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Smashing books #2
The Smashing Book 2
This book shares valuable practical insight into design, usability and coding. It provides professional advice for designing mobile applications and building successful e-commerce websites, and it explains common coding mistakes and how to avoid them. You’ll explore the principles of professional design thinking and graphic design and learn how to apply psychology and game theory to create engaging user experiences.
Like its predecessor, the Smashing Book 2 is a printed book about best practices in modern Web design.
Well-respected professionals have worked with us to provide exciting and comprehensive chapters:
“The Principles of Great Graphic Design”, Matt Ward and Alexander Charchar,
“Visible vs. Invisible Design”, Francisco Inchauste,
“Designing Mobile User Experiences”, Mike Rundle,
“Sketching, Wireframing and Prototyping”, Janko Jovanovic,
“Red Flags in Web Development”, Christian Heilmann,
“The Future of Web Typography”, Vivien Anayian,
“Game Design Techniques Applied to UX Design”, Christoph Kolb,
“When They Click: Psychology of Web Design”, Susan Weinschenk,
“Design Patterns on E-Commerce Websites (A Study)”, Steven Bradley,
“How to Make a Book (Like This One)”, The Smashing Magazine Team.
Like its predecessor, the Smashing Book 2 is a printed book about best practices in modern Web design.
Well-respected professionals have worked with us to provide exciting and comprehensive chapters:
“The Principles of Great Graphic Design”, Matt Ward and Alexander Charchar,
“Visible vs. Invisible Design”, Francisco Inchauste,
“Designing Mobile User Experiences”, Mike Rundle,
“Sketching, Wireframing and Prototyping”, Janko Jovanovic,
“Red Flags in Web Development”, Christian Heilmann,
“The Future of Web Typography”, Vivien Anayian,
“Game Design Techniques Applied to UX Design”, Christoph Kolb,
“When They Click: Psychology of Web Design”, Susan Weinschenk,
“Design Patterns on E-Commerce Websites (A Study)”, Steven Bradley,
“How to Make a Book (Like This One)”, The Smashing Magazine Team.
355 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
18 people are currently reading
178 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 25, 2012
Good material but not as stellar as the main material from the Smashing Book. Some of the articles are worth the time to read through them.
March 12, 2012
A couple months ago I finished reading The Smashing Book 2 from the popular web design blog Smashing Magazine. Just like with the first book, I got disappointed. It looks good, it feels good (awesome printing), it covers a variety of topics, but to me it just doesn’t work.
For starter, it feels like a bunch of blog articles put together. I can’t feel the connection among them. Like I said, it covers a wide range of topics, from e-commerce to mobile, typography and print design. I found myself skipping several pages until finding something that I’m actually interested in. Too many different areas covered also means I won’t use the book as a quick reference. Maybe this was intentional so they could reach a broader audience, just a guess.
One chapter in particular covers design patterns in e-commerce based on a research with over 50 websites. Even though the content and results are well put together, this is hardly something I want to read in a book. It would make more sense to see it in a magazine as the results will become dated very fast.
The Smashing Book 2 is not a bad book. It is well written and the authors go very deep into each chapter, they are very informative although not so useful in practise. The chapters cover a lot about strategy and theory.
It’s a great improvement from their first try and I’m sure a lot of people will like it. It just isn’t the book I was expecting considering what Smashing Magazine represents to the web community.
For starter, it feels like a bunch of blog articles put together. I can’t feel the connection among them. Like I said, it covers a wide range of topics, from e-commerce to mobile, typography and print design. I found myself skipping several pages until finding something that I’m actually interested in. Too many different areas covered also means I won’t use the book as a quick reference. Maybe this was intentional so they could reach a broader audience, just a guess.
One chapter in particular covers design patterns in e-commerce based on a research with over 50 websites. Even though the content and results are well put together, this is hardly something I want to read in a book. It would make more sense to see it in a magazine as the results will become dated very fast.
The Smashing Book 2 is not a bad book. It is well written and the authors go very deep into each chapter, they are very informative although not so useful in practise. The chapters cover a lot about strategy and theory.
It’s a great improvement from their first try and I’m sure a lot of people will like it. It just isn’t the book I was expecting considering what Smashing Magazine represents to the web community.
September 9, 2011
I was not as impressed with the second installment of the Smashing Book series as I was with the first one. The second book takes a distinct approach of relaying information in the form of essays. I found this to be a more indirect approach to relaying the information contained therein. Overall, I felt like I read a lot of fluff to get to the "meat" of each section.
That being said, there are a few redeeming passages. I particularly liked the chapter where an analysis of 57 e-commerce sites was performed to obtain data on trends and best practices. There was also some good information in the section about red flags in design. In the end, though, the majority of the information in this book can be gathered from other sources in a more direct manner.
That being said, there are a few redeeming passages. I particularly liked the chapter where an analysis of 57 e-commerce sites was performed to obtain data on trends and best practices. There was also some good information in the section about red flags in design. In the end, though, the majority of the information in this book can be gathered from other sources in a more direct manner.
April 1, 2011
I could give some articles a 5-star rating, but not the whole book. Definitely dedicated to people who are just starting in the covered subjects. I am no user experience designer, but most of the stuff in the article for designing mobile interfaces is conventional wisdom.
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September 17, 2012I like this so far. It's a high-level view of user interaction information and has useful takeaways in each chapter. Nothing earth-shattering about the information but it's definitely an easy and useful read.
July 4, 2012
Heaps of practical info on design, both graphic and web. Over my head at points on techiness, but that's a good stretch. It's a textbook for effective design on the web, complete with bibliography. Worth it.
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March 7, 2017The Smashing Book 2 covers a diverse array of material. It is very interesting read and I highly recommend it to anyone who is starting in designing and developing for the world wide web.
November 25, 2011
It is very interesting read .. lots of useful information every designer/ developer should know about it
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews