This is quite simply the best design book I’ve ever seen. Somehow, Robin manages (with some humour) to tread the difficult line between theory and practice.
The book is aimed at designing for print so it’ll help you put together professional and compelling letterheads, business cards, flyers, posters, brochures etc. However the principles she teaches are just as valid when it comes to web design and, in my view, you’d be better advised to read and understand this book that to buy here website design book which is, inevitably, dated.
The book covers what Williams considers the four basic design principles: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity (make an acronym out of that if you dare!) of which the one that will make the most immediate difference to your work is Alignment. I confess I feel ashamed of using centred alignment as much as I did…
The second third of the book includes specific advice on a range of paper projects with the final third covering typography which is, incidentally, much more interesting than I expected. I now understand how seriffed typefaces differ and why they have the names they have. And, most importantly of course, when to use each.
This book is a triumph and an essential for anyone with a design aspect to their work but not already formally trained. In fact, the worst piece of design in the entire book is the front cover: don’t let it put you off!
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