Product Description

Robin Williams introduced design and typographic principles to legions of readers with her best-selling Non-Designer's book series. Now she and designer/co-author John Tollett take you to the next level of creative design with practical advice and lessons in composition, visual impact, and design challenges.

Presented in Robin and John's signature style—writing that is so crystal clear, it's accessible to absolutely anyone—and illustrated with hundreds of full-color design examples, the ideas in this book tackle design theory, visual puns, and layout and graphics strategies for real-world projects. Developing designers will appreciate the author's imaginative approach and well-chosen examples.

• Discover practical and effective design principles and concept–and how to apply them to virtually any project.
• Learn why some designs are attention-getting and others are not.
• Learn how to choose just the right look—corporate or casual, classic or trendy—for specific types of projects, such as business cards, letterhead and envelopes, newsletters and brochures, logos, advertising, and more.
• Test your design acumen by comparing before-and-after examples.
• Find a wealth of inspiration for your own design projects.
• Gain insight into the design process by studying the works of guest designers, who offer their personal commentary and insights.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #259419 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

From Amazon.com
If you just stumbled into design, maybe via a hobby that grew into a career, and you want to improve your work without having to enroll in a degree program, this book can bridge some of the gaps in your acumen. Not really a primer on basic facts, Design Workshop is more like a guide to style.

The first chapter quizzes readers on mostly technical, basic details of design (like dpi), all of which can be found in Williams's previous publications (for example, The Non-Designer's Design Book). Readers will be dismayed, possibly annoyed, that the quiz answers are not provided. Even if not knowing the answers means that you need remedial help, it feels like a bit of a tease.

The next chapters show how to use stock images, or your own images, to increase the visual impact of your piece (basically through an increase in contrast). The best part of this section, and the book as a whole, is the "before-and-after" approach in the examples; they're like a series of makeovers. The captions effectively describe what was changed in the image, and how it improved the design.

The book applies a similar set of makeovers to various types of design projects: logos, forms, newsletters, tables of contents, etc. In the final section, seven designers, including coauthor Tollett, break down the process that they went through on a job of their own.

Self-taught graphic designers probably would make the best audience for this book, but designers who are of their own "school of thought" might find fault with some of the tenets that are put forth. Graphic design by nature is a subjective enterprise--at the mercy of "styles." What you get in this book is more of a "desktop-publisher style" (many of the drawings are clip art, for example). There's a lack of sophistication in the design of the book, as well as in the illustrations of posters, letterheads, advertisements, and other applications that are used as examples. On the other hand, this same open, naive look gives the book an inviting appeal, and makes it perhaps a bit less daunting than style guides, such as Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style, that are intended for die-hard professionals. --Angelynn Grant

Topics covered:

Style advice for design projects, including:

• Logos
• Business cards and letterhead
• Invoices and forms
• Advertising
• Billboards
• Web sites
• Tables of contents and indices
• Newsletters and brochures
• Flyers

Book Info
A colorful tutorial in creative design, with advice and lessons in composition, visual impact, and design challenges. Filled with hundreds of full-color examples, the ideas in this text tackle design theory, visual puns, and layout and graphics for real-world projects. Softcover.

From the Back Cover
Learn design theory and practical know-how from the award-winning author/design team, Robin Williams and John Tollett

Robin Williams introduced design and typographic principles to legions of readers with her best-selling Non-Designer's book series. Now she and designer/co-author John Tollett take you to the next level of creative design with practical advice and lessons in composition, visual impact, and design challenges.

Presented in Robin and John's signature style—writing that is so crystal clear, it's accessible to absolutely anyone—and illustrated with hundreds of full-color design examples, the ideas in this book tackle design theory, visual puns, and layout and graphics strategies for real-world projects. Developing designers will appreciate the author's imaginative approach and well-chosen examples.

Discover practical and effective design principles and concept–and how to apply them to virtually any project.Learn why some designs are attention-getting and others are not.Learn how to choose just the right look—corporate or casual, classic or trendy—for specific types of projects, such as business cards, letterhead and envelopes, newsletters and brochures, logos, advertising, and more.Test your design acumen by comparing before-and-after examples.Find a wealth of inspiration for your own design projects.Gain insight into the design process by studying the works of guest designers, who offer their personal commentary and insights.

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Customer Reviews

Great design lessons from "old friends"
The tone of the book "Robin Williams Design Workshop" makes the reader feel as if they are having a conversation about graphic design with old friends or a favorite design instructor from the past. With the authors having also written "The Non-Designer's Design Book," "The Non-Designer's Web Book" and others, that sense of familiarity is well founded. In the introduction it is written that this is a book for "mere-mortal" designers - meaning "aspiring designers who are in the process of developing their skills and getting experience; designers who are not famous (yet); and designers who are looking for design books to add to their collection, books that will give them some insight into the design process." Williams and Tollett do not disappoint those readers. Through colorful and detailed examples, designers are taken through the thought and creation process of a variety of projects including logos, ads, web sites, newsletters, brochures and more. In the section "Designers & the Design Process" the reader is shown the processes and work styles of six different designers as they create a book cover, logo and identity packages, promotional materials, an office space, web sites, student project assignments, typography and collateral materials. This latest offering from "old friends" is a fun and valuable design resource. - Jeff Fisher, writer of bLog-oMotives and "Logo Notions" on CreativeLatitude.com

Robin Williams Design Workshop
I found this book very informative and interesting. It had a lot of useful information, and the info was presented in a very "reader-friendly" format. There were a lot of examples in the book used to prove a point, instead of a 'just take it for granted' procedure. The book was simple and straightforward but not boring. The book was written 'to' the audience, with words like 'you' and 'your' instead of 'one' or 'some designers'. It really made the book have a personal impact.

On the other hand, the book wasn't 'all encompassing', like it seemed to be. Many references to previous books by the author showed that this was a book for most people. I would have added more to the book instead of constantly referring to previous books, if I was the author. Also, in the book, questions are asked to the reader, but there aren't answers printed anywhere in the book, which can be confusing.

Personally, I would rate this book as an 8 on a scale of 1-10. It was a great book to read and it taught me a lot. It could have had more 'guts', but it was very well written. I would definitely suggest this book to others, if they were interested in design. It was well worth my time and a good book to 'keep on file!'

By M.L.Conklin

Great ideas and an easy-read book!
I had to buy this book for a design class in college and now that I am out of college, I still use it for ideas on projects and inspiration. Robin writes in a very easy to understand language and gives you lots and lots of pictures to illustrate what she is saying... the WHOLE book is full of colored photos! I liked this book so much, I decided to purchase Robin Williams Web Design Workshop.