Subtitled Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice, this book is for anyone who has to design a newsletter, job ad, flyer, business card, memo, report or whatever, but has no idea what separates good design from bad. Except, of course, that the first looks clear, professional, sophisticated and right, and the second is an ugly, unreadable mess.

Robin Williams has an easily readable style and manages to communicate sometimes complex and sophisticated concepts simply and directly. She rightly assumes that, though most people can recognise bad design when they see it, they don't know why it's bad and are therefore powerless to fix the same problems in their own work.

The bulk of the book is given over to explaining how, by sticking to four basic design principles--contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity--you can eliminate design gremlins from your work. In searching for a memorable and appropriate acronym for this principled approach, Williams admits she was only semi-successful.

The second half of the book deals with how to use type. Once again the approach is to explain simply, directly and with illustrated examples how the relationship between typefaces is defined.

As a college teacher, Williams can't resist the temptation to dot little quizzes, tests and mini-projects throughout the text. These are mostly good fun and reinforce what you've read, though even if you decide to ignore them they won't spoil your enjoyment of the book.

The Non-Designer's Design Book is the kind of book you could read in your lunch break. Its attitude is more "sketch in the margin with a pencil", than "complete the projects on the CD". It would be an ideal primer for anyone starting a design course, as well as those who want to improve the look of their memos. --Ken McMahon

Excellent - used everything here for my ppt presentations, 17 Jul 2008
I bought this book based on the stellar "Presentation Zen" by Garr Reynolds. (A must-read if you do presentations of any type).

What I was seeking to glean from this book was how to improve the look of my PowerPoint presentations. Though Robin doesn't cover this specifically, everything she writes about can be applied to the design of the slides.

The book is aimed at 'non-professional' designers. By this I mean those of us who design things in our work, but aren't trained to do so, e.g. flyers, event alerts, newsletters, reports, business cards, studies, articles, etc.

I found it funny how often she tells us not to be "wimps" in our design choices. I mean she REALLY tells us a lot. But her point is we need to be bold, not "wimps", in our design choices ... but only once we know the basics.

All in all an excellent read. Good examples, good overview at the end of each section, and good pop quizzes to make sure we were paying attention :-)

Not quite as awesome as you'd be led to believe., 28 Apr 2008
I like the concept of this book - a design book that's written for those who aren't essentially designers, but need to use design in everyday life. Based on the idea that you've never studied design before, Williams covers the essential topics and points out the biggest mistakes that beginners make with clear examples, and plenty of "before and after" shots so you not only see why something looks terrible, you also see how simply it can be fixed. It's a short book and it's not difficult to understand. However, I just can't bring myself to give it anything higher than 3 stars because Williams' writing style verges on patronising, and I found it almost TOO basic in places - once you've read it, you'll pretty much never need to refer to it again. If you're a design student, then don't even bother with this. If you're someone who uses design on a casual or non-professional level then you'll benefit from borrowing this book from your local library and reading it cover to cover, but I wouldn't spend any money on it.

The best..., 22 Oct 2007
This is probably the best book in design and typographic principles for a novice that I have read. It has lots of examples and ideas how to use type and design, and not to forget it has a list of the fonts used in the examples which I think is very helpfull.

If you have none or little experience in design or typography this is the book to get.

Prevent design crimes, 30 Aug 2007
Coming from a fine art background rather than graphic design, and having done design work for many people over the years, I have always had nagging doubts that I might be committing design crimes without realising it. Was I choosing the right typefaces? Was I striking the right balance between design and readability?
The answer is, that what has taken me many years to learn by trial and error, the author has condensed into a clear, easily understood, step-by-step read. It has also taught me quite a few tricks I had never considered.
You are taken through a series of single designs, looking at different aspect each time: Contrast, repetition, structure etc. and by the end you have a professional looking layout that can hold it's head up high.
Highly recommended as an easily digestible read for beginners, or others who just needed to know some of the important design rules without going too deep. Wish I'd read it years ago.

Super Guide, 04 Jan 2007
This book is easy to read and covers all the principles that can make great design. It doesn't matter if you want to put together a report, a flyer or the local nursery school jumble sale poster, this book will help you to design a more impressive result. I would go as far as to say this book should be required reading for any non-professional designer that is responsible for producing literature for group or public consumption.

A great starter for anyone interested in design.

Excellent - used everything here for my ppt presentations, 17 Jul 2008
I bought this book based on the stellar "Presentation Zen" by Garr Reynolds. (A must-read if you do presentations of any type).

What I was seeking to glean from this book was how to improve the look of my PowerPoint presentations. Though Robin doesn't cover this specifically, everything she writes about can be applied to the design of the slides.

The book is aimed at 'non-professional' designers. By this I mean those of us who design things in our work, but aren't trained to do so, e.g. flyers, event alerts, newsletters, reports, business cards, studies, articles, etc.

I found it funny how often she tells us not to be "wimps" in our design choices. I mean she REALLY tells us a lot. But her point is we need to be bold, not "wimps", in our design choices ... but only once we know the basics.

All in all an excellent read. Good examples, good overview at the end of each section, and good pop quizzes to make sure we were paying attention :-)

Not quite as awesome as you'd be led to believe., 28 Apr 2008
I like the concept of this book - a design book that's written for those who aren't essentially designers, but need to use design in everyday life. Based on the idea that you've never studied design before, Williams covers the essential topics and points out the biggest mistakes that beginners make with clear examples, and plenty of "before and after" shots so you not only see why something looks terrible, you also see how simply it can be fixed. It's a short book and it's not difficult to understand. However, I just can't bring myself to give it anything higher than 3 stars because Williams' writing style verges on patronising, and I found it almost TOO basic in places - once you've read it, you'll pretty much never need to refer to it again. If you're a design student, then don't even bother with this. If you're someone who uses design on a casual or non-professional level then you'll benefit from borrowing this book from your local library and reading it cover to cover, but I wouldn't spend any money on it.

The best..., 22 Oct 2007
This is probably the best book in design and typographic principles for a novice that I have read. It has lots of examples and ideas how to use type and design, and not to forget it has a list of the fonts used in the examples which I think is very helpfull.

If you have none or little experience in design or typography this is the book to get.

Prevent design crimes, 30 Aug 2007
Coming from a fine art background rather than graphic design, and having done design work for many people over the years, I have always had nagging doubts that I might be committing design crimes without realising it. Was I choosing the right typefaces? Was I striking the right balance between design and readability?
The answer is, that what has taken me many years to learn by trial and error, the author has condensed into a clear, easily understood, step-by-step read. It has also taught me quite a few tricks I had never considered.
You are taken through a series of single designs, looking at different aspect each time: Contrast, repetition, structure etc. and by the end you have a professional looking layout that can hold it's head up high.
Highly recommended as an easily digestible read for beginners, or others who just needed to know some of the important design rules without going too deep. Wish I'd read it years ago.

Super Guide, 04 Jan 2007
This book is easy to read and covers all the principles that can make great design. It doesn't matter if you want to put together a report, a flyer or the local nursery school jumble sale poster, this book will help you to design a more impressive result. I would go as far as to say this book should be required reading for any non-professional designer that is responsible for producing literature for group or public consumption.

A great starter for anyone interested in design.

A very useful practical book, 10 Jun 2007
The first edition of this book was one of the first typography books I purchased and I still refer to it on a regular basis. Since type became democratized it has been easy to experiment, often to the detriment of clarity and it is sometimes easy to forget that it is, foremost, a communication tool. The layout is inspiring but never gets in the way of the subject and, unlike many books on the subject, this actually has an alphabetical list of typographical conventions (eg - when to use a mid-point as opposed to a full point) which is a godsend when you are out of college and trying to convince an employer that you really know your subject. A fantastic book.

An interesting and educational book, 23 Sep 2003
Written by lecturers at Central St Martin's College in London, this is a great book - they know their stuff. It is a fusion of great design and layout combined with the technical nitty gritty and history of type. All really interesting for those of us who are interested in type and typography. I would definitely recommend it.

Not as comprehensive or detailed as I hoped, 25 Jul 2003
This book is nicely produced, but I found the content a bit lacking in substance. Having just read Ruari McLean's Typography, written almost a quarter of a century ago, I was looking for something that was more advanced, Type & Typography is simply not it. Too much space is wasted on large colour pages that add little, the historical dimension is weak.

