#40 in Arts & photography books
Reddit mentions of Williams: Non-Designers Design Bk_p3 (3rd Edition) (Non Designer's Design Book)
Sentiment score: 24
Reddit mentions: 35
We found 35 Reddit mentions of Williams: Non-Designers Design Bk_p3 (3rd Edition) (Non Designer's Design Book). Here are the top ones.
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The Non-Designer's Design Book is a pretty popular reference.
http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-Robin-Williams/dp/0321534042/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300690608&sr=8-1
I recommend this book hands down. I've used it as a text book for introduction to design classes that I used to teach. Its not long, nor complex. It's not about web design, but it covers the basic design concepts that apply to everything. She has web design books to, but they assume you know the basic concepts.
GET THAT BOOK.
Tuts+ is great. I have a premium account there.
I keep an eye on smashingmagazine.com , noupe.com and speckyboy.com, as well as deriving a lot of inspiration from creattica.com, csselite.com, and cssdrive.com.
There's all my secrets! Learn to break down what you're looking at. The book will aide in that. When you know what you are looking at, and how different people can manipulate similar elements, you can then build in your own unique approaches. Good luck.
Here's a little list of best-sellers on Amazon and a few from this thread:
I like these. Worded even more fundamentally, you get to an easy to remember acronym I learned a long time ago: CRAP.
Contrast - Maximize the difference between elements to reinforce hierarchy and make desired elements stand out (related to your #2 and #3).
Repetition - Reinforce the hierarchy by repeating elements: colors, fonts, spacing (2,3).
Alignment - Place elements deliberately to form a strong visual order (1).
Proximity - Arrange functionally similar elements close together to form intuitive groupings (1,5).
If you can follow those principles, then your #4 will be satisfied.
*Source: The Non-Designer's Design Book (which ironically looks like it was designed by a non-designer, but still a good resource for learning design).
I just got done reading the Non-Designer's Design Book and it has helped a LOT to learn basic design principles. The author also has one about the web but I haven't checked it out yet. Good luck!
The more you can do, the more irreplaceable you become to your current employer and the more attractive you are to prospective new employers. Plus, graphic design is endlessly fascinating and worth learning for its own sake.
But, what kind of design work are they asking you to do? A good agency shouldn't be asking a complete novice to do even layout work unsupervised.
That aside, you might find these useful:
by Robin Williams
Everyone on earth should read The Non Designer's Design Book
Please don't be offended by the title, but I think this book would help you out a lot. http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-Robin-Williams/dp/0321534042/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291060736&sr=8-1
It's a quick read and has a lot of good concepts. It's geared towards print, but is relevant to web too. This helped me out early in my design career.
According to most salary surveys I've seen, you'd be looking at a step down. Unless you really hate coding and feel you aren't suited for it, from a practical career perspective, you're better off focussing on programming rather than visual design. Java/PHP/Ruby/Python coders will fetch more than webmonkeys.
That said, if you're working in web development, of course you should have a solid understanding of how html and css work, and have a foundation in layout & design.
I cannot recommend Robin Williams' (no, not the comedian) Non-Designer's Design Book enough. Also take a look at her Non-Designer's Web Book, Non-Designer's Type Book and Web Design Workshop.
Also get Jakob Nielsen's Designing Web Usability.
A List Apart is fantastic for techniques & ideas. Add Smashing Magazine to your RSS for visual design ideas & trends. Jakob Nielsen's site is also worthwhile (don't let the ugly design fool you, the articles are great).
http://designforhackers.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Bringhurst/dp/0881791326
http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Bringhurst/dp/0881791326
http://www.amazon.com/Smashing-Design-Foundations-Designing-Experiences/dp/0470666854/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394586814&sr=1-1&keywords=smashing+ux
Edit: The Non Designers Handbook (This is a great book if you're just starting out / -- it's a bit dated but it teaches the core concepts very well)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Non-Designers-Design-Book-Edition/dp/0321534042
The Non-Designers Design Book
Short, precise, easy read. Highly recommended.
I'm currently in second year Graphic Design, and I still can't actually draw well - and I haven't really needed to. I spent my first year focusing on sketching everything, just really rough quality stuff.
I've definitely improved, but I still don't find its all that essential. I usually use flat art illustrations or other similar styles (like shag, brosmind. etc).
The only required drawing component is sketching thumbnails and roughs.etc. Not too hard to improve at if you practice.
Edit: The Non-Designer's Design Book (3rd Edition) https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0321534042/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_O4ZtybHNF50G4
This book kind of pushed me towards graphic design in high school. Its pretty basic stuff but will give you an edge when you're just starting out .
Hope this helps!!
"The Non-Designer's Design Book" by Robin Williams. (The author's name is just a coincidence.)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Non-Designers-Design-Book-Edition/dp/0321534042
This was never a required book in any of my design classes, but it was recommended in a couple of them and I liked it. So maybe use it as supplemental reading?
You have a lot going on with your typography and alignment overall. I'd highly recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Non-Designers-Design-Book-Edition/dp/0321534042
It covers a lot of basic design principles that are easy to follow and it's really good reference material. It covers everything from typography to alignment to colors and more. Really useful and could explain a lot better than I could.
I wouldn't necessarily call myself a designer and none of my sites have that Web 2.0 flair, but I don't think I'm terrible at design. Unfortunately, like most things, you'll just have to practice. One way I learned was just taking some sites that I like the looks of and re-implement them.
Of course it depends what you're going after. Like I said, my sites aren't very Web 2.0. One site that I personally think looks pretty nice (in a forum/blog kind of way) is pouet.net. A site that I worked on (but never actually finished) mimicked their style. I like how everything is compact. If/when I implement a forum/comment feature to my CMS, I'll probably use pouet as an example.
If you're going for something like this, either get ready for a lot of work or just hire a designer. Although gradients and some curves go a long way to making a web site "Web 2.0" compliant. :)
I was directed to this book: Non-Designer's Design Book. Although I haven't gotten it yet or read it so I can't say whether it's a good book or not.
Also, The Non-Designer's Design Book, and if design is not your thing, but you're stuck doing it as a developer, keep it simple.
Being an art director is not "making the ads look pretty." That's being a graphic designer. "Type, sizing logos, fonts, etc" are all designer's skills. For learning design in the shortest amount of time, get these two books: The Mac Is Not a Typewriter and The Non-Designer's Design Book. The Typewriter book in particular is, page-for-page, the most efficient primer on typography I've ever read.
If you're going to work in advertising, it's important you that know what your art director partner actually does. Yes, an AD has to know all the designer stuff as well, but an AD's job goes far beyond fonts and layouts.
On a conceptual level, an art director is the same as a copywriter, the difference is that he tends to communicate ideas without words.
On an executional level, an art director has a solid grasp of what it means to visually be "on brand," which is analogous to a copywriter writing with a brand "voice."
An art director also doubles as a film director. He has to know how to tell a story. Is there a 30-second spot with no copy? Guess who writes that part of the script. That's right, the AD.
The visual storytelling skill carries over into photography. A good shot isn't simply a posed composition. A good shot tells an entire story — a story that propels the conceptual idea. This goes beyond good lighting and knowing how cameras work, this is why the AD works with a photographer to get a shot, as the photographer is executional, akin to a graphic designer.
A good starting point would be "The Non-Designer's Design Book" by Robin Williams.
As a non-designer myself, I found this book to be worth its weight in gold:
The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams
It gives plenty of examples to back up its principles and its short!
Design and style are highly subjective. There are elements and rules that make things "look good" (contrast, alignment, proximity, repetition, etc.), but people can come up with many different things that are all good.
Usability is the same way. There are elements and rules that make things "usable" (Flow, Fitts' Law, Kinesthesia, affordance, etc.), but people can create radically different interactions that allow for the same goals.
Our role, is to act as a mediator. As Bill Buxton said, "design is compromise." You take all these grey areas and moving parts, and create a solution that gives the end user the best experience. You'll know its the best, because you can observe and measure it through usability testing.
If you want to make things look prettier, start by reading The Non-Designers Design Book by Robin Williams.
If you want to make things that work better, start by reading The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman.
Edit: Grammar
Getting somebody a gift in this sort of area is VERY tricky. He probably already knows exactly what he wants or has it already or its out of price range. Trick is to get something, somewhat related but not in his direct field, so tripod is a no-no.
Maybe a camera slider, or cineskates type product? On cheaper end those run sub 100 bucks. I disagree with video editing book suggestions as he probably already has material he's reading related to video editing. If he doesn't have a graphics background maybe something like this? http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-3rd/dp/0321534042/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396895058&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Non-Designer%27s+Design+Book good book about general design rules/practices which assist when making titles and the like. Maybe just a nice coffee table book to gain inspiration from or something along those lines.
Senior Level Software Engineer Reading List
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It's old but covers the fundamentals
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0321534042?pc_redir=1414561183&robot_redir=1
I've spent a year in graphic design school so far.
Short of taking formal classes, start with this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Non-Designers-Design-Book-Edition/dp/0321534042/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375397837&sr=8-1&keywords=non-designer%27s+design+book
I know the cover is ugly, but it's actually full of really valuable basic information. Start there.
Also, this chick is awesome, if you can ignore her awkward hand gestures: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHvMm4HgRCg
Edit: Not OP.
I wouldn't pay to get certified, at least not a first. There's plenty of high quality intro stuff available for free or cheap, and most places hiring designers only care about your portfolio, not whether you have a certification.
The steps I would take:
-------------------------------
http://designforhackers.com/
http://www.sensible.com/dmmt.html (summary)
http://htmlandcssbook.com/
http://www.shapeofdesignbook.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-Robin-Williams/dp/0321534042
http://retinart.net/book-reviews/9-mini-reviews/
http://www.abookapart.com/
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1768358
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/parallax-website-design/
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/illustration-vector-landscapes/
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3559918
http://sixrevisions.com/web_design/elements-clean-web-design/
etc, that's a few of many good ones I've bookmarked.
I've never seen the movie objectified, but I love this book:
Robin Williams, The Non-Designer's Design Book
edit: After a quick look at IMDB, you may want to try a Donald Norman book like:
edit2: WTF, I suck at formatting.
This book should get you started:
https://www.amazon.ca/Non-Designers-Design-Book-3rd/dp/0321534042
Needs something that shows that its a comedy. Put a banana peel on there. Something.
Helpful:
https://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-3rd/dp/0321534042
I am pretty sure there is no "perfect font." There are fonts that work well in many situations, like Helvetica, but would not work well in other situations. However, if you do a certain style of design, there may very well be a couple typefaces that works well for most of what you do.
There is a whole other issue of do you want to use fonts that you have to pay for or not.
I recommend "The Non-Designer's Design Book" by Robin Williams, which I recently read. This is a graphics design book, but it is not focused on web design. Still, she has some good design ideas. I would like to read a more up to date book on typography.
Theres a book called Non-Designers Design Book which simplifies a lot of the basic rules of design and even gets pretty deep into typography. I used my first year of college and I enjoyed how the information is presented.
I feel like there are too many different fonts at first glance. The site seems more cohesive as you scroll down.
Try to keep the font styles down to three.
Right now I see:
I like the Coustard + color, keep the open sans for content readability. Maybe experiment with bringing the buttons closer to your main design while still having them pop.
Also the images.... what's the boat all about? Why are there abstract figures next to 'Easy'? You should be able to find stock photos of happy actual people, and beautiful clean rooms.
The pyramid structure for news also applies to websites. I like that you introduce your three core features in the first paragraph, but then I would bring up the expansions you have buried at the bottom.
Next I would do [booking is] Easy, then Safe, then Guaranteed.
*disclaimer - I'm more of a programmer than a designer, but I have to do a lot of design. The Non-Designer's Design Book has helped me immensely.
The first book I was told to get in college was the "Non-Designer's Design Book" by Robin Williams.
The book actually isn't that great as far as design resources go, but it does a good job of outlining the basics and, as the title suggests, it's relatively easy for non-designers to understand.
[Amazon Link] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Non-Designers-Design-Book-Edition/dp/0321534042/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394255105&sr=8-1&keywords=non+designers+design+book)
I would recommend this for learning the specifics and this for designing sites in general
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0321534042?pc_redir=1397282920&robot_redir=1
This article is the equivalent of suggesting a graphic designer to use Frontpage for web development, and assure him that the results will be professional enough.
Relying on visual design tools, just because they work, without making a minimal effort to understand WHY they work is like taking a code library and using it without first investigating what it actually does.
Being visually literate is not too hard, once you know the rules. For your average dev, whose analytical mind has no problem wrapping around complex problems, it's just a matter of explaining these rules in a way they can easily grasp. For me Robin Williams' "Non Designers Design Book was a real eye opener.
Although I admit I was born gifted with visual acuity, after studying some design theory, my understanding of how things work visually has increased manyfold. I believe everyone is born with some ability of distinguishing beauty from ugliness (in the most general sense, visually). Everyone can see a design work that's just a bit off, but most are unable to say exactly why. What studying design theory does, is enable you to pinpoint exactly why a piece is not working, and what to do about it.
If you leave out the artsy jargon, what remains is well-defined geometrical and logical rules. Composition, Layout and Color theory are all very precise in nature. You can safely follow these rules, at first blindly, but as you progress, you begin to internalize these rules, and they become second nature to you. After a while you will come to the realization that, in fact you always kinda knew these rules, the only thing that design theory gave you was an ordered understanding.