basic advice, but somehow the way in which they are delivered still manages to stimulate your creative processes. The later chapters dealing with the internal politics of designing a corporate website with multiple stakeholders shows excellent insight, and gives good practical advice about how to manage this process.

This book is for beginners and experts alike and, despite being relatively short, still delivers comprehensive coverage of the subject.


A little knowledge is a dangerous thing..., 28 Aug 2008
First things first.. this is not a book for web designers, graphic artists, developers or anyone who actually has to do these sorts of tasks for a living (or even for a hobby, for that matter). You will not learn anything from this book that you don't already know and, in fact, there is some stuff in here that I think it would be better off NOT knowing, particularly some of the garishly coloured and clustered monstrosities that are heralded as examples of good design.

The only people who would find this book useful are management-types and marketing people... the kind of people who really should stick to pushing pens and emailing rather than getting involved in the dirty work of designing and developing a succesful website. This book could do a lot of damage in terms of giving delusions of grandeur to these sorts of people!

Much of the advice given in the book is out of date, and many of the example websites are now either not there or have been altered to the extreme. On a posative note, this book does state the obvious to quite a phenominal level and I suppose there may be some people to whom this may be of benefit.

Personally, i'd reccomend any web proffesionals who are thinking of buying this book to stay the heck away!! If you're a manager/marketing person or someone who needs to create the illusion that you know what you're talking about when asked to comment on a website, then this book may be of benefit.

Common sense. Why dont more web developers read it?, 13 Aug 2008
Everything this book says is just common sense. When designing websites, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that people will actually be using your published work! How many times have you been to a site only to think "where's the search box" or when entering some details into your online bank account and then press the "enter key" it doesn't login, it goes off to a "apply for a new savings account". Very confusing. In these circumstances, your brain has to think about what has happened, leaving a negative impression in your mind. Not good if you're trying to sell something!

When it comes to the web, first impressions count. Take Amazons new redesign for 2008. Amazon gets quite a lot of coverage in the book as an example of good design, so it's interesting that they have gone away from their old design, that's been around for about a decade. I don't like the new look, because every time I use it I have to think whereas before it was intuitive. That's the whole point of "dont make me think". You should never have to think about how to use a web site. If you need to use your brain to do something simple, the designer has FAILED.

"Dont make me think" is a quick and easy read. It's quite small at 200 pages. It's often reduced on Amazon so keep an eye out for a bargain.

Highly recommended for all developers, even if you don't often do user interfaces. The advice can be applied to all interfaces and not just the web.


"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.

Had very little presentation experience, never heard of Garr, gave a ppt based on this book - really positive feedback on my ppt, 19 Nov 2008
I have never left a review before but this book really helped me. I have made the odd slide before but nothing fancy. I needed to give a full presentation as part of an assignment and as part of my work role. I had created the usual text laden ppt that I had experience of seeing others present. I needed some literature to back up my decision in my assignment and found this book. In one day it transformed my whole presentation. I had lots of fun using pictures suggested from istockphoto and the critical audience that I presented to was really impressed with the slides I had produced. Yes most of what he says is common sense when you think about it - but the book is so easy to follow and you will kick yourself for not realising it all by yourself! However sometimes you need things pointed out to you simply! Its an easy read and can make a difference! I would strongly recommend this book - in fact I already have!

Should be required reading for presenters, 14 Nov 2008
Bought this on "spec", and found it extremely useful. Written in a light and easy manner, never preachy, yet supplying valuable concepts and rules for all presentations.

Should be required readings for anybody wanting to create a powerpoint presentation, as there are soooo many bad PP's out there.

Only looses five full stars because it relies a lot on asking you to use stock photographs from sites such as iStockPhoto, that need a subscription - which few can afford.

Replace Bullet Points with Dental Posters That Evoke Positive Feelings, Tell Stories, and Be Mentally Present, 21 Oct 2008
Long before there was PowerPoint, most presentations contained more columns of numbers and bullet points than pictures. PowerPoint seemed designed to capture the essence of those transparencies and make it faster to create them . . . while adding color. Compared to those ugly transparencies, PowerPoint seemed like an improvement.

By comparison, my dentist has always covered his walls with beautiful bleed images of gorgeous places combined with intriguing sayings about life. Those posters are the only uplifting thing about my trips to the dentist's office. He doesn't tell me any entertaining stories.

In presentationzen, Garr Reynolds shares with us that today's audiences like a standard PowerPoint presentation about as much as I like going to the dentist (I doubt if you are surprised by that). His prescription is to turn the typical presentation into a series of stories aided by exhibits that remind me of those dental posters while being very responsive (present . . . in his terminology) to the audience.

