[.ca] Design Basics Index (ISBN 1581805012)

Visually exciting, fresh and thought provoking:
I loved this. I had never heard of Jim Krause before until I stumbled upon this book on the shelf in Chapters. He's loaded each chapter with exercises for you to get your creative juices flowing, and utilized his design knowledge throughout the entire layout which makes it that much more pleasing to read. I'm about to enrol in a college graphic design program and wanted something to boost my motivation and get me started before the program. It's well organized, and covers more than I ever imagined could be possible to know about graphic design. Doing a quick google on Jim Krause, turns out that he has been in the business for 20-someought years. The book is easily understood in ways that he maps out examples of good and bad design, demonstrates his ideas through illustrations and also provides very insightful commentaries. I'm stoked to move on to the next instalment of his series (The Complete Design Index). Not until I do the exercises first. Check this out. You won't be disappointed.

Exactly What You Want from a Baisc Design Book:
I purchased 5 books on the topic of basic design and this was the best. The only negative thing was that I bought this retail off a bookshelf, rather than through Amazon (used or new) as I needed it ASAP. However, the extra cost was well worth the money! Although the book is small 4.5" wide x 8" tall x 1" thick (359 pages), it's as the expression goes "Good Things Come in Small Packages". The book is well-designed, well-illustrated, and very easy to understand. There are plenty of examples to illustrate and accompany the type. These all are attributes that I would expect and received from such a book titled "design basics index". If you are purchasing any book from the Internet, I would strongly recommend to try and review the book in any local bookstore. In this way, you'll never be disappointed with what you'll receive in the mail. The reason that I say this, is that like everything else (movies, food, and wine) opinions are highly subjective. What someone might rave about, another person might give it a thumbs down - myself included. However, I don't think most people would be disappointed with this great book!