August 2009 Archives

Great big design books packed with solid content are very hard to come by, especially affordable ones with "modern" content that is not all the same riff raff we have seen repeated for the last two or three years.

The atlas provides a look around the world of great design (600 pages worth on a nice thin glossy paper), although most of it is not the type of design you would see published in the real world. The design  borders on student looking with touches of genius that most of us would never attempt in our design careers. It also displays work from famous designers that you would not normally see. I have a hard time putting this one down.

Rockport Publishers, 2009

Im very happy to get to the point where I can write a post about this book. Coby and Barry are exceptional designers and this book is a testament to years of hard work in an amazing circumstance. For years I collected and was inspired by poster books. This one is totally unique in the sense that it is a handful of designers producing work for one subject manner.

Every few months i pull it off the shelf and thumb through it, finding a new treaure, even reading the designers explanations on each poster. Coby was kind enough to send me the extended collectors edition (which I would highly recomend to anyone) that contains color sperations on clear sheets in the back, as well as black and white hand drawings by the artists.

Ames Bros also sells great t-shirts and posters online.

I recently gave away about 40 graphic design books (2 years worth) to the local School of Visual Arts library at MSU. Among all of the books the one that was hardest to give up was New Vintage Type because it had a classic element to it that most graphic design books don't have.

You can pick this book up 2 years after its been published and still enjoy it page by page. It has a unique element of old and new blending together in what was a fad of letterpress designs (one that will never go out of style).

Watson-Guptill, 2007

Dare to say "a must read". Almost.

Green Graphic Design should be a student primer for anyone entering the field of print. It gives a good overall snapshot of a burgeoning (and necessary) movement, including FSC certification by printers, the truth about ink usage and how the true environmental impact happens at the press.

The book is a quick read but just enough to show that just choosing post consumer waste is not enough if you are going to be an environmentally aware designer. For experienced designers it can reiterate what you already know and help explain other important processes, such as the making of the paper itself, that can be as important. This book will likely be one of a few current primers that will lead to many more like it.

Allworth Press, 2008