The book's main strength, and one that makes it well worth reading and following, is in describing a process that can be used to create a presentation that will be compelling. Even when I see a presentation that I like, I don't learn much from the example because the presenter doesn't share the process behind the result.

The examples almost all showed someone in a black turtle neck, black pants, and black shoes who looked like a Steve Jobs acolyte. As a result, there's an Apple versus Microsoft tone to the book that didn't match any environment where I ever see or give presentations (usually board rooms and senior corporate conference rooms).

Most presentations should be much shorter, should have a lot less material, and should be much easier to grasp. This book will help you if that's the way you want to go. Beware, however, that you don't go over the edge into becoming an "artiste" in your presentations. This book will probably push you a little too far in that direction.

For those who cannot imagine how an image might fit into a presentation, this book will be a great breath of fresh air. To those who want to copy the advice closely, keep your audience in mind. You might try to take them places where they don't want to go.

In my 30-plus years of presentation experience, I find that the story is the key to success. One good story will more than carry the day. You can draw on a chalk board with your fingernails for graphics and a good story will still work just fine. To me, the weakness of this book is that it doesn't pay enough to the story telling aspect of successful presentations.

I recommend Stephen Denning's books on story telling to help you with that aspect of presentations.


Must read for people doing Presentation, 08 Oct 2008
This book is a must read on the Topic. Some people might find it not practical but I don't agree, it's just that it makes you think on the way we've been taught to do Powerpoint presentation. And from there Garr Reynolds gives you the keys on how to prepare, design and deliver your presentation. Presentation is in our everyday life, face to face, powerpoint, meeting, selling etc... Presentation Zen is a classic in Business (read also his blog)

Presentations worth meditating on...., 16 Sep 2008
This concise book is a real breath of fresh air in presentation design. Stripping the art of presenting back to basics, Garr Reynolds advocates a clean and simple form of presentation that he argues strengthens a presentation's quality.

I'd certainly agree and the book is beatifully illustrated with examples of this crisp and clean design style. I used the book as inspiration for a series of presentations (both for myself and my graphic design team) and the resulting presentations were a massive improvement on previous work and very well received.

If you like long lists of bullet points, don't buy this boo. If you like clean and elegant work, get a copy now!

Very Good Book, 13 Aug 2008
A very good book for beginners.Its not the book that will make you expert but it helps you to understand how the basics of HTML works.Also very well written!

from a very keen newbe to HTML and CSS, 13 Feb 2008
I can not recommend this book highly enough. While I am sure the professionals find it's lay out too simple. IT WAS IDEAL FOR ME! I have had it now 3 weeks and have just published my first web site and it looks good!! Can't believe it!

Clear concise layout with easy to follow instructions on things that really are complicated. (Trust me I have three other books that make it look like code that only people with degrees in computer science could understand!)

If you can't get a basic page up and run by the end of this book I strongly recommend you pay someone to do it for you.

It has made me keen enough to perhaps get a book that goes into some of the areas in more detail now that I have the grounding knowledge.

But saying that I still think this book will always be close to hand as a quick reference point for many years to come.....

Difficult read, 10 Feb 2008
I'm afraid I have to agree with other reviewers that have criticised the writing style of the author in this book. She seems to be targeting the beginner with an introduction of how the internet and world wide web evolved and what a web page is but then the actual instructions dive right in at a deep end of assumed knowledge. I have some knowledge of computing but am not an expert by any means. I bought this to accompany an evening class I am attending but I am finding it a hard read. Not one for the complete beginner but might work as a useful reference book when I acquire a bit more knowledge.

The raw information. Up to you to make sense of it., 23 Jan 2008
OK, I'm not a complete idiot, I taught myself basic html bit by bit in short spurts at my local bookstore without ever buying a book. Now I wanted to start understanding a bit more about XHTML and CSS, so I asked for this book for Christmas.

It has turned out to be one of the worst written 'teach yourself' books that I have ever read, and by golly, I've read a few. What kind of teacher uses jargon in the first chapter of her book to explain more jargon? Instead of using simple examples involving nothing but the elements learned in a given chapter, she introduces code that hasn't yet been covered as illustration!

One might expect some kind of systematic order in a book this expensive... otherwise, you might as well go to any random techie website (some of which are actually much clearer than this book!) and hope that some reccurent piece of gobbledigook will start making sense after enough repetition. Same experience, a hell of alot cheaper!

The information is there, which is why I give it two stars instead of one, there's just not way for a novice to access it. ANd if you're not a novice, then you don't need this book. I expect a book that anounces itself as 'quickstart for beginners' to to the teaching for me in layman's terms, not for me to have to assimilate all the information before being able to start making sense of it for myself and processing it so that it becomes useful. Believe me, try something else. This is poor.

