The Fundamentals of Creative Design

by Gavin Ambrose, Paul Harris

Overview

The Fundamentals of Creative Design (second edition) is an update to the popular first edition of the same name, in which Gavin Ambrose and Paul Harris introduce students to the various aspects of the graphic design. This volume provides a fresh introduction to the key elements of the discipline and looks at the following topics: design thinking, format, layout, grids, typography, colour, image and print and finish. This updated edition includes new and revised content and images, giving the volume a more contemporary feel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350034150
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	08/10/2017
Series:	Fundamentals
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	103 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Gavin Ambrose is a practising graphic designer whose client base includes the arts sector, galleries, publishers and advertising agencies. He has written and designed several books on graphic design, branding and packaging.
Paul Harris is a freelance writer and editor. His work has appeared extensively in magazines and journals on both sides of the Atlantic, including style bible Dazed&Confused.
Gavin Ambrose is an author, educator and practicing graphic designer whose client base includes the art sector, galleries, publishers and advertising agencies. He has written and designed numerous books on graphic design, branding and packaging.

He currently teaches the Graphic Design BA at the University of Brighton.
Paul Harris is a freelance writer and editor whose work appears extensively in magazines and journals in the US and UK.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Format: choosing a paper size; ISO and American paper sizes; standard web sizes; film and moving image; file formats; exercise: format/proportion. Layout and grids: why use a grid?; the perimeter; juxtaposition; pace and hierarchy; the Golden Section and Fibonacci numbers; baseline grid; exercise: active and passive/looking closer. Typography: type; anatomy of a typeface; describing type; classification systems; extended type families; typographic colour; type generation; vertical and horizontal spacing; type personality; special characters and ligatures; Frutiger's grid; type detailing; typographic themes; exercise: type classification/type in the environment. Image: image meaning; image types; altering images; type as image; layers; exercise: juxtaposition/symbols and icons. Colour: understanding colour; basic terminology; specials or spot colours; colour combinations; colouring images; colour as branding; exercise: emotional swings / colour combinations. Print finishing: paper types; paper engineering; lithography and CTP; four-colour tints; fore-edge printing; screen-printing; letterpress; hot metal type; varnishes; physical finishing; folding, throwouts and gatefolds; binding; exercise: printed ephemera / woodblock composition. Glossary. Index. Contacts and credits. Working with ethics.

Editorial Reviews

AVA Academia Publishers, based in Switzerland, specializes in textbooks for the applied visual arts. This small volume is one in a series of 20 books in the AVA "Fundamentals" series. This second edition (1st ed., 2003) includes new examples of the principles (including their historical origins) of print and digital design. Color-coded chapters provide an imaginative layout. The book includes examples of design projects that illustrate specific concepts and terminology. Contact information for design firms, given at the end of the book, is a good source of current information for students. Each chapter concludes with two student exercises. A "Working with Ethics" section at the end of the book provides a case study that encourages readers to consider ethical issues in the work of graphic design. This up-to-date textbook is reasonably priced and would be a good reference for graphic design students. Schools with programs in graphic design would do well to consider the entire series.

Summing up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates, graduate students and faculty.

N.M. Lambert, University of South Carolina Upstate

Choice