The Elements of Graphic Design / Edition 2

by Alex W. White

Overview

Now in full color in a larger size! 40% more content and over 750 images to enhance and better clarify the concepts in this thought-provoking resource for graphic designers, professors, and students.

This very popular design book has been wholly revised and expanded to feature a new dimension of inspiring and counterintuitive ideas to thinking about graphic design relationships.

The second edition includes a new section on web design and new discussions of modularity, framing, motion and time, rules of randomness, and numerous quotes supported by images and biographies. This pioneering work provides designers, art directors, and students—regardless of experience—with a unique approach to successful design.

Veteran designer and educator Alex. W. White has assembled a wealth of information and examples in his exploration of what makes visual design stunning and easy to read. Readers will discover White's four elements of graphic design, including how to: define and reveal dominant images, words, and concepts; use scale, color, and position to guide the viewer through levels of importance; employ white space as a significant component of design and not merely as background; and use display and text type for maximum comprehension and value to the reader. Offering a new way to think about and use the four design elements, this book is certain to inspire better design.

Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781581157628
Publisher:	Allworth
Publication date:	03/15/2011
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Alex W. White is the author of Listening to Type: Making Language Visible, Advertising Design and Typography, and The Elements of Logo Design: Design Thinking, Branding, and Making Marks. His books are used by professionals and as university texts the world over. He is chairman emeritus of the Type Directors Club and has taught graphic design and typography for thirty years at Parsons School of Design, Syracuse University, and the Hartford Art School. He is the chairman of the graduate program in design management at the Shintaro Akatsu School of Design at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. He holds an MFA in Advertising Design from Syracuse University and a BFA in Graphic Design from Kent State University.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1: Space is emptiness
 
fill up a place, which may be better … when I
have made it empty. – William Shakespeare
(1564–1616), As You Like It
 
Emptiness is an essential aspect of life. It is the unavoidable opposite of fullness, of busyness, of activity. It is the natural and universally present background to everything we see. Emptiness is silence, an open field, a barren room, a blank canvas, an empty page. Emptiness is often taken for granted and thought best used by filling in. It is generally ignored by all but the few who consciously manipulate it to establish contrast, to create drama, or to provide a place of actual or visual rest. It is best used as counterpoint to filled-in space. Composers and architects use it. Painters, photographers, and sculptors use it. And designers use it. The most important step toward sensitizing yourself to using space is first seeing it. Gregg Berryman writes in his Notes on Graphic Design and Visual Communication, “Everyone ‘looks’ at things but very few people ‘see’ effectively. Designers must be able to see. Seeing means a trained super-awareness of visual codes like shape, color, texture, pattern, and contrast. These codes make a language of vision, much as words are building blocks for verbal language.” Being trained to see more critically is best guided by a teacher, but such training relies on exposure to excellent art and design samples.

The figure/ground relationship
The single most overlooked element in visual design is emptiness. The lack of attention it receives explains the abundance of ugly and unread design. (Ugly and unread describe two separate functions of design which occasionally occur at the same time. Ugly refers to an object’s aesthetic qualities, an evaluation of whether we like the object. Unread is infinitely more important, because an unread design is an utter failure. A printed document, regardless of its purpose or attributes, is never intended to be ignored.) Design elements are always viewed in relation to their surroundings. Emptiness in two-dimensional design is called white space and lies behind the type and imagery. But it is more than just the background of a design, for if a design’s background alone were properly constructed, the overall design would immediately double in clarity and usefulness. Thus, when it is used intriguingly, white space becomes foreground. The emptiness becomes a positive shape and the positive and negative areas become intricately linked.

Editorial Reviews

True to its subject, Alex W. White's classic Elements of Graphic Design has been thoroughly redesigned and expanded to better present its core concepts. Now in full color and in a large format, the second edition contains 750 images and substantial new content about timely topics including framing, modularity, rules of randomness, motion and time, and much more. Professional designers, directors, students, and aspiring artists can all benefit from this standard, now updated in a stunning revamp. Browse it; buy it.