Awful, 17 Dec 2007
ALthough I have voted Mr Fulcher's review as helpful I feel it is utterly necessary to formally register my complete and undeviating agreement with what he has written. I can add no more than say that this book as about as helpful as a small teaspoon is in shifting a pile of rotten manure.

A useful guide to Usability Testing, 18 Oct 2008
Steve Krug has written this book in plain English in order for everyone to understand web usability testing.
The book contains screenshots, which gives a better picture of the discussed themes.

It's not just for Web Design - apply to everything, 08 Oct 2008
One of the best book I have read this year. Gives you all the basics on usability, how to understand people and how they use websites. It's a must buy as it will be useful for almost everything in business. Don't make people think, due to internet we switch attention so quickly!

All of the basics - and more!, 14 Sep 2008
Just like the method of web design he advocates, Steve Krug explains his craft in a simple, logical manner.

A common sense approach to web design? Yes it certainly is, and as someone who is used to ploughing through text heavy web design and online marketing textbooks, this book is a welcome relief. It is well laid out, logically progressive, while still being easy to dip in and out of as necessary.

The chapters dealing with the guiding principles of web design give simple and, sometimes obvious, basic advice, but somehow the way in which they are delivered still manages to stimulate your creative processes. The later chapters dealing with the internal politics of designing a corporate website with multiple stakeholders shows excellent insight, and gives good practical advice about how to manage this process.

This book is for beginners and experts alike and, despite being relatively short, still delivers comprehensive coverage of the subject.


A little knowledge is a dangerous thing..., 28 Aug 2008
First things first.. this is not a book for web designers, graphic artists, developers or anyone who actually has to do these sorts of tasks for a living (or even for a hobby, for that matter). You will not learn anything from this book that you don't already know and, in fact, there is some stuff in here that I think it would be better off NOT knowing, particularly some of the garishly coloured and clustered monstrosities that are heralded as examples of good design.

The only people who would find this book useful are management-types and marketing people... the kind of people who really should stick to pushing pens and emailing rather than getting involved in the dirty work of designing and developing a succesful website. This book could do a lot of damage in terms of giving delusions of grandeur to these sorts of people!

Much of the advice given in the book is out of date, and many of the example websites are now either not there or have been altered to the extreme. On a posative note, this book does state the obvious to quite a phenominal level and I suppose there may be some people to whom this may be of benefit.

Personally, i'd reccomend any web proffesionals who are thinking of buying this book to stay the heck away!! If you're a manager/marketing person or someone who needs to create the illusion that you know what you're talking about when asked to comment on a website, then this book may be of benefit.

Common sense. Why dont more web developers read it?, 13 Aug 2008
Everything this book says is just common sense. When designing websites, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that people will actually be using your published work! How many times have you been to a site only to think "where's the search box" or when entering some details into your online bank account and then press the "enter key" it doesn't login, it goes off to a "apply for a new savings account". Very confusing. In these circumstances, your brain has to think about what has happened, leaving a negative impression in your mind. Not good if you're trying to sell something!

When it comes to the web, first impressions count. Take Amazons new redesign for 2008. Amazon gets quite a lot of coverage in the book as an example of good design, so it's interesting that they have gone away from their old design, that's been around for about a decade. I don't like the new look, because every time I use it I have to think whereas before it was intuitive. That's the whole point of "dont make me think". You should never have to think about how to use a web site. If you need to use your brain to do something simple, the designer has FAILED.

"Dont make me think" is a quick and easy read. It's quite small at 200 pages. It's often reduced on Amazon so keep an eye out for a bargain.

Highly recommended for all developers, even if you don't often do user interfaces. The advice can be applied to all interfaces and not just the web.


"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.

Had very little presentation experience, never heard of Garr, gave a ppt based on this book - really positive feedback on my ppt, 19 Nov 2008
I have never left a review before but this book really helped me. I have made the odd slide before but nothing fancy. I needed to give a full presentation as part of an assignment and as part of my work role. I had created the usual text laden ppt that I had experience of seeing others present. I needed some literature to back up my decision in my assignment and found this book. In one day it transformed my whole presentation. I had lots of fun using pictures suggested from istockphoto and the critical audience that I presented to was really impressed with the slides I had produced. Yes most of what he says is common sense when you think about it - but the book is so easy to follow and you will kick yourself for not realising it all by yourself! However sometimes you need things pointed out to you simply! Its an easy read and can make a difference! I would strongly recommend this book - in fact I already have!

Should be required reading for presenters, 14 Nov 2008
Bought this on "spec", and found it extremely useful. Written in a light and easy manner, never preachy, yet supplying valuable concepts and rules for all presentations.

Should be required readings for anybody wanting to create a powerpoint presentation, as there are soooo many bad PP's out there.

Only looses five full stars because it relies a lot on asking you to use stock photographs from sites such as iStockPhoto, that need a subscription - which few can afford.

Replace Bullet Points with Dental Posters That Evoke Positive Feelings, Tell Stories, and Be Mentally Present, 21 Oct 2008
Long before there was PowerPoint, most presentations contained more columns of numbers and bullet points than pictures. PowerPoint seemed designed to capture the essence of those transparencies and make it faster to create them . . . while adding color. Compared to those ugly transparencies, PowerPoint seemed like an improvement.

By comparison, my dentist has always covered his walls with beautiful bleed images of gorgeous places combined with intriguing sayings about life. Those posters are the only uplifting thing about my trips to the dentist's office. He doesn't tell me any entertaining stories.

In presentationzen, Garr Reynolds shares with us that today's audiences like a standard PowerPoint presentation about as much as I like going to the dentist (I doubt if you are surprised by that). His prescription is to turn the typical presentation into a series of stories aided by exhibits that remind me of those dental posters while being very responsive (present . . . in his terminology) to the audience.

The book's main strength, and one that makes it well worth reading and following, is in describing a process that can be used to create a presentation that will be compelling. Even when I see a presentation that I like, I don't learn much from the example because the presenter doesn't share the process behind the result.

The examples almost all showed someone in a black turtle neck, black pants, and black shoes who looked like a Steve Jobs acolyte. As a result, there's an Apple versus Microsoft tone to the book that didn't match any environment where I ever see or give presentations (usually board rooms and senior corporate conference rooms).

Most presentations should be much shorter, should have a lot less material, and should be much easier to grasp. This book will help you if that's the way you want to go. Beware, however, that you don't go over the edge into becoming an "artiste" in your presentations. This book will probably push you a little too far in that direction.

For those who cannot imagine how an image might fit into a presentation, this book will be a great breath of fresh air. To those who want to copy the advice closely, keep your audience in mind. You might try to take them places where they don't want to go.

In my 30-plus years of presentation experience, I find that the story is the key to success. One good story will more than carry the day. You can draw on a chalk board with your fingernails for graphics and a good story will still work just fine. To me, the weakness of this book is that it doesn't pay enough to the story telling aspect of successful presentations.

I recommend Stephen Denning's books on story telling to help you with that aspect of presentations.


Must read for people doing Presentation, 08 Oct 2008
This book is a must read on the Topic. Some people might find it not practical but I don't agree, it's just that it makes you think on the way we've been taught to do Powerpoint presentation. And from there Garr Reynolds gives you the keys on how to prepare, design and deliver your presentation. Presentation is in our everyday life, face to face, powerpoint, meeting, selling etc... Presentation Zen is a classic in Business (read also his blog)

Presentations worth meditating on...., 16 Sep 2008
This concise book is a real breath of fresh air in presentation design. Stripping the art of presenting back to basics, Garr Reynolds advocates a clean and simple form of presentation that he argues strengthens a presentation's quality.

I'd certainly agree and the book is beatifully illustrated with examples of this crisp and clean design style. I used the book as inspiration for a series of presentations (both for myself and my graphic design team) and the resulting presentations were a massive improvement on previous work and very well received.

If you like long lists of bullet points, don't buy this boo. If you like clean and elegant work, get a copy now!

Very Good Book, 13 Aug 2008
A very good book for beginners.Its not the book that will make you expert but it helps you to understand how the basics of HTML works.Also very well written!

from a very keen newbe to HTML and CSS, 13 Feb 2008
I can not recommend this book highly enough. While I am sure the professionals find it's lay out too simple. IT WAS IDEAL FOR ME! I have had it now 3 weeks and have just published my first web site and it looks good!! Can't believe it!

Clear concise layout with easy to follow instructions on things that really are complicated. (Trust me I have three other books that make it look like code that only people with degrees in computer science could understand!)

If you can't get a basic page up and run by the end of this book I strongly recommend you pay someone to do it for you.

It has made me keen enough to perhaps get a book that goes into some of the areas in more detail now that I have the grounding knowledge.

But saying that I still think this book will always be close to hand as a quick reference point for many years to come.....

Difficult read, 10 Feb 2008
I'm afraid I have to agree with other reviewers that have criticised the writing style of the author in this book. She seems to be targeting the beginner with an introduction of how the internet and world wide web evolved and what a web page is but then the actual instructions dive right in at a deep end of assumed knowledge. I have some knowledge of computing but am not an expert by any means. I bought this to accompany an evening class I am attending but I am finding it a hard read. Not one for the complete beginner but might work as a useful reference book when I acquire a bit more knowledge.

