The Non-Designer's Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Noivce

Want to know some principles of design that will help you create a visually pleasing business card, newsletter, invitation, website, blog...this book will help you. It's instructional, with clear examples. It gives you design principles without drowning you in the subject matter. Principles you can use immediately to make your work communicate the information more clearly. It can help you understand why some books you want to pick up and read; why some websites you jump off quickly, or why you missed the RSVP or got the wrong date or time on an invitation. If you just want to know something about design, but don't want to become a profession; or maybe you will ever this book, give this book a read. I was very happy with this purchase.

This book is actually two books in one.The first book (Non-Designer's design book) opens your eyes for good design. I just read it once while watching TV and the next day intuitively started applying what I had browsed. It affects the way you structure Emails, Word documents, ... Basically everything.I was not happy with our website and all off the sudden could actually put in words what I didn't like about it. I could write a design guideline and ask web designers for quotes. I even started re-designing our companies trade show booth with over double the impact (enquiries, sales,...) as result.If you are a small business owner or have to deal with anything design this is a great starting point.I included research in my headline because I worked in research for a long time and know how crucial the reports, presentations and publications are for the career. I wish I would have had this book at that time.The second book (type) got a bit dry and detailed for me but opened my eyes for effects of fonts. Needless to say that I changed my standard fonts in Word straight away.Cheers,Edward

I bought this book because a friend recommended it. I run an office by myself and am the marketer, graphic designer, and webmaster in addition to all my other responsibilities. I am often disappointed in my printed designs because they lack something, but I don't have the knowledge to identify what isn't working for me.A few pages into the book, I started understanding some of the basics of design and layout. The first flyer I created after getting this book has received lots of positive feedback.Williams writes in a way that anyone can understand and explains jargon, so we can "get it." The best part is that explanation of design concepts are complimented with illustrated examples of the point she is making. For instance, if you're reading why text placement looks better in certain layouts, the information is right there with "before and after" style illustrations. By seeing the examples in the book, I can go back to my design and look for similar problems I need to address.

I actually bought this book before for school & for some reason decided to sell it after the course was done. Now I have bought it again because I decided that I wanted this book in my collection. There are lots of examples and quality images in the book so you can see what the writer is talking about. It gives you great font ideas & advice on how to create effective flyers, invitations, layouts, etc. Now I use it as a reference guide whenever I am creating something that needs to stand out or look special.

This book teaches you the basics of graphic design. Your publications, layouts, flyers, etc. will immediately look better after reading just one chapter of this book. This is a newer edition versus the original book Non-Designer's Design Book (2003) that includes information about website/online/digital layouts. The author, Robin Williams, even has books about Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign!To established professional graphic designers, the ideas in this book may seem basic, but for folks that have been doing design for even a few years, this opens up your eyes to new ideas and techniques. I can't recommend it highly enough!

I purchased this book for my own library after "test-driving" it from the public library. What a great book! Robin Williams (not the actor) not only describes the concepts of good design but demonstrates them in this engaging, well-written, and beautifully arranged book. Since I've read the book, I can't help but use the concepts in just about everything I do and the results have been spectacular. Most people love the work I've created even though they can't pinpoint why they like it--and that's OK. This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I highly recommend it to all of you.

Robin Williams' books are definitely an essential ingredient in any graphic designer's library. Everything is explained clearly and simply in terms that are easy to understand and often humorous. Williams gives excellent examples of the work she is describing. This book is an updated complete collection of her two best books: The Non-Designer's Design Book and The Non-Designer's Type Book. I highly recommend this book in particular, as so many designers do not have even the basic understanding of basic rules of design and page layout, or how to work with type and typography. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Bought this for a college class, and it was exactly what I needed. We didn’t use the whole book, so I can’t speak for all of it, but what we did use was very informative!

Fun, inspiring, clear and invaluable for anyone lacking in a design education who is, nonetheless, trying to design just about anything. Teaches clear principles that are effective, memorable and easy to put into action. My copy was great value, but I did buy a fairly cheap used copy. Recommended.

Well written and easy to read/follow/understand.

Good but nothing new - I'm a designer

I have been a secretary for 20 years and have done volunteer work desktop publishing. I wish I had found this YEARS ago! I see that I did many things right, by instinct, but I also see many ways to improve my work. I suggest this to everyone who does any type of DTP, whether for a newsletter, brochure, website, whatever. This information will take your work product to an entirely new level.

Very basic for the price I paid. Large print to look like it covers a lot of area.