Typographers bible, 30 Aug 2002
This book examines the history, evolution and mechanics of typography in a clear, concise manner. It can be dipped into very easily for specific information and is full of illustrated examples to clarify points made in each section. As a reference book it should provide help for all levels and I'm sure that my copy will become a well thumbed addition to my library.

I have not read the whole book yet, at over 180 pages it can be alot to take in, but the chapters I have read are exhaustive and put typography into context. An example of this can be found early on with a definition of the term, followed by further investigation into function and form, where the alphabet is deconstructed and explained.

As a teacher I am sure that I will use this book in many instances and adapt the information for my own uses. If you are at all interested in type or design this book will not disappoint.

Excellent - used everything here for my ppt presentations, 17 Jul 2008
I bought this book based on the stellar "Presentation Zen" by Garr Reynolds. (A must-read if you do presentations of any type).

What I was seeking to glean from this book was how to improve the look of my PowerPoint presentations. Though Robin doesn't cover this specifically, everything she writes about can be applied to the design of the slides.

The book is aimed at 'non-professional' designers. By this I mean those of us who design things in our work, but aren't trained to do so, e.g. flyers, event alerts, newsletters, reports, business cards, studies, articles, etc.

I found it funny how often she tells us not to be "wimps" in our design choices. I mean she REALLY tells us a lot. But her point is we need to be bold, not "wimps", in our design choices ... but only once we know the basics.

All in all an excellent read. Good examples, good overview at the end of each section, and good pop quizzes to make sure we were paying attention :-)

Not quite as awesome as you'd be led to believe., 28 Apr 2008
I like the concept of this book - a design book that's written for those who aren't essentially designers, but need to use design in everyday life. Based on the idea that you've never studied design before, Williams covers the essential topics and points out the biggest mistakes that beginners make with clear examples, and plenty of "before and after" shots so you not only see why something looks terrible, you also see how simply it can be fixed. It's a short book and it's not difficult to understand. However, I just can't bring myself to give it anything higher than 3 stars because Williams' writing style verges on patronising, and I found it almost TOO basic in places - once you've read it, you'll pretty much never need to refer to it again. If you're a design student, then don't even bother with this. If you're someone who uses design on a casual or non-professional level then you'll benefit from borrowing this book from your local library and reading it cover to cover, but I wouldn't spend any money on it.

The best..., 22 Oct 2007
This is probably the best book in design and typographic principles for a novice that I have read. It has lots of examples and ideas how to use type and design, and not to forget it has a list of the fonts used in the examples which I think is very helpfull.

If you have none or little experience in design or typography this is the book to get.

Prevent design crimes, 30 Aug 2007
Coming from a fine art background rather than graphic design, and having done design work for many people over the years, I have always had nagging doubts that I might be committing design crimes without realising it. Was I choosing the right typefaces? Was I striking the right balance between design and readability?
The answer is, that what has taken me many years to learn by trial and error, the author has condensed into a clear, easily understood, step-by-step read. It has also taught me quite a few tricks I had never considered.
You are taken through a series of single designs, looking at different aspect each time: Contrast, repetition, structure etc. and by the end you have a professional looking layout that can hold it's head up high.
Highly recommended as an easily digestible read for beginners, or others who just needed to know some of the important design rules without going too deep. Wish I'd read it years ago.

Super Guide, 04 Jan 2007
This book is easy to read and covers all the principles that can make great design. It doesn't matter if you want to put together a report, a flyer or the local nursery school jumble sale poster, this book will help you to design a more impressive result. I would go as far as to say this book should be required reading for any non-professional designer that is responsible for producing literature for group or public consumption.

A great starter for anyone interested in design.

A very useful practical book, 10 Jun 2007
The first edition of this book was one of the first typography books I purchased and I still refer to it on a regular basis. Since type became democratized it has been easy to experiment, often to the detriment of clarity and it is sometimes easy to forget that it is, foremost, a communication tool. The layout is inspiring but never gets in the way of the subject and, unlike many books on the subject, this actually has an alphabetical list of typographical conventions (eg - when to use a mid-point as opposed to a full point) which is a godsend when you are out of college and trying to convince an employer that you really know your subject. A fantastic book.

An interesting and educational book, 23 Sep 2003
Written by lecturers at Central St Martin's College in London, this is a great book - they know their stuff. It is a fusion of great design and layout combined with the technical nitty gritty and history of type. All really interesting for those of us who are interested in type and typography. I would definitely recommend it.

Not as comprehensive or detailed as I hoped, 25 Jul 2003
This book is nicely produced, but I found the content a bit lacking in substance. Having just read Ruari McLean's Typography, written almost a quarter of a century ago, I was looking for something that was more advanced, Type & Typography is simply not it. Too much space is wasted on large colour pages that add little, the historical dimension is weak.

Typographers bible, 30 Aug 2002
This book examines the history, evolution and mechanics of typography in a clear, concise manner. It can be dipped into very easily for specific information and is full of illustrated examples to clarify points made in each section. As a reference book it should provide help for all levels and I'm sure that my copy will become a well thumbed addition to my library.

I have not read the whole book yet, at over 180 pages it can be alot to take in, but the chapters I have read are exhaustive and put typography into context. An example of this can be found early on with a definition of the term, followed by further investigation into function and form, where the alphabet is deconstructed and explained.

As a teacher I am sure that I will use this book in many instances and adapt the information for my own uses. If you are at all interested in type or design this book will not disappoint.

average, 28 Mar 2007
Nothing specail there are probarly better books out there, as well as worse. Has tracing paper over some examples which is nice empahising the use of the grid but would have liked lots more examples rather than the loads of square thumbnails of simple layouts

Great design book.A must have!, 16 Jan 2007
I feel that this book would quite easily appeal to the experienced designer aswell as the more in experienced one, as the book clearly explores and shows the way in which the grid has been used thourgh out design. It explores how the grid played a huge part within constructivism and also looks at some much more modern layouts. The way that the book has the grid so you can overlap it with the image of the design, in the form of tracing paper, is a very innotive one that i really think works well. I think that this is a very important book to have on any designers book shelf.

Gridlock!, 20 Nov 2005
I became aware of how important grids are when I was at art college and came across the first issue of a new design magazine, 'New Graphic Design' in 1958. Published in Switzerland in English, German and French and containing dozens of pictures, without a strict grid all the issues of this stunning publication would look a mess. The grid, put simply is a framework which allows several elements (photos, graphics, text, display type etc) to be placed in a rectangle and all work towards one aim, clarity of presentation. Virtually all publications use a grid (in its simplest form it could be called the type area) check out the page number position in a magazine, always in the same place defined by the grid.

Having used grids for years I'm surprised that there is so much confusion but that was before I read through Kimberley Elam's book. The straightforward becomes the obscure despite the good intentions. The most useful parts are the pages that use a see-through overlay, revealing the essence of the grid and nicely some disasters, too. What could be simpler than the two examples shown on page thirty-eight and nine, Christof Gassner's 1960 redesign of one page of a theater program, from the dull and confusing to something so elegant and simple. What is really interesting about the page is that it is all done with type only. Page forty-five uses another overlay for the contents spread of a book (designed by Drenttel Doyle Partners in 1988) the see-through reveals a simple grid but the actual spread is a complete mess with type everywhere, even the three words 'Table of contents' is letterspaced in two typefaces, roman and sans.

The two examples of the grid I've mentioned perhaps sum up the problems that a reader of this book might have, most of the European grid examples shown use the grid to simplify the placing of all the elements on a page, especially the typography. The American examples show basic grid versions that are virtually ignored when it comes to placing the page elements. This becomes evident in the last pages of the book where thirty-four design thumbnails are shown, one would not know they conform to any grid at all as each example shows a mixture of display type, text setting and graphics in no coherent order, in fact the very opposite of what a grid is supposed to do with these same elements. Perhaps the key element in any publication grid is the size of the text and headline types, because these (especially the text size) remain the same on every page and other elements, photos and graphics, need to be positioned within the grid defined by the typography.