The raw information. Up to you to make sense of it., 23 Jan 2008
OK, I'm not a complete idiot, I taught myself basic html bit by bit in short spurts at my local bookstore without ever buying a book. Now I wanted to start understanding a bit more about XHTML and CSS, so I asked for this book for Christmas.

It has turned out to be one of the worst written 'teach yourself' books that I have ever read, and by golly, I've read a few. What kind of teacher uses jargon in the first chapter of her book to explain more jargon? Instead of using simple examples involving nothing but the elements learned in a given chapter, she introduces code that hasn't yet been covered as illustration!

One might expect some kind of systematic order in a book this expensive... otherwise, you might as well go to any random techie website (some of which are actually much clearer than this book!) and hope that some reccurent piece of gobbledigook will start making sense after enough repetition. Same experience, a hell of alot cheaper!

The information is there, which is why I give it two stars instead of one, there's just not way for a novice to access it. ANd if you're not a novice, then you don't need this book. I expect a book that anounces itself as 'quickstart for beginners' to to the teaching for me in layman's terms, not for me to have to assimilate all the information before being able to start making sense of it for myself and processing it so that it becomes useful. Believe me, try something else. This is poor.

Awful, 17 Dec 2007
ALthough I have voted Mr Fulcher's review as helpful I feel it is utterly necessary to formally register my complete and undeviating agreement with what he has written. I can add no more than say that this book as about as helpful as a small teaspoon is in shifting a pile of rotten manure.

One of the best, 13 Sep 2008
I have been using flash for years and there are still some great tricks that I have learnt from this book. I lecture flash at university to complete beginners and I intend to point them in the direction of this book. The exercises look great and are FUN to complete. Flash is not the easiest program to learn. The beauty of this book is that the content is so engaging, the exercises rewarding, you might not even notice you are learning along the way.

Top book even for beginners!, 22 Feb 2008
You don't really need an advanced knowledge of Flash to use this book. How to cheat in flash is very, very good. It is targetted mostly at cartoon animators rather than users that will want to do Action Scripting, presentation or web development. This book will guide you through from start to finish for a lot of basic animation techniques and provides a good insight into how to implement your own ideas. it also gives instruction on how to perform commands etc on both the Windows and Mac. Again, I would only recommend this book if you are into cartoon animation mainly, otherwise there are probably better books out there.

Too technical, 19 Feb 2008
Its a good book, but no good for begginers.
It assumes you already know where things are and how to do some things.
If your just learning how to use flash (as I am) this is not the book for you.


Flashtastic, 10 Dec 2007
Firstly I would like to say that when I reviewed this book a few weeks ago there was a post which thankfully has been removed.
Basically it dismissed this book because it suggested that it helps you 'cheat'
I for one am glad I wasn't put off because this book is fantastic!! It covers everything that you will need to know.
From design styles and basic drawing to using video and audio.
It even tackles action scripting very cool! this book is going to save me so much time only wish I had stumbled across it sooner
there's even a cd with the different graphics so you can play around when your reading this book.

Brilliant pot-pourri of flash, 04 Nov 2007
A great little book that is a pleasure to open and read. Well illustrated and presented - a book with high production values. The title (forget the cheating bit) describes the contents perfectly - The art of design and Animation - the knowledgeable author teaches great Flash techniques.

A great addition to your flash library.

A useful guide to Usability Testing, 18 Oct 2008
Steve Krug has written this book in plain English in order for everyone to understand web usability testing.
The book contains screenshots, which gives a better picture of the discussed themes.

It's not just for Web Design - apply to everything, 08 Oct 2008
One of the best book I have read this year. Gives you all the basics on usability, how to understand people and how they use websites. It's a must buy as it will be useful for almost everything in business. Don't make people think, due to internet we switch attention so quickly!

All of the basics - and more!, 14 Sep 2008
Just like the method of web design he advocates, Steve Krug explains his craft in a simple, logical manner.

A common sense approach to web design? Yes it certainly is, and as someone who is used to ploughing through text heavy web design and online marketing textbooks, this book is a welcome relief. It is well laid out, logically progressive, while still being easy to dip in and out of as necessary.

The chapters dealing with the guiding principles of web design give simple and, sometimes obvious, basic advice, but somehow the way in which they are delivered still manages to stimulate your creative processes. The later chapters dealing with the internal politics of designing a corporate website with multiple stakeholders shows excellent insight, and gives good practical advice about how to manage this process.

This book is for beginners and experts alike and, despite being relatively short, still delivers comprehensive coverage of the subject.


