Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design

So what if it's not a workbook. The content more than makes up for the misname. This book is designed for people that are annoyed by those books filled with "content", that really only repeat the same thing over and over again. This book was written in a brief concise writing style and, to me, that is priceless. That title says layout workbook, but in reality it deals with more than just that. It deals with design process, which is very important for every designer, the overall mentality of what a designer should think like, and most of the fundamentals that all designers should come to learn in their long and hard design journey. Most people that write 5 star reviews only say things like it's a great book or truly wonderful, which I find very useless. Nonetheless, it's a great book, and I strongly recommend you get a copy as it will change the way you view design, especially if you starting out, or find yourself being an auto-didactic person. Thanks to this book I'll be starting my freelance carrier soon.

When I first got this book, I thought it was going to be more in the layout like a textbook that has a lot of words and few pictures. When I opened it up and read through it, it was quite the opposite. It shows everything visually and minimizes type wherever it can. It really goes into good detail about the design process and the best way to brainstorm and come up with ways to stop artist-block. It shows good solid design across multiple different styles. It mostly focuses on print pieces, but the messaging and intent can be carried across to web design as well. Great examples at the end and helps to break out of the normal art concepts that I come up with. For me, it is more of an inspiration book than a "learn design" book.

After reading previous reviews I decided to take a gander on this book. It was definitely money well spent. It's great for beginners who really need to learn the simple but often forgotten basics of designs. It goes over, layout to use of grids and typography; giving examples throughout the book to also help you visualize it in the correct manner. The images in the book are great for inspiration and ideas for when you sit down and design. I'm just starting off in this business and I enjoy learning about anything that has to do it and this is definitely a great beginning for someone who's starting off in this field as well.

I don't remember how I found this book, or why I bought it.It changed my life.This book is the reason I decided to change my major and apply for the Digital Arts program at my school. The layouts portrayed are that of beauty, simplicity, and originality.It made me want to draw, it made me want to think, it made me want to be.

This book is pretty worthless. It doesn't teach much by way of anything. It's graphically interesting, but otherwise a waste of money.

Wonderful book with lots of great ideas. It will be dated in another couple years, but it's graphic design - things change quickly!

I really enjoyed looking at this book. Towards the beginning the information is great, but I especially liked the second half where many samples of work was provided. I believe the best way to learn is to continuously look at different designs from throughout the world, and many samples from Europe and Asia were provided.The reason why the book didn't receive a 5 star rating was because it's not really a guide, but more of an overview. Don't expect to have practices from this book, it's mostly information and samples.Overall, I really enjoyed it and would recommend buying it if you're starting out in the design industry!

I had use this book for design layout inspiration, and I find it very helpful. There is not a lot of reading to do for those who have short attention span, however they cover the essentials.

This is an amazing book for people who don't basic idea about Layouts, Visual Hierarchy and Typography. I learned a lot after reading this book.

The book was delivered as expected

Entgegen meinen englischsprachigen Kollegen auf amazon.com muss ich dieses Buch leider eher negativ bewerten. Kurz gefasst: für ein Buch über Layouting von Druckprodukten ist das Layout des Buchs selbst eine Katastrophe. Text und Bilder sind sehr unruhig angeordnet, kurze Absätze werden von Bildern getrennt und das Buch bietet auf keiner einzigen Seite einen angenehmen Lesefluss. Auch inhaltlich ist das Buch mehr Bilderbuch als Lektüre. Zwar werden alle Basics, die man beim Layouten beachten sollte, erwähnt – aber zu wenig erläutert. Heute musste ich zusätzlich feststellen, dass ich keinen einzigen Absatz zum Thema Grundlinienraster finden konnte, was finde ich eine grobe inhaltliche Lücke darstellt. Auch wird beispielsweise der goldene Schnitt nicht erwähnt – finde ich persönlich aber verkraftbar, da ich selbst kein Unterstützer des goldenen Schnitts bin.Im Endeffekt habe ich bei meiner Recherchearbeit auf folgende Bücher zurückgegriffen, von denen ich das erste als besonders gelungen empfinde und Ihnen allen ans Herz legen möchte:» Ellen Lupton: Thinking With Type (momentan €19)» Gavin Ambrose & Paul Harris: Basic Design 02: Layout (momentan €30)Zum Kauf des Layout Workbooks von Kristin Cullen kann ich nur raten, wenn man seine bestehende Sammlung an Fachbüchern gerne erweitern möchte. Für etwas Inspiration und der Sicht einer anderen Grafikdesignerin reicht das Buch allemal. Als Grundlage für Designanwärterinnen jedoch nicht zu empfehlen.

Very good book! It's very useful and good quality! A must-have for all Graphic Designers, specifically in the print industry.

Easy digestable book (with nice layout). It gets you started with lay-out. Of course, practice is the keyword to success.