Product Description

The new edition is basically a complete overhaul of the original, very popular edition. The design process is explored in incremental stages, taking one elemental at a time. Each section offers advice on methods and uses of self-assessment. Book is made up of 3 sections each with topics illustrated with 9-12 specifically- commissioned mini designs to show options, set exercises for reader and then self- critique and professional examples from around the world. Sections are:

Basic design principles (60 pps) teaches ground rules of balance and harmony in design including basic design, typefaces, color

Design decisions (36 pps) looks at areas of design and how each may be analyzed including initial brief & decisions, analysis of copy, analysis of imagery, analysis of results

Design projects and categories (38 pps) showing how the principles have been applied including information design, text & display type, primarily display type

This edition contains updated examples from international designers and design agencies and newly worked examples and projects to meet the needs of a younger generation designing in the new millennium. One added area of particular interest is the Internet, with examples and a project on home page and links design. The book is four-color throughout and has a completely new and modern design that focuses on style, clarity and ease of learning. Exercises have been devised to enable the reader to practice as they learn. Revised by David Dabner with Alan Swann's name still attached as primary author.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #487724 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Customer Reviews

Horrible, Horrible, Horrible!!!!!!
Hear, hear to David M. Chess. Your review was right on the money. In addition to his comments, I was horrified at the minute size and choice of the overall text and captions used to design this book. It's very tedious to read. And....the constant references to rag right (or rag left) that are incorrect show me that the author is not typographically savy.
For all of you beginner designers who have the unfortunate experience of trying to read this book-"rag or ragged right" is just that, ragged on the "right" side of the copy which is also referred to as left aligned, and visa versa. Ragged left=Right aligned.
Also, the concept of including working exercises is a great idea, but... assigning an excercise and showing an "exact" sample of the various results does not encourage the reader to experiment further.
This book is uninspiring to say the least, and will not be taking a position on my graphic design bookshelf any time soon. I'm happy to say that with my college training, I can tell a good design book from a bad design book. Beware!

Bad Bad Book
This is a patheticly designed design book by David Dabner that shamefully claims is "based on the best selling edition by Alan Swann" NOT co-authored by Alan Swann as the Amazon listing claims. The original book by the same title, actually written by Alan Swann and was Published by North Light Books in 1987 and paperback 1990 is the bible for understanding graphic design! Nothing short of brilliant! Do NOT buy Dabner's book when you can buy the original by Swann

Less than useful continued... (tip of the hat to David Chess)
This book disappoints in many ways. There are other books available on the topic of graphic design that are far more helpful, such as Robin Williams' "The Non-Designer's Design Book".

The most logical place to start with a book on graphic design is with an introduction to the elements of design before then speaking of the principles of design. The book's first chapter is titled "Basic Design Principles" and confuses by mixing elements of design with principles of design.

The layout of the book is uninspired. The pink horizontal hairlines on every page do nothing to improve the look of the book but are instead distracting. The one nice thing about this book is that the examples used are generally high quality design.

This book does not deliver good value for money, especially considering the other graphic design books on the market.