Graphic Design Rules: 365 Essential Design Dos and Don’ts

GREAT REFERENCE SOURCE
If you’re a graphic designer and need to find information fast regarding a question regarding a graphic design problem, this book if for you.

Learn them so you can break them
An interesting book though I’m not quite sure who it’s aimed at.The back cover says ‘…the perfect book for the ever-growing group of non-designers who want some graphic design guidance’, yet so much of the contents is very specific and technical to the graphic design profession. On the other hand the sort of breezy way the book is laid out suggests it’s aimed at those just starting out on a graphic design career. The 365 rules in the book do provide a ton of information in these chapters: Type and typography; Layout and design; Color; Imagery and graphics; Production and print; The practice of design. Rule 338 sort of sums it up: Thou shall learn the rules before you break them.I expect most professionals will argue about some of these rules, I certainly would. Rule 74: ‘Thou shall not hyphenate text that is ragged right’, mostly correct but for a more even column of ragged type it’s is worth hyphenating, especially if the copy relates to a technical subject with lots of long words. Rule 61: ‘Thou shall not use negative letter spacing’, just tell that to Herb Lubalin (during his lifetime one of the world’s greatest graphic designers). I would add a rule or two, put a .05 keyline box on all squared up photos, it gives a crisp edge and avoids white areas in the photo merging into the whiteness of the paper or screen. Avoid using an ampersand if there is room for ‘and’, the book’s cover uses one for no good reason. Consider deleting punctuation in non-narrative copy, use weights of type instead. Avoid the habit of using initial caps for each word in a title if it’s in u/lc (it mostly applies to book jackets).The book is certainly worth a read (and usefully there is an index) if you have recently started a graphic design career. You can look inside the book at Westread Book Reviews then click 2020 and January.

Excellent book!
This is such a handy book to keep on hand and refer to. I’m going to use it with my high school students.

Unhelpful
reads like a first draft. often repetitive, while simultaneously, disagreeing with itself. touches on concepts without going in depth on any.some insights. but, unconvinced this was the only resource to have found them.has kind of a weird, snarky vibe that takes a major detour from actually being about graphic design.

Completo, risponde alle domande più comuni eppure più importanti per qualsiasi Graphic Designer. Libro consigliatissimo per non fare errori da principianti.

I bought this book as much out of curiosity as anything else, to see if the rules were the same as I remembered them to be 🙂 It’s proven to be not only a good source of amusement (the writers have taken a witty approach to the subject at times) but also a handy reference and reminder as to the numerous pitfalls in graphic design. The description says the reader can either dip in at random or use the book as a source of a daily lesson – there are 365 Essential Design Dos and Don’ts after all 😉 But I would find it difficult to stop reading after just one `lesson’. It’s the type of book which draws you in to the extent you can spend quite a while flitting from one page to the next. Though if anyone takes one rule from the book it should be rule 001 Thou shall not use Comic Sans.Although I said the book was wittily written (try saying that fast after a few drinks) that does not detract from the fact that the book is full of accurate and informative rules, and I’d say there are many folk out there today that would benefit from owning a copy.