Design Elements : Understanding the Rules and Knowing When to Break Them / Timothy Samara

"The ultimate primer on graphic design just got a little more ultimate. Renowned design educator and author Timothy Samara rewrites the book (so to speak) on his bestselling manual that explains the fundamentals of visual communication - the language of shapes, color, type, images, and layout that designers use to convey ideas, persuade audiences, and create compelling experiences in print, digital, and spatial media ... Still the most comprehensive compilation of visual thinking around. Form and space : Understanding the basics of graphic material - dot, line, plane, texture, space, structure, and contrast - and how they underpin successful layouts, as well as create the foundation for meaningful, effective concepts. Color fundamentals : An in-depth look at color's optical qualities, its use in different media, its effect on type, and its impact on emotions and messages. Choosing and using type : One of the most thorough presentations of typography concepts to be found - including letterform structure and optics, combining typeface styles, informational hierarchy, the mechanics of detailed text typesetting, and using type as image. The world of image : An extensive overview of depiction, abstraction, and stylization ; the endless possibilities of medium; and how these all communicate. Putting it all together : Integrating type and image, using grids, seeing design as a system, and exploring approaches to the working process."--Page 4 of cover.

Includes index

"A new and updated 3rd Edition of Rockport's best-selling Design Elements, a visually rich and accessible handbook that presents the fundamentals of design in lists, tips, brief text, and examples. With new images and diagrams, the book covers everything from working with grids, color application, typography, and imagery to how to finally put it all together. Features include : the ultimate primer on graphic design's basic visual toolkit - dot, line, plane, texture, space and contrast - and how these basics underpin all successful layouts ; an in-depth look at color - from its optical qualities and its effect on type to its potential for communication concepts and emotions ; one of the most thorough compilations of typography concepts to be found - including information on letterform structure and optics, combining typeface styles, the mechanics of detailed text typesetting, and using type as image ; an extensive overview of imagery - the endless possibilities of medium, depiction, abstraction, stylization, and how these all communicate effectively ; methods for integrating type and image, including a tutorial on using grid systems to structure layouts ; and, twenty rules for making good design - and the best ways to break them. Being a creative designer is often about coming up with unique design solutions. But when the basic rules of design are ignored in an effort to be distinctive, design becomes useless. In language, a departure from the rules is only appreciated as great literature if recognition of the rules underlies the text. Graphic design is a "visual language," and brilliance is recognized in designers whose work seems to break all the rules, yet communicates its messages clearly."--From publisher's web site.