Designer Book Shelf #5

This week on Designers Book Shelf I got a lot of reading suggestions for you. Every Tuesday I will be posting new suggestions of books for designers and everyone that loves design and art in general. Check out what I have for you this week and stay tuned for more next week.

#1 The Elements of Typography Style by Robert Bringhurst

About the author

Robert Bringhurst (born October 16, 1946) is a Canadian poet, typographer and author. He is the author of The Elements of Typographic Style – a reference book oftypefaces, glyphs and the visual and geometric arrangement of type. He has also translated works of epic poetry from Haida mythology into English.

Amazon.com Review

This lovely, well-written book is concerned foremost with creating beautiful typography and is essential for professionals who regularly work with typographic designs. Author Robert Bringhurst writes about designing with the correct typeface; striving for rhythm, proportion, and harmony; choosing and combining type; designing pages; using section heads, subheads, footnotes, and tables; applying kerning and other type adjustments to improve legibility; and adding special characters, including punctuation and diacritical marks. The Elements of Typographic Style teaches the history of and the artistic and practical perspectives on a variety of type families that are available in Europe and America today. The last section of the book classifies and displays many type families, offers a glossary of typography terms, and lists type designers and type foundries. The book briefly mentions digital typography, but otherwise ignores it, focusing instead on general typography and page- and type-design issues. Its examples include text in a variety of languages--including English, Russian, German, and Greek--which is particularly helpful if your work has a multinational focus. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

My review

I'm a happy owner of this book that become a real hand book into typography and hence a book enhancing my English. I admire the high quality of this book and the unique format that fits our urban life. Perhaps, it's still hard to read it in public transport because you need to concentrate and even experiment or exercise while reading it. The language of the book is academic and very deep without that teaching notes like most of design books are weak in. I really love to return to its pages and can navigate fast by topics or a very useful list of terms at the end.

#2 Thinking with type. A critical guide by Ellen Lupton

About the author:

Ellen Lupton is a graphic designer, writer, curator, and educator. Lupton described the evolution of her own career like this:

"I studied design and art in the early 1980s at The Cooper Union in New York City. When I graduated, I was invited to run a small design gallery inside the school. I did that for seven years. I was a do-it-yourself curator, hanging my own shows, keeping the windows clean, trimming the labels. At the same time, I was publishing a lot, building a reputation as a writer and critic. In 1992, I was offered a ‘real job’ at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, also in New York City. Now, I had the opportunity to create much larger exhibitions for a bigger public. Each exhibition has been accompanied by a sturdy exhibition catalogue and ambitious public programming."

Book description

The organization of letters on a blank sheet -- or screen -- is the most basic challenge facing anyone who practices design. What type of font to use? How big? How should those letters, words, and paragraphs be aligned, spaced, ordered, shaped, and otherwise manipulated? In this groundbreaking new primer, leading design educator and historian Ellen Lupton provides clear and concise guidance for anyone learning or brushing up on their typographic skills. Thinking with Type is divided into three sections: letter, text, and grid. Each section begins with an easy-to-grasp essay that reviews historical, technological, and theoretical concepts, and is then followed by a set of practical exercises that bring the material covered to life. Sections conclude with examples of work by leading practitioners that demonstrate creative possibilities (along with some classic no-no's to avoid).

My review

I ordered this book in a bunch just clicking on "Customers also bought..." link and was absolutely agreed with that customers, I even want to be their friend:) Okay, this book is very nice and well structured. I put it second on my shelf because it's not just a book but a good reference for anyone who use typography and thinks. Thinks about how to use it right.

#3 Things I have learned in my life so far

About the author

STEFAN SAGMEISTER (1962-) is among today’s most important graphic designers. Born in Austria, he now lives and works in New York. ...in 2005 he won a grammy award as art director of the ‘once in a lifetime’ talking heads boxed set packaging. Currently among many projects sagmeister continues his work on ‘20 things in my life I have learned so far.’ a series of typographic pieces inspired by the work of his grandfather that he began in 2004.