"White sets out key concepts of space, unity, page architecture, and typography for the benefit of other designers, art directors, and students. . . . A clear introduction; recommended for anyone learning or reviewing graphic design." —Library Journal
“Alex W. White provides one of the clearest and most thoughtful introductions to graphic design that I’ve read. This book is also one of the few to really demystify the idea and use of white space in design—a topic that at once confuses young designers and causes seasoned clients to curl their lips with disdain. Read and learn.” —Alexander Isley, Lecturer at Yale Graduate School of Art, past President of AIGA NY
“The Elements of Graphic Design’s first edition has been one of the most useful books on the details of design and effective visual communication. The second edition is certain to become a standard in every design studio library.” —Sharon Werner, founder of Werner Design Werks
“An expert educator, Alex W. White has purified the fundamentals of graphic design into a vigorous and all-embracing book. No matter what stage of your design career, this second edition of The Elements of Graphic Design is, or ought to be, required reading.” —Kevin Smith, AIGA awards recipient, Professor at Parsons, The New School for Design
“Student or professional, if you need the ‘simple’ basics—or want to get to more ‘complex’ basics—if you don’t yet know the necessities of successful graphic design—or have forgotten them in the complexity of today’s overwhelming possibilities, here is the book for you. It’s by a guy who has quite a track record of speaking to both.” —Ed Fella, AIGA Medalist, Professor at CalArts’ graphic design program
“This book explains what I try to get across to my designers: how to make all parts of a design work together. My office has a big library and this is the book I hand over when breakthroughs are needed.” —Matteo Bologna, CD and founder of Mucca Design, New York

"White sets out key concepts of space, unity, page architecture, and typography for the benefit of other designers, art directors, and students. . . . A clear introduction; recommended for anyone learning or reviewing graphic design." —Library Journal
“Alex W. White provides one of the clearest and most thoughtful introductions to graphic design that I’ve read. This book is also one of the few to really demystify the idea and use of white space in design—a topic that at once confuses young designers and causes seasoned clients to curl their lips with disdain. Read and learn.” —Alexander Isley, Lecturer at Yale Graduate School of Art, past President of AIGA NY
“The Elements of Graphic Design’s first edition has been one of the most useful books on the details of design and effective visual communication. The second edition is certain to become a standard in every design studio library.” —Sharon Werner, founder of Werner Design Werks
“An expert educator, Alex W. White has purified the fundamentals of graphic design into a vigorous and all-embracing book. No matter what stage of your design career, this second edition of The Elements of Graphic Design is, or ought to be, required reading.” —Kevin Smith, AIGA awards recipient, Professor at Parsons, The New School for Design
“Student or professional, if you need the ‘simple’ basics—or want to get to more ‘complex’ basics—if you don’t yet know the necessities of successful graphic design—or have forgotten them in the complexity of today’s overwhelming possibilities, here is the book for you. It’s by a guy who has quite a track record of speaking to both.” —Ed Fella, AIGA Medalist, Professor at CalArts’ graphic design program
“This book explains what I try to get across to my designers: how to make all parts of a design work together. My office has a big library and this is the book I hand over when breakthroughs are needed.” —Matteo Bologna, CD and founder of Mucca Design, New York

From the Publisher

The challenge of creating and arranging text and images just got more comprehensible with the revision of this work from veteran designer and teacher White (Thinking in Type: The Practical Philosophy of Typography). White sets out key concepts of space, unity, page architecture, and typography for the benefit of other designers, art directors, and students. The 750 illustrations include a wide selection of ads, logos, magazine covers, posters, as well as web pages, and the author reminds readers to follow human visual perception and to strive for elegance: "Successful designs describe the content fully and as simply as possible." He offers a historical perspective, including time lines and thought-provoking quotations. White shows here that graphic designers use, rather than just fill, space. Some of the illustrations could have been enlarged to further the author's points. VERDICT A clear introduction; recommended for anyone learning or reviewing graphic design.—David R. Conn, formerly with Surrey Libs., B.C.

Library Journal