設計這樣想，對嗎？：破解設計界35個約定俗成的潛規則

by Craig Ward, 簡德浩 (translator)

突破你的設計人生困境！
活用35個逆向思考術！
新手必看！老手必讀！
設計起點走對路，延長你的設計生涯！

老手總是說：「不花錢買字型也沒關係」、「五種字型足以應付一輩子」、「你一定要去紐約」……

才怪!

好字型必定是設計者投入大量心血的結晶，你應該要建立自已的字型庫，尊重這些字體，將他們視為溝通的工具。

每一種場合都有其合用的字體，設計師的工作就是選出對的搭配，正因不斷傳承設計界才有趣味。

你所在的地理位置無關作品好壞，讓你的作品為你說話，而不是按工作地點來定義你！

破解設計界似是而非的「老生常談」，從今天起不再人云亦云！

大家都認為 vs 設計師告訴你：

1、不再有原創？ vs 你能做的就是創造出最棒的點子，盡力執行。但願有天換成你的作品啟發他人。
2、你只要有點子就夠了？ vs 將點子實體化的能力同樣重要！少了執行力的夢想，不過是幻想。
3、規則是用來打破的？ vs 選用適合的原則，比起從頭自創更容易，比起打破規則，更厲害的是摸熟常規。

掀開光環、假象與老套，你想像的設計工作還剩什麼？

看清真實面容，找出最終答案，就是支持你在這條路上的絕佳理由。

逆向思考，直面設計，就從掌握這35個逆向思考術開始！

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Art Design, Art

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2012

Reviews

[mailei · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a fave. for creatives, there are so many opinions flying around and it could feel very confrontational. and sometimes it makes being a beginners (and probably seasoned artists) hard, and develop imposter syndrome. but this author really makes it a point that, sure we can take opinions into consideration, but at the end of it all, each creative should generate their own opinions and derive validation from within (sounds cheesy ik, but the way the author wrote ab it is not cheesy and is inspiring, trust). and that takes a lot of pressure off of being a noob (who has a dying need to be perfect at everything i start). i’ve always felt like art (and most things) are not black and white, with a lot of grey area, where it does AND doesnt follow rules, and i guess it’s just nice that another person is validating that two things can be true at once as well. this book was also just so fun to read (topic-wise and visually). i borrowed this from my mentor and i need to get a copy of my own now to bookmark + annotate. bc i def will be referring back to it!

[Madeline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book annoyed me so much!!

I thought it might be somewhat helpful, and teach me something about my major, but it just went over the same lessons I've heard over and over from professors and advisors. Ward makes a simple point, and then goes on and on about it, basically saying the same thing 5 times over.

Besides the not-stellar writing, the design actually bothered me, which I was surprised about considering this is a book about graphic design... There is a very odd mix of page designs, making me feel like he made this book just to show off his InDesign skills. In the middle of the book, there is a very startling introduction of color, to signal the beginning of a section of designer-contributed 'popular lies abt graphic design'. This section really caught be off-guard, due to the fact that there was zero introduction, and suddenly some of the text was horizontal for no reason??? There were many sections of this book where the text was just not legible or easily-readable. While I want this book to look cool, it should also be readable, because, well, it's a book!

This book might be enjoyable for someone who isn't very well versed in graphic design, and is just getting into it, but as someone who is majoring in graphic design, I found it very repetitive and boring.
I'M ANNOYED!

[Stijn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK read imo. Too bad the quality of the opinions aren't consistent. Some opinions are too obvious to be really interesting, while other aren't discussed thoroughly enough.

Major downside is the layout of the book. Quite a few opinion titles are totally unreadable, which is quite contradictory for a book about graphic design. Especially because the author explicitly discusses how GD can/should be about making messages more readable to people, and that you shouldn't just 'break the rules' unless you have a really good reason to do so. Maybe I'm missing the point here, but making you go back to the table of contents to learn which opinion you're reading is pretty lame.

Disclaimer: I'm not a graphic designer, so maybe some subjects aren't as appealing to me as they could be for someone who works in the field.

[Park Frost · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a hard time believing what the designer was saying when I disliked the design of the book so much. First, the cover literally fell off the book (cmon Actar?) Every new topic / title page, i found myself going "wow, thats hideous / unreadable / totally corny" - and then yes, person who made that totally hideous / unreadable / totally corny thing, tell me your opinions on design ...? Useless. I read it just to get through it, but couldnt believe a word he said after making such an ugly boring-looking dysfunctional mid-90's-bad-styled book.

[Vuk Trifkovic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too small, too flimsy. A few nuggets for a 1st year design student but nothing more than that.

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a nice read. I’ve had some LOLs along the way. Mildly entertaining, mildly educational.

[Bryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suspect I would've gotten even more out of this if I had a graphic design background, but it was still interesting without one!

[Cassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good primer on starting out with Design, especially if you need a refresh of direction.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book but honestly the design of some of the pages was terrible and made them very difficult to read.

[Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty decient read if you alrady have a pretty good knowledge base of graphic design to begin with. There's not a lot that's new here as one might expect, given the fact the book is about popular misconceptions about graphic design. Most of the topics are ones that most designers would have stumbled across at one point or another.

This being said it was a fairly interesting read that was specifically from the writers point of view. The layout made the reading that much more enjoyable which I would most likely contribute to the fact the writer is a designer. I'd like to note that the book is a pretty quick read and is pretty small (it would fit pretty well in a pocket). I enjoyed the dark color theme it seemed to keep through out the book.

Overall I would say if you can get this book for pretty cheap, go ahead. It's always nice seeing alternative perspectives on graphic design, especially a lot of the popular ones this book touches on.

[Celia Tam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book about graphic design, It told me thirty-five phenomenon the industry often happens, let me knew the case of graphic design works. And the book design was very interesting, in the middle part of the book with a fluorescent orange to made the book design, it's very attracted to me, while the lies about graphic design and image performance together, it's so the article was very interesting.

It’s a great way to remind you why you’re doing what you’re doing if you’re not in your dream design job currently, and it reinforced my passion for the job and my hunger to learn more and achieve my ambitions. Basically, it made me want to be a better designer and gave me advice on how to do that.

[Marco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very quick but interesting read! I was delighted to realize I don't agree with all that is said in this book, because I think that was the point in the first place. I think the value of this book is the fact that you have to consider all the premises (or lies) in the book and, as a designer, have (or formulate on the spot) your own opinion on each of them. I always embrace debate about design and I think this book offers plenty of views on aspects of design to debate about.

[Kat Marsaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. Very straight forward and insightful opinions of things taught and accepted throughout the design industry. Designed very thoughtfully as well where the end of the book ends on the Print is Dead- lie chapter. Found Ward to be very clever, encouraging and truthful from personal and professional experiences. I would definitely recommend this to any designer/student at any point in their career.

[Stefanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fun refresher. It was laid out in similarity to rambling with a colleague over coffee. I would recommend this for designers that have the blues, or anyone curious about a career in Graphic Design.

[Jeff Wyonch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book on design, by an author that has strong opinions but a very quiet, simple style. He discusses many of the sacred cows of graphic design and presents a balanced view. This is all theory, with little technical discussion, and is all the better for it. Highly recommended.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite thing about this book is how the author makes some very bold remarks about the profession without professing that any of his claims are absolute truth. He is able to humbly give some great advice without compromising his arguments.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those books you can read very quickly but has lots of thinking points so it's good to read more than once or to skip around.

[Ivan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wasted time, unless you are a newbie in the industry.