Product Description

Not satisfied with the new T-shirts on sale at the local mall? Maybe you'd like a wedding invitation that expresses your own vision, not your party planner's? How about some personalized stationery? An upgrade to your website? A business card? A poster for your political campaign? A CD package for your band? Sound good? Then get up off your couch and Design It Yourself! Avoid graphic identity theft: build your own. Ellen Lupton, bestselling author of Thinking with Type will show you how.

"DIY: Design It Yourself" provides you with all the tools you'll need to create your own projects, from conception through production. Here you will find:

- simple ideas on how you can "think like a designer"
- clear and coherent explanations of design technologies, from silk-screening to web 
  development
- what materials you'll need to get your job done
- where to find and buy them
- how much time and experience your project demands
- diagrams that show how to handle complex tasks
- basic typographic dos and don'ts
- the history and theory of the DIY design movement
- hundreds of innovative and beautiful projects for inspiration

No more excuses. With this book, virtually any design task is within your grasp. Just do it (yourself)!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14417 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Bust, Feb/Mar 2006
...this book offers constructive and elegant projects that are easy to understand for a range of abilities.

Syndicated-Washington Post, Philadelphia Enquirer, etc., March 2006
Lupton wants the objects to go out into the world, as emissaries of individual creativity. Inspiration begets inspiration.

Penascola Independent News, November 29, 2007
A crash course in promotion and visual design, D.I.Y.: Design It Yourself is the perfect book for anyone looking to pimp their brand, their band, their blog or just their Christmas card list.

Customer Reviews

A pretty but only introductory book on design
I'd had the impression that I would learn some techniques on creating my own stuff: business cards, websites, t-shirts, stationary, etc. They touch on all these subjects, and more, in the book. But I was disappointed that it is really more just a collection of ideas and work that MFA and graphic arts students have created, with very little technical detail of how to create designs for yourself. I was looking for a how-to, not a see-what-we've-done.

This is a good idea book-but not a good textbook on design
I saw this book years ago and thought I'd like to own it. Now that I do I really am underwhelmed.

Good coffee table or bathroom reading book
This is basically like all those magazines - Sunset, Martha Stewart Living, etc. etc, - wherein you buy it with the hopes of being inspired to create, update, remake, etc. and you ACTUALLY NEVER WILL, except in book form!

I love reading the book - it's cute, kitschy and definitely entertaining, but really, who can create these crazy wall decorations and/or press kits and have them turn out flawless!?!??