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The Design Center / Creative Networking / May: "Design Graduates" / June: Design Books & Learning  

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June: Designers' Books & Reading

... can you suggest a good book?

Many design and publishing practitioners will be taking a little time off this summer -- and it's always great to catch up on some reading. During May we invited subscribers of the Design Cafe list and DTG readers to write in and relate a comment about their reading and learning faves...

Can you suggest a graphics or design book to read?


This month's winners have spoken thoughts of wisdom, and we agree whole heartedly with all of them...

Periodicals best for me...

Mike writes:
      "I believe the Internet and periodicals are the source for the most current information, particularly how-to articles. I have begun a project to compile useful information in a filing cabinet so that I can reference it when necessary (instead of re-inventing the wheel every time I need to reference it). So I take these magazines with useful articles, cut out the articles, staple the pages together, and file them appropriately.
      For Internet sites, I print the page(s) and do the same. For example, articles on logo design (how to design one for example) would go into a filing cabinet under Logo Design. Another article on how to select the perfect colors for projects, I would file under Color Combinations or similar title. I believe all designers (professionals in all fields, I bet!) have a stack of magazines that they keep for that one article. So this is a simple but effective method to create my own reference library, as it were. If information is no longer relevant, I discard that which needs discarded.
      OS: MacOS X Fave Software: Deneba Canvas, Adobe GoLive, Mozilla Fave Design Magazine: Before & After "
[END QUOTE] Mike is a graphic and web design professional from Mulvane, KS

Fred comments:
      "Mike, you sure are right! Let me add that an inexpensive 3-Ring hole puncher and indexed loose leaf 3-Ring notebooks make the ideal addition to your formula! I do the same thing, and have notebooks lined up on my shelves by topics. Now if I could just find the time to go browsing them! Thanks for your input!

Design Magazines for Creative Jumpstarts...

Roger writes:
      "For the best bang for the buck I love the design magazines. You really can't go wrong with magazines because the information is really fresh, and unlike web sites you can carry the magazines with you for those down-times away from the computer. With books, you know the info is at least 6-months old. I subscribe to several but then also pick up new ones when I see them at the bookstores.
      My all-time favorite magazine is HOW Magazine. I've subscribed to PRINT magazine for nearly 25 years. And, I've looked at all of the Photoshop Design magazines, but usually pick them up at the book store. I also subscribe to Electronic Publishing which is the best trade publication for desktop publishers and I think it's essential that all graphic designers keep up with the Advertising industry -- Creativity Magazine being my favorite for many years. Since I already know how to design, my main interest is seeing what's hot, where the trends are going, and to see what other designers are doing. This, I think is most important. "
[END QUOTE] Roger is a Graphic and Web design professional from Chicago, IL

Fred comments:
      "Agreed 100%! A lot of young designers think the magazines are too expensive and they turn to the Web for that information. But if you look into the pages of Communication Arts Magazine, issue after issue, you come to learn there really is no better visual, creative, jump-start. Both Communication Arts and Print Magazine offer special "Best Of" issues that are the real bonus for getting a subscription! Print Magazine's "Regional" issues (included in the subscription) actually show the best design work in your region. So you can see what designers are doing in your own back yard. I think a subscription to these magazines should be required for graphic designers!

Robin Williams is the best...

Jenny writes:
      "Robin Williams Design Workshop -- by Robin Williams and John Tollett. It's helped me immensely. In fact, I like all of the Robin Williams graphics, web and design books. She just has a great way of presenting the information. If you pick my entry to publish and I win... just send me the latest from Robin and I'll be happy."
[END QUOTE] Jenny is a Desktop Publishing professional from Cleveland OH

I discovered Chuck Green!

R. Holdston writes:
      "Thanks to the Design Center I discovered Chuck Green. WOW, what a great design resource. The first one to get me hooked was the "Graphics Workshop book. This is a complete course and I actually felt like I didn't need any other training. But then I picked up Design It Yourself Logos Letterheads and Business Cards Step-by-Step Guide and the Desktop Publisher's Idea Book, Second Edition both together. Then when you guys recommended the "Idea Books" I immediately bought the one for Adobe InDesign. Now I feel like my design instruction library is complete. The templates are really the most important of all -- because they're ready to go!
Our studio runs almost entirely on the Adobe Creative Suite products."
[END QUOTE] R. Holdston is a Graphic Designer from Los Angeles, CA

D's Web Design Favorites

Dava writes:
      "I'm a web designer and I just can't get enough great books. My favorite author is Eric Meyer and I highly recommend his book Eric Meyer on CSS. In fact, just about any book by Eric Meyer or Molly Holzschlag will be a total success. A really essential book for all web designers is Defensive Design for the Web, which is the one I've been enjoying most recently. Web designers also need good references on graphics so I recommend Real World Adobe Photoshop CS by David Blatner and Bruce Fraser and Illustrator CS Killer Tips by Dave Cross, to cover graphics and images. If you use Dreamweaver or the Macromedia products then the Training From The Source books are best. If you use Adobe's GoLive, then you'll want the GoLive Bible. That one is getting a bit old since CS, so if you've upgraded to the Creative Suite, then you'll want Adobe GoLive CS Tips and Tricks by Adam Pratt and the Adobe GoLive for Macintosh and Windows Visual Quickstart Guide. Actually all of the Visual Quickstart Guides from Peachpit Press are wonderful."
[END QUOTE] Dava is a Web Design professional from Tracy, CA

And, that about wraps it up for this month. See'ya next month.

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