The Graphic Design Bible

by Theo Inglis

Discover the history and theory of graphic design from the past 150 years, and how that comes to bear on contemporary design.

Designer, writer and lecturer Theo Inglis takes readers through the core building blocks of graphic design such as composition, colour, medium and typography, and explores how each has been utilised and revolutionised by designers through history, and up to the present day.

This book will expand your knowledge of the world of design and provide you with practical take-aways to inform your own creative practice.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction

320 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[lota · Rating 2 out of 5]

as my slovak folks would say - trvá to jak lačnému sranie

I got this book for Christmas from my dad, as a graphic design student and I must say, I’m disappointed. The most bothering thing for me was the font selection. Although I find it pretty, it was hard for eyes and brain to process the written information since the font’s applied on definitions and studies. Another thing troubling was the decision of choosing images. I get the idea, that it’s good to show more than what is said in the text, but it might be confusing for some people to describe the one thing and show something far more different in the picture. I, as a visual thinker, would much more appreciate if the examples mentioned in the article would be also shown. Besides that what i must criticise is the writing style. From what I understand, the book’s supposed to be an encyclopaedia, yet the text seems too subjective for me in some parts. Even though I agree with author’s ideas I don’t think expressing them that much is suitable for encyclopedia. In conclusion, the book provides you with information, but as i mentioned earlier, for me reading it wasn’t a pleasurable experience.

[Keen Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

BEHAVE YOURSELF...IT'S THE HARDBACK EDITION...

“Graphic design is a broad subject matter: it is a medium, a practice, a craft, a discipline, a profession and an entire industry, and it intersects with almost every aspect of human society – from business and politics to art and culture.”

The first thing we have to address with this book is the terrible choice of typeface, a tad ironic that a book selling itself as an authority on such details, gets such a simple yet crucial thing so very wrong. It reminds me of the trap that many of these art/design type books can fall into, of being so self-conscious and overthinking themselves into convincing us how arty and relevant they are.

One of the most amusing and memorable adverts/images shown in here was the one which read, THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING A WOMAN ARTIST: which proceeded to give a list of things a woman needn’t worry about at the time it was made.

Aside from the horrible choice of typeface the actual content itself is well-written and communicates clearly enough, but its let down by the medium it chose to communicate that. This book raises some interesting questions about race, gender and general diversity and inclusivity and how like most professions, it’s often those best at self-promotion who tend to get noticed and who are more likely to gain recognition. This also touches on ethics (laughter), psychology, grids, colour theory and semiotics and all those other curious aspects which you never thought about thinking about…

“A piece of graphic design can become iconic, historically significant, widely reproduced, internationally collected and exhibited, but it is more likely to end up in landfill than a museum.”

[Vincent · Rating 2 out of 5]

A slightly woke book that also lacks depth. The author mentions, at every opportunity, phrases such as “appropriation,” “typographic inequality,” “cultural decolonization,” or “diversity problems” (diversity for the sake of diversity). In most contexts in which the author uses these kinds of remarks, they are not really warranted, as he relies on subjectivity and cherry-picking of history rather than actual facts.

For example, the author absurdly tries to suggest that the Latin script is almost racist. The absurdities expressed in that chapter are head-scratching. The chapter “Practice” doesn’t contain much practical content; it is essentially just a continuation of the “Theory” chapter. As with most woke content, it is clear that the attention was focused more on socio-political messaging or propaganda, to the detriment of the actual design topic.

What I do appreciate about the book is that the author manages to briefly present many of the disciplines within graphic design, as well as outline its history—albeit very quickly and at a surface level.

I also want to mention that I am not from an English-speaking country.

[H.B · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read into the history of graphic design over the decades. It covered a LOT of different aspects and types of graphic design and gave plenty of visual examples to break up the text that aided in understanding it with the examples given that directly connect to the chapter and text.

My only issue is I wish it explained why some examples were included. While some are glaringly obvious as to why they were given the in-text mentions their historical impact, others felt they could've done with more mention in the chapter as to why they were included and what they did well.

Overall, a great book to get a feel of graphic design and how it's evolved over time.

[Lewistron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully insightful, inspiring and informational

[coolwind · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is not for learning design skill.