A little knowledge is a dangerous thing..., 28 Aug 2008
First things first.. this is not a book for web designers, graphic artists, developers or anyone who actually has to do these sorts of tasks for a living (or even for a hobby, for that matter). You will not learn anything from this book that you don't already know and, in fact, there is some stuff in here that I think it would be better off NOT knowing, particularly some of the garishly coloured and clustered monstrosities that are heralded as examples of good design.

The only people who would find this book useful are management-types and marketing people... the kind of people who really should stick to pushing pens and emailing rather than getting involved in the dirty work of designing and developing a succesful website. This book could do a lot of damage in terms of giving delusions of grandeur to these sorts of people!

Much of the advice given in the book is out of date, and many of the example websites are now either not there or have been altered to the extreme. On a posative note, this book does state the obvious to quite a phenominal level and I suppose there may be some people to whom this may be of benefit.

Personally, i'd reccomend any web proffesionals who are thinking of buying this book to stay the heck away!! If you're a manager/marketing person or someone who needs to create the illusion that you know what you're talking about when asked to comment on a website, then this book may be of benefit.

Common sense. Why dont more web developers read it?, 13 Aug 2008
Everything this book says is just common sense. When designing websites, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that people will actually be using your published work! How many times have you been to a site only to think "where's the search box" or when entering some details into your online bank account and then press the "enter key" it doesn't login, it goes off to a "apply for a new savings account". Very confusing. In these circumstances, your brain has to think about what has happened, leaving a negative impression in your mind. Not good if you're trying to sell something!

When it comes to the web, first impressions count. Take Amazons new redesign for 2008. Amazon gets quite a lot of coverage in the book as an example of good design, so it's interesting that they have gone away from their old design, that's been around for about a decade. I don't like the new look, because every time I use it I have to think whereas before it was intuitive. That's the whole point of "dont make me think". You should never have to think about how to use a web site. If you need to use your brain to do something simple, the designer has FAILED.

"Dont make me think" is a quick and easy read. It's quite small at 200 pages. It's often reduced on Amazon so keep an eye out for a bargain.

Highly recommended for all developers, even if you don't often do user interfaces. The advice can be applied to all interfaces and not just the web.


"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.

Had very little presentation experience, never heard of Garr, gave a ppt based on this book - really positive feedback on my ppt, 19 Nov 2008
I have never left a review before but this book really helped me. I have made the odd slide before but nothing fancy. I needed to give a full presentation as part of an assignment and as part of my work role. I had created the usual text laden ppt that I had experience of seeing others present. I needed some literature to back up my decision in my assignment and found this book. In one day it transformed my whole presentation. I had lots of fun using pictures suggested from istockphoto and the critical audience that I presented to was really impressed with the slides I had produced. Yes most of what he says is common sense when you think about it - but the book is so easy to follow and you will kick yourself for not realising it all by yourself! However sometimes you need things pointed out to you simply! Its an easy read and can make a difference! I would strongly recommend this book - in fact I already have!

Should be required reading for presenters, 14 Nov 2008
Bought this on "spec", and found it extremely useful. Written in a light and easy manner, never preachy, yet supplying valuable concepts and rules for all presentations.

Should be required readings for anybody wanting to create a powerpoint presentation, as there are soooo many bad PP's out there.

Only looses five full stars because it relies a lot on asking you to use stock photographs from sites such as iStockPhoto, that need a subscription - which few can afford.

Replace Bullet Points with Dental Posters That Evoke Positive Feelings, Tell Stories, and Be Mentally Present, 21 Oct 2008
Long before there was PowerPoint, most presentations contained more columns of numbers and bullet points than pictures. PowerPoint seemed designed to capture the essence of those transparencies and make it faster to create them . . . while adding color. Compared to those ugly transparencies, PowerPoint seemed like an improvement.

By comparison, my dentist has always covered his walls with beautiful bleed images of gorgeous places combined with intriguing sayings about life. Those posters are the only uplifting thing about my trips to the dentist's office. He doesn't tell me any entertaining stories.

In presentationzen, Garr Reynolds shares with us that today's audiences like a standard PowerPoint presentation about as much as I like going to the dentist (I doubt if you are surprised by that). His prescription is to turn the typical presentation into a series of stories aided by exhibits that remind me of those dental posters while being very responsive (present . . . in his terminology) to the audience.

The book's main strength, and one that makes it well worth reading and following, is in describing a process that can be used to create a presentation that will be compelling. Even when I see a presentation that I like, I don't learn much from the example because the presenter doesn't share the process behind the result.

The examples almost all showed someone in a black turtle neck, black pants, and black shoes who looked like a Steve Jobs acolyte. As a result, there's an Apple versus Microsoft tone to the book that didn't match any environment where I ever see or give presentations (usually board rooms and senior corporate conference rooms).

