Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
Whether a marketing campaign or a museum exhibit, a video game or a complex control system, the design we see is the culmination of many concepts and practices brought together from a variety of disciplines. Because no one can be an expert on everything, designers have always had to scramble to find the information and know-how required to make a design work until now.
Universal Principles of Design is the first comprehensive, cross-disciplinary encyclopedia of design. Richly illustrated and easy to navigate, it pairs clear explanations of every design concept with visual examples of the concepts applied in practice. From the "80/20 rule to chunking, from baby-face bias to Ockham's razor, and from self-similarity to storytelling, every major design concept is defined and illustrated for readers to expand their knowledge.
This landmark reference will become the standard for designers, engineers, architects, and students who seek to broaden and improve their design expertise.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Designer must have - This book is never far from my reach
Customer Rating:
This book is never far from my reach. I get asked lots of basic design questions to which I'd like to provide accurate answers. When I'm at a loss for how to explain a design principle, I just reach for this handy guide. I have a Bachelors degree in fine art, so flipping through this book is like a college refresher course. If you're new to design or want to learn the basics, this book is an excellent place to start. It's also worth keeping handy as a reference.
The great thing about this book is that each principle is explained as its own short, illustrated chapter. Each chapter is a two-page spread so you can quickly learn new principles. The illustrations are simple and assist in making each principle clear and easy to understand. There are 100 principles (or chapters), so there is very little that's not covered in the book.
Must have book for any designer.
Customer Rating:
No matter what field you're in, if you are a designer this book is for you. The book's title says it all, this is information that is helpful no matter what kind of design you're doing. It explains how people absorb information and ways a design can be improved to aid in this.
The book is well layed out and easy to get into just one topic without having to read everything. Great for reference and education. A beautiful hardcover book. Whether you design products, webpages, software systems or entire buildings this one is for you.
Great knowledge reference
Customer Rating:
Some of these 100 principles will be familiar, but are explained better here. Others may be new to you, and are referenced to other related concepts. This is not only a bone-up on what you should know, but a good cross-referenced tool for defending your design decisions to your boss or client. A great addition to the library of any systems, graphic or interaction designer.
Great Book but.....
Customer Rating:
This book was great but it left much to be desired. It is separated into two page sections complete with illustrations and a brief summary of the section topic. and thats it. thats all they leave you with. they do give you a suggested reading list, citing the seminal work on each topic discussed for further study.
Fun to read & great presentation
Customer Rating:
This book was fun and quite addictive! It contains a collection of unrelated design principles that can be browsed and read in random order. The presentation is very attractive. Can be recommended not only to marketers and designers, but also to anybody merely remotely interested in this topic.
The weakness is that there is no attempt to create a frame work, overall guidance, or step-by-step advice on how to combine these principles.
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