I think 'Grid Systems' is pretty hopeless in explaining the virtues of this essential design format and strangely there is a real dearth of titles about the subject, perhaps it's just a bit too narrow or technical for most graphic art publishers. The great Swiss designer Josef Muller-Brockmann explains it all in his excellent 'Grid Systems in Graphic Design' (ISBN 3721201450) though it's not mentioned in the bibliography of 'Grid Systems' but two of his other books are.

Excellent - used everything here for my ppt presentations, 17 Jul 2008
I bought this book based on the stellar "Presentation Zen" by Garr Reynolds. (A must-read if you do presentations of any type).

What I was seeking to glean from this book was how to improve the look of my PowerPoint presentations. Though Robin doesn't cover this specifically, everything she writes about can be applied to the design of the slides.

The book is aimed at 'non-professional' designers. By this I mean those of us who design things in our work, but aren't trained to do so, e.g. flyers, event alerts, newsletters, reports, business cards, studies, articles, etc.

I found it funny how often she tells us not to be "wimps" in our design choices. I mean she REALLY tells us a lot. But her point is we need to be bold, not "wimps", in our design choices ... but only once we know the basics.

All in all an excellent read. Good examples, good overview at the end of each section, and good pop quizzes to make sure we were paying attention :-)

Not quite as awesome as you'd be led to believe., 28 Apr 2008
I like the concept of this book - a design book that's written for those who aren't essentially designers, but need to use design in everyday life. Based on the idea that you've never studied design before, Williams covers the essential topics and points out the biggest mistakes that beginners make with clear examples, and plenty of "before and after" shots so you not only see why something looks terrible, you also see how simply it can be fixed. It's a short book and it's not difficult to understand. However, I just can't bring myself to give it anything higher than 3 stars because Williams' writing style verges on patronising, and I found it almost TOO basic in places - once you've read it, you'll pretty much never need to refer to it again. If you're a design student, then don't even bother with this. If you're someone who uses design on a casual or non-professional level then you'll benefit from borrowing this book from your local library and reading it cover to cover, but I wouldn't spend any money on it.

The best..., 22 Oct 2007
This is probably the best book in design and typographic principles for a novice that I have read. It has lots of examples and ideas how to use type and design, and not to forget it has a list of the fonts used in the examples which I think is very helpfull.

If you have none or little experience in design or typography this is the book to get.

Prevent design crimes, 30 Aug 2007
Coming from a fine art background rather than graphic design, and having done design work for many people over the years, I have always had nagging doubts that I might be committing design crimes without realising it. Was I choosing the right typefaces? Was I striking the right balance between design and readability?
The answer is, that what has taken me many years to learn by trial and error, the author has condensed into a clear, easily understood, step-by-step read. It has also taught me quite a few tricks I had never considered.
You are taken through a series of single designs, looking at different aspect each time: Contrast, repetition, structure etc. and by the end you have a professional looking layout that can hold it's head up high.
Highly recommended as an easily digestible read for beginners, or others who just needed to know some of the important design rules without going too deep. Wish I'd read it years ago.

Super Guide, 04 Jan 2007
This book is easy to read and covers all the principles that can make great design. It doesn't matter if you want to put together a report, a flyer or the local nursery school jumble sale poster, this book will help you to design a more impressive result. I would go as far as to say this book should be required reading for any non-professional designer that is responsible for producing literature for group or public consumption.

A great starter for anyone interested in design.

A very useful practical book, 10 Jun 2007
The first edition of this book was one of the first typography books I purchased and I still refer to it on a regular basis. Since type became democratized it has been easy to experiment, often to the detriment of clarity and it is sometimes easy to forget that it is, foremost, a communication tool. The layout is inspiring but never gets in the way of the subject and, unlike many books on the subject, this actually has an alphabetical list of typographical conventions (eg - when to use a mid-point as opposed to a full point) which is a godsend when you are out of college and trying to convince an employer that you really know your subject. A fantastic book.

An interesting and educational book, 23 Sep 2003
Written by lecturers at Central St Martin's College in London, this is a great book - they know their stuff. It is a fusion of great design and layout combined with the technical nitty gritty and history of type. All really interesting for those of us who are interested in type and typography. I would definitely recommend it.

Not as comprehensive or detailed as I hoped, 25 Jul 2003
This book is nicely produced, but I found the content a bit lacking in substance. Having just read Ruari McLean's Typography, written almost a quarter of a century ago, I was looking for something that was more advanced, Type & Typography is simply not it. Too much space is wasted on large colour pages that add little, the historical dimension is weak.

Typographers bible, 30 Aug 2002
This book examines the history, evolution and mechanics of typography in a clear, concise manner. It can be dipped into very easily for specific information and is full of illustrated examples to clarify points made in each section. As a reference book it should provide help for all levels and I'm sure that my copy will become a well thumbed addition to my library.

I have not read the whole book yet, at over 180 pages it can be alot to take in, but the chapters I have read are exhaustive and put typography into context. An example of this can be found early on with a definition of the term, followed by further investigation into function and form, where the alphabet is deconstructed and explained.

As a teacher I am sure that I will use this book in many instances and adapt the information for my own uses. If you are at all interested in type or design this book will not disappoint.

average, 28 Mar 2007
Nothing specail there are probarly better books out there, as well as worse. Has tracing paper over some examples which is nice empahising the use of the grid but would have liked lots more examples rather than the loads of square thumbnails of simple layouts

Great design book.A must have!, 16 Jan 2007
I feel that this book would quite easily appeal to the experienced designer aswell as the more in experienced one, as the book clearly explores and shows the way in which the grid has been used thourgh out design. It explores how the grid played a huge part within constructivism and also looks at some much more modern layouts. The way that the book has the grid so you can overlap it with the image of the design, in the form of tracing paper, is a very innotive one that i really think works well. I think that this is a very important book to have on any designers book shelf.

Gridlock!, 20 Nov 2005
I became aware of how important grids are when I was at art college and came across the first issue of a new design magazine, 'New Graphic Design' in 1958. Published in Switzerland in English, German and French and containing dozens of pictures, without a strict grid all the issues of this stunning publication would look a mess. The grid, put simply is a framework which allows several elements (photos, graphics, text, display type etc) to be placed in a rectangle and all work towards one aim, clarity of presentation. Virtually all publications use a grid (in its simplest form it could be called the type area) check out the page number position in a magazine, always in the same place defined by the grid.

Having used grids for years I'm surprised that there is so much confusion but that was before I read through Kimberley Elam's book. The straightforward becomes the obscure despite the good intentions. The most useful parts are the pages that use a see-through overlay, revealing the essence of the grid and nicely some disasters, too. What could be simpler than the two examples shown on page thirty-eight and nine, Christof Gassner's 1960 redesign of one page of a theater program, from the dull and confusing to something so elegant and simple. What is really interesting about the page is that it is all done with type only. Page forty-five uses another overlay for the contents spread of a book (designed by Drenttel Doyle Partners in 1988) the see-through reveals a simple grid but the actual spread is a complete mess with type everywhere, even the three words 'Table of contents' is letterspaced in two typefaces, roman and sans.

The two examples of the grid I've mentioned perhaps sum up the problems that a reader of this book might have, most of the European grid examples shown use the grid to simplify the placing of all the elements on a page, especially the typography. The American examples show basic grid versions that are virtually ignored when it comes to placing the page elements. This becomes evident in the last pages of the book where thirty-four design thumbnails are shown, one would not know they conform to any grid at all as each example shows a mixture of display type, text setting and graphics in no coherent order, in fact the very opposite of what a grid is supposed to do with these same elements. Perhaps the key element in any publication grid is the size of the text and headline types, because these (especially the text size) remain the same on every page and other elements, photos and graphics, need to be positioned within the grid defined by the typography.

I think 'Grid Systems' is pretty hopeless in explaining the virtues of this essential design format and strangely there is a real dearth of titles about the subject, perhaps it's just a bit too narrow or technical for most graphic art publishers. The great Swiss designer Josef Muller-Brockmann explains it all in his excellent 'Grid Systems in Graphic Design' (ISBN 3721201450) though it's not mentioned in the bibliography of 'Grid Systems' but two of his other books are.



The big book of clarity and chaos, 28 Sep 2007

What a strange publication. Divided into two sections the first explaining grid formatting with actual printed material and the second revealing how to design print without a grid.