Most presentations should be much shorter, should have a lot less material, and should be much easier to grasp. This book will help you if that's the way you want to go. Beware, however, that you don't go over the edge into becoming an "artiste" in your presentations. This book will probably push you a little too far in that direction.

For those who cannot imagine how an image might fit into a presentation, this book will be a great breath of fresh air. To those who want to copy the advice closely, keep your audience in mind. You might try to take them places where they don't want to go.

In my 30-plus years of presentation experience, I find that the story is the key to success. One good story will more than carry the day. You can draw on a chalk board with your fingernails for graphics and a good story will still work just fine. To me, the weakness of this book is that it doesn't pay enough to the story telling aspect of successful presentations.

I recommend Stephen Denning's books on story telling to help you with that aspect of presentations.


Must read for people doing Presentation, 08 Oct 2008
This book is a must read on the Topic. Some people might find it not practical but I don't agree, it's just that it makes you think on the way we've been taught to do Powerpoint presentation. And from there Garr Reynolds gives you the keys on how to prepare, design and deliver your presentation. Presentation is in our everyday life, face to face, powerpoint, meeting, selling etc... Presentation Zen is a classic in Business (read also his blog)

Presentations worth meditating on...., 16 Sep 2008
This concise book is a real breath of fresh air in presentation design. Stripping the art of presenting back to basics, Garr Reynolds advocates a clean and simple form of presentation that he argues strengthens a presentation's quality.

I'd certainly agree and the book is beatifully illustrated with examples of this crisp and clean design style. I used the book as inspiration for a series of presentations (both for myself and my graphic design team) and the resulting presentations were a massive improvement on previous work and very well received.

If you like long lists of bullet points, don't buy this boo. If you like clean and elegant work, get a copy now!

Very Good Book, 13 Aug 2008
A very good book for beginners.Its not the book that will make you expert but it helps you to understand how the basics of HTML works.Also very well written!

from a very keen newbe to HTML and CSS, 13 Feb 2008
I can not recommend this book highly enough. While I am sure the professionals find it's lay out too simple. IT WAS IDEAL FOR ME! I have had it now 3 weeks and have just published my first web site and it looks good!! Can't believe it!

Clear concise layout with easy to follow instructions on things that really are complicated. (Trust me I have three other books that make it look like code that only people with degrees in computer science could understand!)

If you can't get a basic page up and run by the end of this book I strongly recommend you pay someone to do it for you.

It has made me keen enough to perhaps get a book that goes into some of the areas in more detail now that I have the grounding knowledge.

But saying that I still think this book will always be close to hand as a quick reference point for many years to come.....

Difficult read, 10 Feb 2008
I'm afraid I have to agree with other reviewers that have criticised the writing style of the author in this book. She seems to be targeting the beginner with an introduction of how the internet and world wide web evolved and what a web page is but then the actual instructions dive right in at a deep end of assumed knowledge. I have some knowledge of computing but am not an expert by any means. I bought this to accompany an evening class I am attending but I am finding it a hard read. Not one for the complete beginner but might work as a useful reference book when I acquire a bit more knowledge.

The raw information. Up to you to make sense of it., 23 Jan 2008
OK, I'm not a complete idiot, I taught myself basic html bit by bit in short spurts at my local bookstore without ever buying a book. Now I wanted to start understanding a bit more about XHTML and CSS, so I asked for this book for Christmas.

It has turned out to be one of the worst written 'teach yourself' books that I have ever read, and by golly, I've read a few. What kind of teacher uses jargon in the first chapter of her book to explain more jargon? Instead of using simple examples involving nothing but the elements learned in a given chapter, she introduces code that hasn't yet been covered as illustration!

One might expect some kind of systematic order in a book this expensive... otherwise, you might as well go to any random techie website (some of which are actually much clearer than this book!) and hope that some reccurent piece of gobbledigook will start making sense after enough repetition. Same experience, a hell of alot cheaper!

The information is there, which is why I give it two stars instead of one, there's just not way for a novice to access it. ANd if you're not a novice, then you don't need this book. I expect a book that anounces itself as 'quickstart for beginners' to to the teaching for me in layman's terms, not for me to have to assimilate all the information before being able to start making sense of it for myself and processing it so that it becomes useful. Believe me, try something else. This is poor.

Awful, 17 Dec 2007
ALthough I have voted Mr Fulcher's review as helpful I feel it is utterly necessary to formally register my complete and undeviating agreement with what he has written. I can add no more than say that this book as about as helpful as a small teaspoon is in shifting a pile of rotten manure.