Amazon review

Many consider Stefan Sagmeister to be our most important living designer, but he reaches beyond design circles in sharing 20 Things I have learned in my life so far, including the fact that "keeping a diary supports personal development." Proving his point, this book grew from a list in his diary during a year-long commercial hiatus. He returned to paid work with greater freedom from clients and himself, and created a series of projects spelling out personal truths--"worrying solves nothing,""trying to look good limits my life," and other simple, meaningful statements. Most are public and interactive (words spelled out on the backs of swimmers in the Hudson River, or displayed by enormous blow-up monkeys lounging around Scotland, or flaming in Singaporean bamboo scaffolding), while others are more private experiments with intriguing materials (sausages, cacti, sperm). All are presented--along with personal anecdotes supporting his assertions and notes on the practicalities of creating each project--in an alluringly interactive format: a "box" of 15 booklets with unique covers that can be switched to transform the look of the case from creepy to lovely. --Mari Malcolm

"keeping a diary supports personal development."

My review

Mystical book! I bought it facing many difficulties from local customs. Then I took it to Lisbon based post-digital culture festival OFFF 2009 where I had a chance to speak with Sagmeister face to face. And I forgot the book in hotel on that exact day and was shy to interview Stefan because he was really tired after his amazing talk at festival!

#4 Guidelines for Online Success

About the authors

There is no need to present you the lead author of Guidelines for Online Success. Rob Ford, the founder and owner of The FWA (thefwa.com), a recognition program for cutting edge web design which has since served over 30 million site visits. His work has been featured in numerous publications including The Chicago Tribune, The Guardian and many web related magazines. He has judged for most of the industry award shows, contributes regularly to other well-known web design sites and magazines and writes a regular column in Adobe's Edge Newsletter.

Julius Wiedemann was born and raised in Brazil. After studying graphic design and marketing, he moved to Japan, where he worked in Tokyo as art editor for digital and design magazines. Since joining TASCHEN, he has been building up the digital and media collection with titles such as Animation Now!, the Advertising Now series, the Web Design series, and TASCHEN's 1000 Favorite Websites.

Book description

The dos and don'ts of web entrepreneurship. Have you ever wondered why your websites didn't quite match up to the success of your competitors or peers? Have you ever looked at other sites and thought: Why didn't I think of that? Have you ever spent too much time trying to find basic information that was buried deep in a needlessly complex website? You are certainly not alone and this book aims to change that by bringing together some of the world s most highly acclaimed designers and developers, spanning every continent, all of whom share their knowledge and experience. With chapters arranged by subject (interface and design, marketing and communication, technology and programming, technical advice, content/content management, and commerce), a clear do/don t structure, and plenty of real world examples of successful and award-winning websites, this book has all the advice and examples you will need to give your personal or business website an edge on its competitors and also win industry acclaim as well as respect from your peers. Your visitors will thank you.

My review

If you care about web design - this book is just must have!

#5 Do Good Design: How Designers Can Change the World

About the author

David Berman has over 25 years of experience in graphic design and communications and has worked extensively in the adaptation of printed materials for electronic distribution, including Web design and software interface development. As an author, expert speaker, designer, communications strategist, typographer and consultant, his professional work has brought him to over 20 countries in the past few years. His clients include IBM, the International Space Station, the Canadian government, the World Bank, and the Aga Khan Foundation. David's work includes award-winning projects in the application of plain language, custom typeface design, and the development of a system to republish the laws of Canada in plain writing and design.

Book description (by Erik Spiekermann)

How did design help choose a president? Why are people buying houses they cannot afford? Why do U.S. car makers now struggle to compete? Why do we really have an environmental crisis? Design matters. Like never before.

Disarming the weapons of mass deception. Designers create so much of what we see, what we use, and what we experience. In this time of unprecedented environmental, social, and economic crises, designers can choose what their young profession will be about: inventing deceptions that encourage more consumption—or helping repair the world.

Do Good Design is a call to action: It alerts designers to the role they play in persuading global audiences to fulfill invented needs. The book outlines a more sustainable approach to both the practice and the consumption of design. All professionals will be inspired by the message of how one industry can feel better about itself by holding onto its principles. In this provocative and dramatically-illustrated book, David Berman offers a powerful and hopeful message for all designers. Today, everyone is a designer. And the future of civilization is our common design project.