There seems a contradiction here because the grid, used intelligently, will allow a whole range of graphic options to be presented with clarity. Some of the print examples reproduced in the first section do show this with perhaps the most useful item a grid thumbnail for each piece, unfortunately I thought it was rather too small on each spread despite being the key to explaining each format. From past experience, designing magazines, I would start work on a grid by concentrating on the text type size because it is the least flexible of all the elements on the page. This point really wasn't made enough of in the book's chapter: Grid Basics.

The reproductions show a reasonable range of design solutions, essentially print though there is an example of corporate signage. Missing are magazines (consumer or trade) timetables and the like. Without a grid this type of printed matter really wouldn't exist.

The book's contradiction, to my mind, start with the second section: 'Grid Deconstructions and Non-Grid-Based Design Projects'. The forty items shown seem to have a couple of common threads: their design is essentially arbitrary which makes them look very messy and frequently their typography (display and text) is used as a design element which makes the words unreadable. Their design is the opposite of grid stimulated creativity, in other words visual chaos.

Some of the examples are quite amazing. On page 180-181 twelve pages of a calendar are shown, totally useless as its impossible to see the days and dates. Pages 188-189 show eight spreads from a design school journal showing irregular shaped blocks of text creating a sort of collage. I doubt anyone made the effort to read any of it. What is interesting about this second section material is that so much of it comes from educational establishments. In the real world all this designer whimsy would be rejected by the client on sight of the first dummy

'Making and Breaking the Grid' is well printed with 175dpi and the layout is adequate and for a book about grids you would have thought its own grid would have been included but it is strangely missing. Overall I felt that because the contents present two opposite design ideals the book's editorial concept is rather flawed.

From my experience there is only one book that really explains it all: Muller-Brockmann's 'Grid Systems in Graphic Design' published in Switzerland and full of good solid, practical, hands-on information. This book's only purpose is creative clarity.

Excellent - used everything here for my ppt presentations, 17 Jul 2008
I bought this book based on the stellar "Presentation Zen" by Garr Reynolds. (A must-read if you do presentations of any type).

What I was seeking to glean from this book was how to improve the look of my PowerPoint presentations. Though Robin doesn't cover this specifically, everything she writes about can be applied to the design of the slides.

The book is aimed at 'non-professional' designers. By this I mean those of us who design things in our work, but aren't trained to do so, e.g. flyers, event alerts, newsletters, reports, business cards, studies, articles, etc.

I found it funny how often she tells us not to be "wimps" in our design choices. I mean she REALLY tells us a lot. But her point is we need to be bold, not "wimps", in our design choices ... but only once we know the basics.

All in all an excellent read. Good examples, good overview at the end of each section, and good pop quizzes to make sure we were paying attention :-)

Not quite as awesome as you'd be led to believe., 28 Apr 2008
I like the concept of this book - a design book that's written for those who aren't essentially designers, but need to use design in everyday life. Based on the idea that you've never studied design before, Williams covers the essential topics and points out the biggest mistakes that beginners make with clear examples, and plenty of "before and after" shots so you not only see why something looks terrible, you also see how simply it can be fixed. It's a short book and it's not difficult to understand. However, I just can't bring myself to give it anything higher than 3 stars because Williams' writing style verges on patronising, and I found it almost TOO basic in places - once you've read it, you'll pretty much never need to refer to it again. If you're a design student, then don't even bother with this. If you're someone who uses design on a casual or non-professional level then you'll benefit from borrowing this book from your local library and reading it cover to cover, but I wouldn't spend any money on it.

The best..., 22 Oct 2007
This is probably the best book in design and typographic principles for a novice that I have read. It has lots of examples and ideas how to use type and design, and not to forget it has a list of the fonts used in the examples which I think is very helpfull.

If you have none or little experience in design or typography this is the book to get.

Prevent design crimes, 30 Aug 2007
Coming from a fine art background rather than graphic design, and having done design work for many people over the years, I have always had nagging doubts that I might be committing design crimes without realising it. Was I choosing the right typefaces? Was I striking the right balance between design and readability?
The answer is, that what has taken me many years to learn by trial and error, the author has condensed into a clear, easily understood, step-by-step read. It has also taught me quite a few tricks I had never considered.
You are taken through a series of single designs, looking at different aspect each time: Contrast, repetition, structure etc. and by the end you have a professional looking layout that can hold it's head up high.
Highly recommended as an easily digestible read for beginners, or others who just needed to know some of the important design rules without going too deep. Wish I'd read it years ago.

Super Guide, 04 Jan 2007
This book is easy to read and covers all the principles that can make great design. It doesn't matter if you want to put together a report, a flyer or the local nursery school jumble sale poster, this book will help you to design a more impressive result. I would go as far as to say this book should be required reading for any non-professional designer that is responsible for producing literature for group or public consumption.

A great starter for anyone interested in design.

A very useful practical book, 10 Jun 2007
The first edition of this book was one of the first typography books I purchased and I still refer to it on a regular basis. Since type became democratized it has been easy to experiment, often to the detriment of clarity and it is sometimes easy to forget that it is, foremost, a communication tool. The layout is inspiring but never gets in the way of the subject and, unlike many books on the subject, this actually has an alphabetical list of typographical conventions (eg - when to use a mid-point as opposed to a full point) which is a godsend when you are out of college and trying to convince an employer that you really know your subject. A fantastic book.

An interesting and educational book, 23 Sep 2003
Written by lecturers at Central St Martin's College in London, this is a great book - they know their stuff. It is a fusion of great design and layout combined with the technical nitty gritty and history of type. All really interesting for those of us who are interested in type and typography. I would definitely recommend it.

Not as comprehensive or detailed as I hoped, 25 Jul 2003
This book is nicely produced, but I found the content a bit lacking in substance. Having just read Ruari McLean's Typography, written almost a quarter of a century ago, I was looking for something that was more advanced, Type & Typography is simply not it. Too much space is wasted on large colour pages that add little, the historical dimension is weak.

Typographers bible, 30 Aug 2002
This book examines the history, evolution and mechanics of typography in a clear, concise manner. It can be dipped into very easily for specific information and is full of illustrated examples to clarify points made in each section. As a reference book it should provide help for all levels and I'm sure that my copy will become a well thumbed addition to my library.

I have not read the whole book yet, at over 180 pages it can be alot to take in, but the chapters I have read are exhaustive and put typography into context. An example of this can be found early on with a definition of the term, followed by further investigation into function and form, where the alphabet is deconstructed and explained.

As a teacher I am sure that I will use this book in many instances and adapt the information for my own uses. If you are at all interested in type or design this book will not disappoint.

average, 28 Mar 2007
Nothing specail there are probarly better books out there, as well as worse. Has tracing paper over some examples which is nice empahising the use of the grid but would have liked lots more examples rather than the loads of square thumbnails of simple layouts

Great design book.A must have!, 16 Jan 2007
I feel that this book would quite easily appeal to the experienced designer aswell as the more in experienced one, as the book clearly explores and shows the way in which the grid has been used thourgh out design. It explores how the grid played a huge part within constructivism and also looks at some much more modern layouts. The way that the book has the grid so you can overlap it with the image of the design, in the form of tracing paper, is a very innotive one that i really think works well. I think that this is a very important book to have on any designers book shelf.

Gridlock!, 20 Nov 2005
I became aware of how important grids are when I was at art college and came across the first issue of a new design magazine, 'New Graphic Design' in 1958. Published in Switzerland in English, German and French and containing dozens of pictures, without a strict grid all the issues of this stunning publication would look a mess. The grid, put simply is a framework which allows several elements (photos, graphics, text, display type etc) to be placed in a rectangle and all work towards one aim, clarity of presentation. Virtually all publications use a grid (in its simplest form it could be called the type area) check out the page number position in a magazine, always in the same place defined by the grid.

