Probably Random

The Art of Looking Sideways

The Art of Looking Sideways Alan Fletcher

Wow. What a book!
I can’t say that I have ‘read’ this and to be honest I don’t think I ever will.  I don’t even think it’s meant to be read, in fact in a way I’m tempted not to read it just so I can flick through to a new page to be excited and surprised. It is an awesome and inspiring book, full of quotes, photos, pictures and passages to make you think as well as give you a design prod.  If you’re ever stuck for inspiration just flick through to a random page or two.

Graphic Design: The New Basics

Graphic Design: The New Basics Ellen Lupton & Jennifer Cole Phillips

As it says this is the New Basics.

Firstly, it really is the basics, but those basics are the starting points for all designers; point, line, colour etc.

The Basics – I have read about, practiced all these topics before (in various art and design courses) but I’ve never had them all together in a design text book, which is good for reference before.  I found reviewing them again useful, and they were well presented with nice and varied examples which helps provide inspiration.

The New – The New bit refers to some additions which have been made to the ‘usual’ basics which includes looking at; transparency, animation and computer generated images.  This was nice to see as they are the new basics.

What I liked the most was that it was teaching the underlying concepts not the software (except a bit of Processing in places), it is the basics and some of the exercises seemed to be implied rather than stated, it’s not just a reading book, if you want to become a designer you have to read, look at the examples and then go off and design your own, I didn’t think that was stated explicitly enoug8h.

Indie Publishing

Indie Publishing: How to Design and Produce Your Own Book  Ellen Lupton

Well again another well titled book, it really does tell you how to design and produce your own book!  Not only that but it does it in an inspiring and motivating way, by the time you’ve finished reading it you’ll be wanting to create a book, whether it’s a couple of pages which you bind yourself or a full on novel.

What I really liked was how the book explained how to do things in an enthusiastic ‘go try it’ way without sounding pushy, whilst still explaining how difficult some steps may be.  It was nice that they gave other people examples and their own examples showed that they really have done it themselves and you feel like you’re really learning from their experience.

This is a great read for, whether you’re an artist wanting to make a portfolio or a wanna be author (or just interested, or maybe because one day you might want to!).

Graphic Design for Non-Designers

Graphic Design for Non-Designers: The Ultimate Primer for the Design Rookie, Tony Seddon, Jane Waterhouse

Does exactly what it says in the title.  It is a great primer and will get you started on the right path, but you will have to look elsewhere to fill in the detail.  It is a useful book to get you started and it does help bring together ideas which you may have thought about in isolation (if you’ve ever done any art or design before).

Lighting

I’ve always known lighting is important to a picture, I mean lighting is the picture, without light it wouldn’t exist.  But it dawned on my a little harder the other day, I’d been looking at the pictures on Greyscale Gorilla which he’d taken for Digital Kitchen and whilst the pictures were great it was the lighting which struck me.  So I had lighting in my head when I was having a shower and a bulb went (usually with an idea its a light coming on but this was one going out) but it struck me how different the room looked now it was lit from a single point (rather than two). The room instead of looking, I don’t know Mediterranean? looked more sinister edgier and harsher.

In my photography I usually take what I see, there is an argument there that I’m not being creative, I’m merely a technician capturing a scene but that’s another story.  But now I think I need to go and do some more experimentation with lighting, I haven’t actually set up studio lighting (properly) for 10 years now and back then it was more for functional rather than aesthetic reasons.