Design Matters: An Essential Primer-Brochures, Logos, Packaging, Portfolios

by Capsule, Michelle Taute, Maura Keller

The design bar is at an all-time high for those brave enough to participate in the industry. Today's designers must be clear on all the steps necessary to create work that stands out in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Unfortunately, most design books only focus on type, color, and layout issues. The Design Matters series takes a more in-depth approach, allowing designers to learn not only how to create work that is aesthetically appealing, but also strategy-driven and smart. This compilation features the best of the Design Matters series, indispensable guides to design, in one handy volume. Design Matters focuses on developing, creating and implementing brochure designs, logo designs, packaging, and portfolios. The compendium includes all the essential information needed to execute strong designs in concert with beautiful and well-crafted examples, so that designers can successfully hit the mark every time.

Genres: Design

448 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2011

Reviews

[Elleanigbo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great place to start for anyone looking to be a graphic designer. It as a little bit of everything with great instructions about the design process and dealing with clients. LOVE

[Muhammed Mustafa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a self-taught graphic designer, it was really hard for me to design a good portfolio that will help me stand out in such a competitive market. I have been escaping the wrath of designing one for several years. So, I finally decided to create one and just to shield myself, I decided to purchase a book that can give some useful information about portfolio design along with personal logo design and portfolio document design.

With that in my mind, I read the whole book seeking for information I can get for this purpose. It didnt completely fullfil the purpose but it gave me lots of other information that I can surely use it in my portfolio and elsewhere. I also liked the book because of the tone the author used. Even though the number of pages are a lot similar to some academic book, yet it isnt that boring. Well not boring at all.

It had some great tips, checklists and wonderful examples to get some creative ideas. The examples this book shares just makes the concepts more understandable.

Having said that, lets talk about why 4 stars, not 5:
1- I hated the paper-material they used. It was glossy and was throwing at my eyes a lot. Had to tilt and sit in weird angles.
2- The book has been organized into 4 categories: planning, implementation, creating and case-studies where it should have been much better if the book was categorized to what was mentioned on the cover: logos, packaging, portfolio and brochure (just like what they have shown in the cover). Nevertheless, I read it this way.
3- The book is so much to digest and remember, I wished they had a summary/key-points at the end.
4- The portfolio section was more related to agencies/companies rather than personal portfolio. Even though the examples were amazing, gave me lots of ideas but as an individual these examples are not that effective due to the budget constraint.

To conclude it all, this book is more about strategies and process, rather than designing. I felt it to be more oriented towards marketing. It doesnt teaches you how to design a logo or how to set the template for brochure or package, but it surely lets you know understand the process in depth with examples.