Notable New Books By and For Graphic Designers

Renowned graphic designer Bonnie Siegler shares advice in her new book, Dear Client: This Book Will Teach You How to Get What You Want from Creative People, that will challenge the way we do business. Siegler posits that a lack of good communication wastes time and money for creatives and client, and ruins the potential for a beneficial relationship. Drawing from more than 20 years of professional experience, Siegler unveils the strategies needed to foster better communication between creatives and the businesses that hire them.

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Oh Sh*t…What Now? Honest Advice for New Graphic Designers by UK-based designer, educator and writer Craig Oldham is an irreverent yet helpful resource that examines all the pragmatics that go into the hunt for creative employment. The book shares information about the necessary and beneficial steps for building a portfolio, networking, interning, interviewing, creating good work, and making a lasting impression. From personal experience, the author offers a mix of practical guidance, sage advice, constructive criticism, and encouragement for landing the first and then second job.

In Winning Ugly: A Visual History of the Most Bizarre Baseball Uniforms Ever Worn, graphic designer Todd Radom has collected and chronicled some of the design swing-and-misses we’ve seen on the baseball diamond, including the 1977 Chicago White Sox wearing shorts, the 1971 Baltimore Orioles all-orange jerseys, and the recent all-camo jerseys of the San Diego Padres. Radom specializes in branding for professional sport franchises and events. His work includes the official logos for Super Bowl XXXVIII and the 2009 NBA All Star Game.

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In more than fifty short pieces, celebrated designer and Pentagram partner Michael Bierut’s Now You See It and Other Essays on Design ranges across design history, pop culture, and current affairs. Essays cover a broad and quirky range – Hydrox cookies, design hoaxes, the aesthetics of baseball stadiums and 18th century typography, while other writing celebrates legendary creatives such as Jerry Della Femina, Alan Fletcher and the author’s  own mentor, Massimo Vignelli. Bierut’s longtime work in the trenches of graphic design informs everything he writes lending the collection depth, insight, and humor.

Design School: Layout is an instructive guide for students, recent graduates, and self taught designers, providing a comprehensive introduction to creating and changing layouts; a crucially important skill that underpins practically every aspect of graphic design. The indepth guide by Richard Poulin of Poulin + Morris avoids the temptation to stray into other areas of design technique, preferring to cover the essential skills of the professional graphic designer in detail.

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In the mid-1970s, Andrzej Klimowski’s original artwork caught the eye of leading Polish theater and film companies, for whom he wound up designing some of the period’s most iconic posters. The Klimowski Poster Book is perfect for film buffs and design enthusiasts alike, highlighting the artist’s  techniques including photomontage and linocut to create posters that are filled with metaphor, drama, and originality. The book includes a forward by David Crowley, professor and head of critical writing in art & design at the Royal College of Art in London where Klimowski is emeritus professor of illustration.

Traditional color theory can be confusing to artists, especially when using inaccurate color wheels as guides to mixing colors. Color Theory Made Easy presents an alternative approach that gives the artist a universal theory that applies to their work. As a result of years of study, the author, art teacher and artist Jim Ames has concluded that the true primary colors are cyan, magenta. First published in 1996, this revised version, provides a workable color theory that is both simple and provocative.

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Now in its fourth iteration, revised and expanded, designer and editor Julian Rothstein’s classic compendium, A2Z+: Alphabets & Signs remains a valuable source for unusual, inventive fonts such as: the “Tippler” alphabet created from an elegant drunk’s meanderings, as well as one based on ink spots, and yet another derived from an avant-garde Czech ballet. Culled from around the world, A2Z+ seeks to inspire designers, history buffs, and anyone else interested in remarkable typefaces, symbols and patterns.

Designer, typographer, writer and illustrator Marian Bantjes has created ten unique certificates to commemorate life’s major milestones. Gathered in Certificates for Everyday Things, the notices are for whenever one feels grateful, proud, sorry or just wants to give someone else a pick-me-up, including Award of Merit for test aced, meals made, lawns mowed, diets started and feats attempted; Avowal of Innocence for vases smashed, cakes eaten, hair pulled and pranks perpetrated; and Peace Treaty for the resolution of arguments between colleagues, siblings, neighbors, friends and partners.

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Classic graffiti lettering and experimental typographical forms lie at the heart of street culture and have long inspired designers in many different fields. Artist Claudia Walde aka MadC spent over two years collecting alphabets by 154 artists from thirty countries to show the many different styles and approaches to lettering within the graffiti and street art cultures. Each artist was instructed to design all twenty-six letters of the Latin alphabet within the limits of a single page. GRAFFITI ALPHABETS: Street Fonts from Around the World showcases the incredible results which encompass not just street art but sketches, sculpture, digital art, and photography.

Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines, 15th Edition is an indispensable resource for people who create graphic art and those who buy it. As the graphic art marketplace continues to evolve to meet the needs of both digital and print media and as clients struggle with shrinking budgets in the current economy, the demand for up-to-date information on business, ethical and legal issues is greater than ever. The fully updated 15th Edition includes the latest pricing guidelines for buyers and sellers, current salary information with job descriptions, formulas for determining hourly and per diem rates, copyright registration information, and model contracts and forms that can be adapted for specific needs.