Having used grids for years I'm surprised that there is so much confusion but that was before I read through Kimberley Elam's book. The straightforward becomes the obscure despite the good intentions. The most useful parts are the pages that use a see-through overlay, revealing the essence of the grid and nicely some disasters, too. What could be simpler than the two examples shown on page thirty-eight and nine, Christof Gassner's 1960 redesign of one page of a theater program, from the dull and confusing to something so elegant and simple. What is really interesting about the page is that it is all done with type only. Page forty-five uses another overlay for the contents spread of a book (designed by Drenttel Doyle Partners in 1988) the see-through reveals a simple grid but the actual spread is a complete mess with type everywhere, even the three words 'Table of contents' is letterspaced in two typefaces, roman and sans.

The two examples of the grid I've mentioned perhaps sum up the problems that a reader of this book might have, most of the European grid examples shown use the grid to simplify the placing of all the elements on a page, especially the typography. The American examples show basic grid versions that are virtually ignored when it comes to placing the page elements. This becomes evident in the last pages of the book where thirty-four design thumbnails are shown, one would not know they conform to any grid at all as each example shows a mixture of display type, text setting and graphics in no coherent order, in fact the very opposite of what a grid is supposed to do with these same elements. Perhaps the key element in any publication grid is the size of the text and headline types, because these (especially the text size) remain the same on every page and other elements, photos and graphics, need to be positioned within the grid defined by the typography.

I think 'Grid Systems' is pretty hopeless in explaining the virtues of this essential design format and strangely there is a real dearth of titles about the subject, perhaps it's just a bit too narrow or technical for most graphic art publishers. The great Swiss designer Josef Muller-Brockmann explains it all in his excellent 'Grid Systems in Graphic Design' (ISBN 3721201450) though it's not mentioned in the bibliography of 'Grid Systems' but two of his other books are.



The big book of clarity and chaos, 28 Sep 2007

What a strange publication. Divided into two sections the first explaining grid formatting with actual printed material and the second revealing how to design print without a grid.

There seems a contradiction here because the grid, used intelligently, will allow a whole range of graphic options to be presented with clarity. Some of the print examples reproduced in the first section do show this with perhaps the most useful item a grid thumbnail for each piece, unfortunately I thought it was rather too small on each spread despite being the key to explaining each format. From past experience, designing magazines, I would start work on a grid by concentrating on the text type size because it is the least flexible of all the elements on the page. This point really wasn't made enough of in the book's chapter: Grid Basics.

The reproductions show a reasonable range of design solutions, essentially print though there is an example of corporate signage. Missing are magazines (consumer or trade) timetables and the like. Without a grid this type of printed matter really wouldn't exist.

The book's contradiction, to my mind, start with the second section: 'Grid Deconstructions and Non-Grid-Based Design Projects'. The forty items shown seem to have a couple of common threads: their design is essentially arbitrary which makes them look very messy and frequently their typography (display and text) is used as a design element which makes the words unreadable. Their design is the opposite of grid stimulated creativity, in other words visual chaos.

Some of the examples are quite amazing. On page 180-181 twelve pages of a calendar are shown, totally useless as its impossible to see the days and dates. Pages 188-189 show eight spreads from a design school journal showing irregular shaped blocks of text creating a sort of collage. I doubt anyone made the effort to read any of it. What is interesting about this second section material is that so much of it comes from educational establishments. In the real world all this designer whimsy would be rejected by the client on sight of the first dummy

'Making and Breaking the Grid' is well printed with 175dpi and the layout is adequate and for a book about grids you would have thought its own grid would have been included but it is strangely missing. Overall I felt that because the contents present two opposite design ideals the book's editorial concept is rather flawed.

From my experience there is only one book that really explains it all: Muller-Brockmann's 'Grid Systems in Graphic Design' published in Switzerland and full of good solid, practical, hands-on information. This book's only purpose is creative clarity.



Great for inspiration, 09 Apr 2008
I bought this one a couple of months ago, and i have used it as a source of inspiration for almost every piece of display typography i've had to put together since then.

It's a bible of what's possible if you spend money on spot colors, metallics and things like that, but it's also great inspiration for your daily headers, covers etc. if you want to give them that extra something.

I really enjoy the way it's been divided up into: flyers+leaflets, books + magazines, logos + stationary, brochures, posters + banners, 3D + Outdoor + Digital(web mostly). It makes it very easy and fast to find inspiration for just the kind of assignment you're working on.

As someone esle mentioned each example has a number assigned to it. If you go in the back of the books there's a database of all these numbers, where it says who did the work, who was the client, which designers and art directors worked on it. what program was used and which fonts.

A missed opportunity, 28 Apr 2007
I agree to a certain extent with the last review, but have a strong gripe of my own. I bought this book for a quick reference to show me how combinations of fonts work. I wanted something inspiring that's super quick to use, as a well designed object should be.

My major gripe with this book is that you have to refer to an index at the back to see what fonts are used for any given design ~ this is very frustrating. I think it really is a missed opportunity because there is a huge area of blank (wasted) space on each page where that all important information should be. Instead of using this space, the author will have you flipping from the page with the design you're interested in to the back of the book to find out which design agency did the work then you have to find the design number under their listing just to find out which fonts are used! A total waste of time and a very good example of bad design!

This one's going back to Amazon.

All just soulless style :(, 07 Mar 2007
No analysis of why any of the type was selected. This book is just anything that plays with type; most of it I have to say is poor. Looks more to me like just get a lot of `nice' and trendy images of type, don't think what they are for, if they work. It's the sort of book you pick up and flick through. If like me you bough it, you think what a waste of money, printing and paper. I'm tired of this kind of book that one learns nothing from; it's just sickly sweet candy for the eyes.

typo candy, 29 Aug 2006
The book its self is very nice its one of those that feels nice and when u open it u think oh this is nice , lots to see not too much writing but it does tell u who designed each piece and then at the back it tells u what software , typeface was used etc , its the sort of book u pick up to cheer yourself up when ur sick of looking at the same old tierd stuff and u come away thinking that was nice and refreshing.
I have now decieded to buy the image treatments too purley down to this book

Superb, 21 May 2006
This book is excellent if you want to look at inspirational modern photography. I have been looking for something along these lines for ages. Great if your stuck for typographic ideas. I thought this book was so good I then bought 1000 graphic elements too.

Excellent - used everything here for my ppt presentations, 17 Jul 2008
I bought this book based on the stellar "Presentation Zen" by Garr Reynolds. (A must-read if you do presentations of any type).

What I was seeking to glean from this book was how to improve the look of my PowerPoint presentations. Though Robin doesn't cover this specifically, everything she writes about can be applied to the design of the slides.

The book is aimed at 'non-professional' designers. By this I mean those of us who design things in our work, but aren't trained to do so, e.g. flyers, event alerts, newsletters, reports, business cards, studies, articles, etc.

I found it funny how often she tells us not to be "wimps" in our design choices. I mean she REALLY tells us a lot. But her point is we need to be bold, not "wimps", in our design choices ... but only once we know the basics.

All in all an excellent read. Good examples, good overview at the end of each section, and good pop quizzes to make sure we were paying attention :-)

Not quite as awesome as you'd be led to believe., 28 Apr 2008
I like the concept of this book - a design book that's written for those who aren't essentially designers, but need to use design in everyday life. Based on the idea that you've never studied design before, Williams covers the essential topics and points out the biggest mistakes that beginners make with clear examples, and plenty of "before and after" shots so you not only see why something looks terrible, you also see how simply it can be fixed. It's a short book and it's not difficult to understand. However, I just can't bring myself to give it anything higher than 3 stars because Williams' writing style verges on patronising, and I found it almost TOO basic in places - once you've read it, you'll pretty much never need to refer to it again. If you're a design student, then don't even bother with this. If you're someone who uses design on a casual or non-professional level then you'll benefit from borrowing this book from your local library and reading it cover to cover, but I wouldn't spend any money on it.

The best..., 22 Oct 2007
This is probably the best book in design and typographic principles for a novice that I have read. It has lots of examples and ideas how to use type and design, and not to forget it has a list of the fonts used in the examples which I think is very helpfull.

If you have none or little experience in design or typography this is the book to get.

Prevent design crimes, 30 Aug 2007
Coming from a fine art background rather than graphic design, and having done design work for many people over the years, I have always had nagging doubts that I might be committing design crimes without realising it. Was I choosing the right typefaces? Was I striking the right balance between design and readability?
The answer is, that what has taken me many years to learn by trial and error, the author has condensed into a clear, easily understood, step-by-step read. It has also taught me quite a few tricks I had never considered.
You are taken through a series of single designs, looking at different aspect each time: Contrast, repetition, structure etc. and by the end you have a professional looking layout that can hold it's head up high.
Highly recommended as an easily digestible read for beginners, or others who just needed to know some of the important design rules without going too deep. Wish I'd read it years ago.

Super Guide, 04 Jan 2007
This book is easy to read and covers all the principles that can make great design. It doesn't matter if you want to put together a report, a flyer or the local nursery school jumble sale poster, this book will help you to design a more impressive result. I would go as far as to say this book should be required reading for any non-professional designer that is responsible for producing literature for group or public consumption.

A great starter for anyone interested in design.

A very useful practical book, 10 Jun 2007
The first edition of this book was one of the first typography books I purchased and I still refer to it on a regular basis. Since type became democratized it has been easy to experiment, often to the detriment of clarity and it is sometimes easy to forget that it is, foremost, a communication tool. The layout is inspiring but never gets in the way of the subject and, unlike many books on the subject, this actually has an alphabetical list of typographical conventions (eg - when to use a mid-point as opposed to a full point) which is a godsend when you are out of college and trying to convince an employer that you really know your subject. A fantastic book.

An interesting and educational book, 23 Sep 2003
Written by lecturers at Central St Martin's College in London, this is a great book - they know their stuff. It is a fusion of great design and layout combined with the technical nitty gritty and history of type. All really interesting for those of us who are interested in type and typography. I would definitely recommend it.

Not as comprehensive or detailed as I hoped, 25 Jul 2003
This book is nicely produced, but I found the content a bit lacking in substance. Having just read Ruari McLean's Typography, written almost a quarter of a century ago, I was looking for something that was more advanced, Type & Typography is simply not it. Too much space is wasted on large colour pages that add little, the historical dimension is weak.

Typographers bible, 30 Aug 2002
This book examines the history, evolution and mechanics of typography in a clear, concise manner. It can be dipped into very easily for specific information and is full of illustrated examples to clarify points made in each section. As a reference book it should provide help for all levels and I'm sure that my copy will become a well thumbed addition to my library.

I have not read the whole book yet, at over 180 pages it can be alot to take in, but the chapters I have read are exhaustive and put typography into context. An example of this can be found early on with a definition of the term, followed by further investigation into function and form, where the alphabet is deconstructed and explained.

As a teacher I am sure that I will use this book in many instances and adapt the information for my own uses. If you are at all interested in type or design this book will not disappoint.

average, 28 Mar 2007
Nothing specail there are probarly better books out there, as well as worse. Has tracing paper over some examples which is nice empahising the use of the grid but would have liked lots more examples rather than the loads of square thumbnails of simple layouts

Great design book.A must have!, 16 Jan 2007
I feel that this book would quite easily appeal to the experienced designer aswell as the more in experienced one, as the book clearly explores and shows the way in which the grid has been used thourgh out design. It explores how the grid played a huge part within constructivism and also looks at some much more modern layouts. The way that the book has the grid so you can overlap it with the image of the design, in the form of tracing paper, is a very innotive one that i really think works well. I think that this is a very important book to have on any designers book shelf.

Gridlock!, 20 Nov 2005
I became aware of how important grids are when I was at art college and came across the first issue of a new design magazine, 'New Graphic Design' in 1958. Published in Switzerland in English, German and French and containing dozens of pictures, without a strict grid all the issues of this stunning publication would look a mess. The grid, put simply is a framework which allows several elements (photos, graphics, text, display type etc) to be placed in a rectangle and all work towards one aim, clarity of presentation. Virtually all publications use a grid (in its simplest form it could be called the type area) check out the page number position in a magazine, always in the same place defined by the grid.

Having used grids for years I'm surprised that there is so much confusion but that was before I read through Kimberley Elam's book. The straightforward becomes the obscure despite the good intentions. The most useful parts are the pages that use a see-through overlay, revealing the essence of the grid and nicely some disasters, too. What could be simpler than the two examples shown on page thirty-eight and nine, Christof Gassner's 1960 redesign of one page of a theater program, from the dull and confusing to something so elegant and simple. What is really interesting about the page is that it is all done with type only. Page forty-five uses another overlay for the contents spread of a book (designed by Drenttel Doyle Partners in 1988) the see-through reveals a simple grid but the actual spread is a complete mess with type everywhere, even the three words 'Table of contents' is letterspaced in two typefaces, roman and sans.

The two examples of the grid I've mentioned perhaps sum up the problems that a reader of this book might have, most of the European grid examples shown use the grid to simplify the placing of all the elements on a page, especially the typography. The American examples show basic grid versions that are virtually ignored when it comes to placing the page elements. This becomes evident in the last pages of the book where thirty-four design thumbnails are shown, one would not know they conform to any grid at all as each example shows a mixture of display type, text setting and graphics in no coherent order, in fact the very opposite of what a grid is supposed to do with these same elements. Perhaps the key element in any publication grid is the size of the text and headline types, because these (especially the text size) remain the same on every page and other elements, photos and graphics, need to be positioned within the grid defined by the typography.

I think 'Grid Systems' is pretty hopeless in explaining the virtues of this essential design format and strangely there is a real dearth of titles about the subject, perhaps it's just a bit too narrow or technical for most graphic art publishers. The great Swiss designer Josef Muller-Brockmann explains it all in his excellent 'Grid Systems in Graphic Design' (ISBN 3721201450) though it's not mentioned in the bibliography of 'Grid Systems' but two of his other books are.



The big book of clarity and chaos, 28 Sep 2007

What a strange publication. Divided into two sections the first explaining grid formatting with actual printed material and the second revealing how to design print without a grid.

There seems a contradiction here because the grid, used intelligently, will allow a whole range of graphic options to be presented with clarity. Some of the print examples reproduced in the first section do show this with perhaps the most useful item a grid thumbnail for each piece, unfortunately I thought it was rather too small on each spread despite being the key to explaining each format. From past experience, designing magazines, I would start work on a grid by concentrating on the text type size because it is the least flexible of all the elements on the page. This point really wasn't made enough of in the book's chapter: Grid Basics.

The reproductions show a reasonable range of design solutions, essentially print though there is an example of corporate signage. Missing are magazines (consumer or trade) timetables and the like. Without a grid this type of printed matter really wouldn't exist.

The book's contradiction, to my mind, start with the second section: 'Grid Deconstructions and Non-Grid-Based Design Projects'. The forty items shown seem to have a couple of common threads: their design is essentially arbitrary which makes them look very messy and frequently their typography (display and text) is used as a design element which makes the words unreadable. Their design is the opposite of grid stimulated creativity, in other words visual chaos.

Some of the examples are quite amazing. On page 180-181 twelve pages of a calendar are shown, totally useless as its impossible to see the days and dates. Pages 188-189 show eight spreads from a design school journal showing irregular shaped blocks of text creating a sort of collage. I doubt anyone made the effort to read any of it. What is interesting about this second section material is that so much of it comes from educational establishments. In the real world all this designer whimsy would be rejected by the client on sight of the first dummy

'Making and Breaking the Grid' is well printed with 175dpi and the layout is adequate and for a book about grids you would have thought its own grid would have been included but it is strangely missing. Overall I felt that because the contents present two opposite design ideals the book's editorial concept is rather flawed.

From my experience there is only one book that really explains it all: Muller-Brockmann's 'Grid Systems in Graphic Design' published in Switzerland and full of good solid, practical, hands-on information. This book's only purpose is creative clarity.



Great for inspiration, 09 Apr 2008
I bought this one a couple of months ago, and i have used it as a source of inspiration for almost every piece of display typography i've had to put together since then.

It's a bible of what's possible if you spend money on spot colors, metallics and things like that, but it's also great inspiration for your daily headers, covers etc. if you want to give them that extra something.

I really enjoy the way it's been divided up into: flyers+leaflets, books + magazines, logos + stationary, brochures, posters + banners, 3D + Outdoor + Digital(web mostly). It makes it very easy and fast to find inspiration for just the kind of assignment you're working on.

As someone esle mentioned each example has a number assigned to it. If you go in the back of the books there's a database of all these numbers, where it says who did the work, who was the client, which designers and art directors worked on it. what program was used and which fonts.

A missed opportunity, 28 Apr 2007
I agree to a certain extent with the last review, but have a strong gripe of my own. I bought this book for a quick reference to show me how combinations of fonts work. I wanted something inspiring that's super quick to use, as a well designed object should be.

My major gripe with this book is that you have to refer to an index at the back to see what fonts are used for any given design ~ this is very frustrating. I think it really is a missed opportunity because there is a huge area of blank (wasted) space on each page where that all important information should be. Instead of using this space, the author will have you flipping from the page with the design you're interested in to the back of the book to find out which design agency did the work then you have to find the design number under their listing just to find out which fonts are used! A total waste of time and a very good example of bad design!

This one's going back to Amazon.

All just soulless style :(, 07 Mar 2007
No analysis of why any of the type was selected. This book is just anything that plays with type; most of it I have to say is poor. Looks more to me like just get a lot of `nice' and trendy images of type, don't think what they are for, if they work. It's the sort of book you pick up and flick through. If like me you bough it, you think what a waste of money, printing and paper. I'm tired of this kind of book that one learns nothing from; it's just sickly sweet candy for the eyes.

typo candy, 29 Aug 2006
The book its self is very nice its one of those that feels nice and when u open it u think oh this is nice , lots to see not too much writing but it does tell u who designed each piece and then at the back it tells u what software , typeface was used etc , its the sort of book u pick up to cheer yourself up when ur sick of looking at the same old tierd stuff and u come away thinking that was nice and refreshing.
I have now decieded to buy the image treatments too purley down to this book

Superb, 21 May 2006
This book is excellent if you want to look at inspirational modern photography. I have been looking for something along these lines for ages. Great if your stuck for typographic ideas. I thought this book was so good I then bought 1000 graphic elements too.

Starting Latex - Start Here, 23 Mar 2007
The last time I used Tex I was doing my undergraduate dissertation and windows 3.1 had just arrived. So there was no real alternative. It was a nightmare - an experience that scarred me for life so I have avoided Tex like the plague.

Then I find I need to write equations and there is no alternative to TeX but LaTeX takes the pain out of using TeX. So for an introduction to LaTeX and to get you started this is the best book. It is quick and easy to read and within hours you will be writing confidently in LaTeX.

I read the review that says how ugly it is and that TeX should not ge used for books - it is not the prettiest but compared to what Word etc. do to your equations there is no comparison.

Concise tutorial, 25 Aug 2003
I went through the book and found it easy to read. It gives a good overview of the workings of LaTeX. My main criticism is that it didn't really get me far enough to be able to solve real-world LaTeX problems.

The only reference I ever needed..., 11 Mar 2002
Now, admittedly, when I got this book, I already was somewhat familiar with LaTeX, so I do not know whether it is well tailored to be an introduction to LaTeX. However, as a reference, it is unbeaten.

I worked with many books about LaTeX, some with three times as many pages as Leslie's, yet with only half as much information in them. This book has the information you need to write a scientific LaTeX document, be it a report, an article, or a thesis. And it has only the information that you need, no unnecessary ballast.

To give an example, this book is the only one I ever found that actually exactly explained how to implement a picture/chart/diagram into a LaTeX document. Now that I have understood the idea, I actually find it dead easy. None of the other author's actually seemed to have grasped the concept, but rather just messed around until the picture was magically in there, and his superior knowledge of this matter may, of course purely accidentally, have something to do with the fact that Leslie wrote that software...

Still the LaTeX bible, 02 Nov 2000
LaTeX is the standard for scientific papers and rightly so. The book by the author of LaTeX is an excellent introduction to the programme. I have used it for a number of years now. If I would ever loose it, I would buy it right again.

A great reference book, 08 Mar 2000
I have learned LaTeX from Lamport's book and every time I need some basic information on LaTeX commands, I find it there. The book is perhaps not written in the very pedagogical way for total beginners, however, LaTeX was never really meant to be used by such people. Those of you, which are not totally novice in using computers, will find book rather easy to read if you know anything about Latex or not.

I must confess to the critics above that I never suceeded to undestand what the fragile command is, but after more than a year of active LaTeXing I never actually needed that information (knock knock on the wood). On the other hand, jokes might be dull, but this is a matter of taste and the book isn't meant to make you smile anyway.

To summary, if you are not totaly novice in using computers, you can easily use this book to learn LaTeX and later as a primary reference book.

Excellent - used everything here for my ppt presentations, 17 Jul 2008
I bought this book based on the stellar "Presentation Zen" by Garr Reynolds. (A must-read if you do presentations of any type).

What I was seeking to glean from this book was how to improve the look of my PowerPoint presentations. Though Robin doesn't cover this specifically, everything she writes about can be applied to the design of the slides.

The book is aimed at 'non-professional' designers. By this I mean those of us who design things in our work, but aren't trained to do so, e.g. flyers, event alerts, newsletters, reports, business cards, studies, articles, etc.

I found it funny how often she tells us not to be "wimps" in our design choices. I mean she REALLY tells us a lot. But her point is we need to be bold, not "wimps", in our design choices ... but only once we know the basics.

All in all an excellent read. Good examples, good overview at the end of each section, and good pop quizzes to make sure we were paying attention :-)

Not quite as awesome as you'd be led to believe., 28 Apr 2008
I like the concept of this book - a design book that's written for those who aren't essentially designers, but need to use design in everyday life. Based on the idea that you've never studied design before, Williams covers the essential topics and points out the biggest mistakes that beginners make with clear examples, and plenty of "before and after" shots so you not only see why something looks terrible, you also see how simply it can be fixed. It's a short book and it's not difficult to understand. However, I just can't bring myself to give it anything higher than 3 stars because Williams' writing style verges on patronising, and I found it almost TOO basic in places - once you've read it, you'll pretty much never need to refer to it again. If you're a design student, then don't even bother with this. If you're someone who uses design on a casual or non-professional level then you'll benefit from borrowing this book from your local library and reading it cover to cover, but I wouldn't spend any money on it.

The best..., 22 Oct 2007
This is probably the best book in design and typographic principles for a novice that I have read. It has lots of examples and ideas how to use type and design, and not to forget it has a list of the fonts used in the examples which I think is very helpfull.

If you have none or little experience in design or typography this is the book to get.

Prevent design crimes, 30 Aug 2007
Coming from a fine art background rather than graphic design, and having done design work for many people over the years, I have always had nagging doubts that I might be committing design crimes without realising it. Was I choosing the right typefaces? Was I striking the right balance between design and readability?
The answer is, that what has taken me many years to learn by trial and error, the author has condensed into a clear, easily understood, step-by-step read. It has also taught me quite a few tricks I had never considered.
You are taken through a series of single designs, looking at different aspect each time: Contrast, repetition, structure etc. and by the end you have a professional looking layout that can hold it's head up high.
Highly recommended as an easily digestible read for beginners, or others who just needed to know some of the important design rules without going too deep. Wish I'd read it years ago.

Super Guide, 04 Jan 2007
This book is easy to read and covers all the principles that can make great design. It doesn't matter if you want to put together a report, a flyer or the local nursery school jumble sale poster, this book will help you to design a more impressive result. I would go as far as to say this book should be required reading for any non-professional designer that is responsible for producing literature for group or public consumption.

A great starter for anyone interested in design.

A very useful practical book, 10 Jun 2007
The first edition of this book was one of the first typography books I purchased and I still refer to it on a regular basis. Since type became democratized it has been easy to experiment, often to the detriment of clarity and it is sometimes easy to forget that it is, foremost, a communication tool. The layout is inspiring but never gets in the way of the subject and, unlike many books on the subject, this actually has an alphabetical list of typographical conventions (eg - when to use a mid-point as opposed to a full point) which is a godsend when you are out of college and trying to convince an employer that you really know your subject. A fantastic book.

An interesting and educational book, 23 Sep 2003
Written by lecturers at Central St Martin's College in London, this is a great book - they know their stuff. It is a fusion of great design and layout combined with the technical nitty gritty and history of type. All really interesting for those of us who are interested in type and typography. I would definitely recommend it.