One of the best, 13 Sep 2008
I have been using flash for years and there are still some great tricks that I have learnt from this book. I lecture flash at university to complete beginners and I intend to point them in the direction of this book. The exercises look great and are FUN to complete. Flash is not the easiest program to learn. The beauty of this book is that the content is so engaging, the exercises rewarding, you might not even notice you are learning along the way.

Top book even for beginners!, 22 Feb 2008
You don't really need an advanced knowledge of Flash to use this book. How to cheat in flash is very, very good. It is targetted mostly at cartoon animators rather than users that will want to do Action Scripting, presentation or web development. This book will guide you through from start to finish for a lot of basic animation techniques and provides a good insight into how to implement your own ideas. it also gives instruction on how to perform commands etc on both the Windows and Mac. Again, I would only recommend this book if you are into cartoon animation mainly, otherwise there are probably better books out there.

Too technical, 19 Feb 2008
Its a good book, but no good for begginers.
It assumes you already know where things are and how to do some things.
If your just learning how to use flash (as I am) this is not the book for you.


Flashtastic, 10 Dec 2007
Firstly I would like to say that when I reviewed this book a few weeks ago there was a post which thankfully has been removed.
Basically it dismissed this book because it suggested that it helps you 'cheat'
I for one am glad I wasn't put off because this book is fantastic!! It covers everything that you will need to know.
From design styles and basic drawing to using video and audio.
It even tackles action scripting very cool! this book is going to save me so much time only wish I had stumbled across it sooner
there's even a cd with the different graphics so you can play around when your reading this book.

Brilliant pot-pourri of flash, 04 Nov 2007
A great little book that is a pleasure to open and read. Well illustrated and presented - a book with high production values. The title (forget the cheating bit) describes the contents perfectly - The art of design and Animation - the knowledgeable author teaches great Flash techniques.

A great addition to your flash library.

One of the Best Books on Graphic Design, 21 Oct 2007
There are hundreds of books at the moment claiming to be the experts on Graphic Design.
Too many either take themselves much too seriously or fall back on the picture book format where
thousands of images lack structure and editing resulting in visual wallpaper.
The classic `Smile in The Mind` however, does neither and has the perfect balance of information and inspiration.
Its no wonder then, it is on the `essential reading' list of any graphic design course worth its salt.
(It could however, be revised to include a few more recent examples)

Rubbish, 27 Aug 2007
Quite one of the worst books I have ever bought. (I have a lot of books.)
The quality of the paper is very poor, matching the quality of the content.
Fat, overpriced, and valueless. Should I feed it to the dog or just throw it on the waste pile?

Must have!, 08 Apr 2006
This is a must have for any graphic design student about to start university, buy it before you go as it will be added to your reading list when you start. It includes many examples of where humour has been used in graphic design. Very insperational!

my mind's not smiling, add more humor, 06 Jan 2004
The previous reviews of this book were missing one important thing: nobody mentioned that the book is not meant to be funny. The back cover of the book says this without hesitation, which was kind of a put-down. The book agrees that wit is essentially a sub-category of humor, and with that previous understanding I was hoping for many more elements of humor. Just don't expect too many laughs...

Overall: the text in the book is great. Thoughtful and well-written. But, it was very straining to look at endless amounts of pictures, that usually require more context (than is given) to be fully understood (and to be funny). The presentation of graphical wit in book format is difficult, as the authors acknowledge, but I still think the authors could have squeezed in some explanations with punch lines to make the presentation witty as well. As it is, the reader has to do all the work to squeeze the wit out of each example.

My view is that this book tried to be too ambitious. Instead of picking only the best wit to be found in each category of wit (the book makes some kind of divisions), the authors have put in many many *small* pictures, none of which are elaborated on. I just felt my enthusiasm/creativity drained by trying to check out all of them.

a smile in my mind, 03 Oct 2003
This book helped me out a great deal when completeing my Graphic Design degree. It displays a variety of different types of wit, and so many things that are so simple and obviously so effective. It opened my mind to a new world of ideas in design and is a great source of inspiration. It is great to have a flick through when you feel as though you have hit a brick wall! Definitely a must for any design student.

A useful guide to Usability Testing, 18 Oct 2008
Steve Krug has written this book in plain English in order for everyone to understand web usability testing.
The book contains screenshots, which gives a better picture of the discussed themes.

It's not just for Web Design - apply to everything, 08 Oct 2008
One of the best book I have read this year. Gives you all the basics on usability, how to understand people and how they use websites. It's a must buy as it will be useful for almost everything in business. Don't make people think, due to internet we switch attention so quickly!

All of the basics - and more!, 14 Sep 2008
Just like the method of web design he advocates, Steve Krug explains his craft in a simple, logical manner.

A common sense approach to web d