The Language of Graphic Design: An Illustrated Handbook for Understanding Fundamental Design Principles

by Richard Poulin

For anyone trying to communicate in a new language, one has to first gain a complete understanding of its fundamentals; the ABC’s of that language—definitions, functions, and usage. The Language of Graphic Design provides graphic design students and practitioners with an in-depth understanding of the fundamental elements and principles of their language—graphic design—what they are, why they are important, and how to use them effectively. Organized by the building blocks of the graphic design language, this reference includes work by some of the most successful and renowned practitioners from around the world and how they have applied these fundamental principles to their work. By examining both student and professional work, this comprehensive handbook is a more meaningful, memorable, and inspiring reference tool for novice design students, as well as young designers starting their careers. To understand visual communications one has to first understand by seeing. To develop this discipline or visual sense is similar to learning a new language with its own unique alphabet, lexicon (vocabulary), and syntax (sentence structure). This book provides clear, concise information that will enhance visual literacy, while using dynamic, memorable visual references to inspire and reinforce the skill of seeing.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Art Design, Art

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Cara]

Had from library; looks great but I'm out of time and someone has a hold.

[Am Y · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent book. Chapters are organised by main design element involved (e.g. typography, form, balance, contrast, proportion, movement, texture, colour, etc), but of course, all elements of design intersect in some way to make up the final product, so for instance a poster could involve colour, form and texture, and a magazine layout could involve typography, movement and contrast, and so on.

Each chapter provides visual examples of a design product (e.g. stationery, logo, magazine page, poster, flyer, website, etc) that showcases the design element talked about.

I wish there had been more examples within each category, but still, since there are 26 chapters, you won't run out of inspiration. A good book to have handy if you are designing something and would like some ideas.

[JZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was informative and somewhat interesting for my graphic design class. My only problems were that it was quite repetitive and the layout of the book was confusing and not intuitive. The pictures and captions were all over the place and was hard to follow. But I did like the fonts used and such. And there weren't too many words.

[Bogdan Ungureanu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The work poses a breakdown of the graphic design fundamentals, neatly organized into 26 chapters - a rather thoughtful hint to English and its equal amount of characters.
I found most of the illustrations to be congruent with the conveyed message and quite visually compelling, even though art of the Modernist School is not exactly my cup of tea.

Chapters like "Typography" and "Grid" present the reader with bare-bones technical information ("Anatomy of Letterforms", "Anatomy of a Page Grid") essential and more immediate to the novice visual communicator, while chapters like "Abstraction" and "Expression" tend to be by their very nature - well - abstract and less informative (although nonetheless a necessary overview). All of this bolsters the handbook character of the publication, which apparently does not suffice to deter dorks like me from reading it cover to cover. It felt a bit like endlessly chewing on a piece of fleshy steak, but the nutrients are worth it (although far from completely absorbed :)).

Anyways, too much rambling. so for those of you industrious enough to read reviews, but lazy enough as not to read them whole, it's a good book, go grab it, should you consider having a reliable reference text at your fingertips.

[Linda Wisser · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good refresher for designers who have lost touch with the basics and a good foundation for beginners. My biggest complaint was how the content was laid out. I didn't like scrolling past (read off of PDF) multiple pages of examples and artist bios just to get to the connecting paragraphs in the chapter. Overall hard to follow.

[María José R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

El libro me pareció informativo para reforzar conocimientos sobre el diseño gráfico, pero no me gustó la maquetación, me pareció muy confusa, las biografias me interrumpian la lectura teniendo que saltar y regresar de páginas.

[Joanne Chang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good for beginners to get a concept of design elements

[Mimzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super pro vyjasnění pojmů nebo pro ilustrované ukázky.

[MS · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.1 starzzz

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

tökre nem fejeztem be, (egyébként hasznos volt, meg szórakoztató, csak kicsit tömény ahhoz, hogy gépen olvassam. mindegy, majd egyszer megveszem, mert tényleg jó könyv) de ötösre vizsgáztam belőle, szóval úgy veszem, hogy tudom az egészet.

[Kivilcim Kokbil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good definitions, clear examples.