Not as comprehensive or detailed as I hoped, 25 Jul 2003
This book is nicely produced, but I found the content a bit lacking in substance. Having just read Ruari McLean's Typography, written almost a quarter of a century ago, I was looking for something that was more advanced, Type & Typography is simply not it. Too much space is wasted on large colour pages that add little, the historical dimension is weak.

Typographers bible, 30 Aug 2002
This book examines the history, evolution and mechanics of typography in a clear, concise manner. It can be dipped into very easily for specific information and is full of illustrated examples to clarify points made in each section. As a reference book it should provide help for all levels and I'm sure that my copy will become a well thumbed addition to my library.

I have not read the whole book yet, at over 180 pages it can be alot to take in, but the chapters I have read are exhaustive and put typography into context. An example of this can be found early on with a definition of the term, followed by further investigation into function and form, where the alphabet is deconstructed and explained.

As a teacher I am sure that I will use this book in many instances and adapt the information for my own uses. If you are at all interested in type or design this book will not disappoint.

average, 28 Mar 2007
Nothing specail there are probarly better books out there, as well as worse. Has tracing paper over some examples which is nice empahising the use of the grid but would have liked lots more examples rather than the loads of square thumbnails of simple layouts

Great design book.A must have!, 16 Jan 2007
I feel that this book would quite easily appeal to the experienced designer aswell as the more in experienced one, as the book clearly explores and shows the way in which the grid has been used thourgh out design. It explores how the grid played a huge part within constructivism and also looks at some much more modern layouts. The way that the book has the grid so you can overlap it with the image of the design, in the form of tracing paper, is a very innotive one that i really think works well. I think that this is a very important book to have on any designers book shelf.

Gridlock!, 20 Nov 2005
I became aware of how important grids are when I was at art college and came across the first issue of a new design magazine, 'New Graphic Design' in 1958. Published in Switzerland in English, German and French and containing dozens of pictures, without a strict grid all the issues of this stunning publication would look a mess. The grid, put simply is a framework which allows several elements (photos, graphics, text, display type etc) to be placed in a rectangle and all work towards one aim, clarity of presentation. Virtually all publications use a grid (in its simplest form it could be called the type area) check out the page number position in a magazine, always in the same place defined by the grid.

Having used grids for years I'm surprised that there is so much confusion but that was before I read through Kimberley Elam's book. The straightforward becomes the obscure despite the good intentions. The most useful parts are the pages that use a see-through overlay, revealing the essence of the grid and nicely some disasters, too. What could be simpler than the two examples shown on page thirty-eight and nine, Christof Gassner's 1960 redesign of one page of a theater program, from the dull and confusing to something so elegant and simple. What is really interesting about the page is that it is all done with type only. Page forty-five uses another overlay for the contents spread of a book (designed by Drenttel Doyle Partners in 1988) the see-through reveals a simple grid but the actual spread is a complete mess with type everywhere, even the three words 'Table of contents' is letterspaced in two typefaces, roman and sans.

The two examples of the grid I've mentioned perhaps sum up the problems that a reader of this book might have, most of the European grid examples shown use the grid to simplify the placing of all the elements on a page, especially the typography. The American examples show basic grid versions that are virtually ignored when it comes to placing the page elements. This becomes evident in the last pages of the book where thirty-four design thumbnails are shown, one would not know they conform to any grid at all as each example shows a mixture of display type, text setting and graphics in no coherent order, in fact the very opposite of what a grid is supposed to do with these same elements. Perhaps the key element in any publication grid is the size of the text and headline types, because these (especially the text size) remain the same on every page and other elements, photos and graphics, need to be positioned within the grid defined by the typography.

I think 'Grid Systems' is pretty hopeless in explaining the virtues of this essential design format and strangely there is a real dearth of titles about the subject, perhaps it's just a bit too narrow or technical for most graphic art publishers. The great Swiss designer Josef Muller-Brockmann explains it all in his excellent 'Grid Systems in Graphic Design' (ISBN 3721201450) though it's not mentioned in the bibliography of 'Grid Systems' but two of his other books are.



The big book of clarity and chaos, 28 Sep 2007

What a strange publication. Divided into two sections the first explaining grid formatting with actual printed material and the second revealing how to design print without a grid.

There seems a contradiction here because the grid, used intelligently, will allow a whole range of graphic options to be presented with clarity. Some of the print examples reproduced in the first section do show this with perhaps the most useful item a grid thumbnail for each piece, unfortunately I thought it was rather too small on each spread despite being the key to explaining each format. From past experience, designing magazines, I would start work on a grid by concentrating on the text type size because it is the least flexible of all the elements on the page. This point really wasn't made enough of in the book's chapter: Grid Basics.

The reproductions show a reasonable range of design solutions, essentially print though there is an example of corporate signage. Missing are magazines (consumer or trade) timetables and the like. Without a grid this type of printed matter really wouldn't exist.

The book's contradiction, to my mind, start with the second section: 'Grid Deconstructions and Non-Grid-Based Design Projects'. The forty items shown seem to have a couple of common threads: their design is essentially arbitrary which makes them look very messy and frequently their typography (display and text) is used as a design element which makes the words unreadable. Their design is the opposite of grid stimulated creativity, in other words visual chaos.

Some of the examples are quite amazing. On page 180-181 twelve pages of a calendar are shown, totally useless as its impossible to see the days and dates. Pages 188-189 show eight spreads from a design school journal showing irregular shaped blocks of text creating a sort of collage. I doubt anyone made the effort to read any of it. What is interesting about this second section material is that so much of it comes from educational establishments. In the real world all this designer whimsy would be rejected by the client on sight of the first dummy

'Making and Breaking the Grid' is well printed with 175dpi and the layout is adequate and for a book about grids you would have thought its own grid would have been included but it is strangely missing. Overall I felt that because the contents present two opposite design ideals the book's editorial concept is rather flawed.

From my experience there is only one book that really explains it all: Muller-Brockmann's 'Grid Systems in Graphic Design' published in Switzerland and full of good solid, practical, hands-on information. This book's only purpose is creative clarity.



Great for inspiration, 09 Apr 2008
I bought this one a couple of months ago, and i have used it as a source of inspiration for almost every piece of display typography i've had to put together since then.

It's a bible of what's possible if you spend money on spot colors, metallics and things like that, but it's also great inspiration for your daily headers, covers etc. if you want to give them that extra something.

I really enjoy the way it's been divided up into: flyers+leaflets, books + magazines, logos + stationary, brochures, posters + banners, 3D + Outdoor + Digital(web mostly). It makes it very easy and fast to find inspiration for just the kind of assignment you're working on.

As someone esle mentioned each example has a number assigned to it. If you go in the back of the books there's a database of all these numbers, where it says who did the work, who was the client, which designers and art directors worked on it. what program was used and which fonts.

A missed opportunity, 28 Apr 2007
I agree to a certain extent with the last review, but have a strong gripe of my own. I bought this book for a quick reference to show me how combinations of fonts work. I wanted something inspiring that's super quick to use, as a well designed object should be.

My major gripe with this book is that you have to refer to an index at the back to see what fonts are used for any given design ~ this is very frustrating. I think it really is a missed opportunity because there is a huge area of blank (wasted) space on each page where that all important information should be. Instead of using this space, the author will have you flipping from the page with the design you're interested in to the back of the book to find out which design agency did the work then you have to find the design number under their listing just to find out which fonts are used! A total waste of time and a very good example of bad design!

This one's going back to Amazon.

All just soulless style :(, 07 Mar 2007
No analysis of why any of the type was selected. This book is just anything that plays with type; most of it I have to say is poor. Looks more to me like just get a lot of `nice' and trendy images of type, don't think what they are for, if they work. It's the sort of book you pick up and flick through. If like me you bough it, you think what a waste of money, printing and paper. I'm tired of this kind of book that one learns nothing from; it's just sickly sweet candy for the eyes.

typo candy, 29 Aug 2006
The book its self is very nice its one of those that feels nice and when u open it u think oh this is nice , lots to see not too much writing but it does tell u who designed each piece and then at the back it tells u what software , typeface was used etc , its the sort of book u pick up to cheer yourself up when ur sick of looking at the same old tierd stuff and u come away thinking that was nice and refreshing.
I have now decieded to buy the image treatments too purley down to this book