57. The Non-Designer's Design Book

57. The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin P. Williams

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


An excellent introduction to design principles (contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity) with lots of examples for practical application. I will be designing my next business cards differently.

There's also a section on designing with type. Some of the type stuff I didn't agree with, but I think that has more to do with my disinclination to use certain type categories than a flaw in the theory.

I would've liked more examples relating to web sites since I don't have a lot of print needs for newsletters, brochures, and the like, but I think there's another book devoted to that.

Well worth a read if you're designing your own stuff or want to better understand what your designer is doing.


ETA (11/25/12): What was most clear to me after reading this book is how actively all forms of legal documents, terms & conditions, privacy policies and the like are designed to discourage you from reading them. I mean, I knew that already, but now I clearly see what they're doing (and not doing) to reduce legibility. Pisses me off.


A year ago on TTaT: The Tornado Building Painting