Awhile back I picked up Final Fantasy XIII: The Complete Official Guide for the Final Fantasy XIII game. I wanted the collectors edition of the guide because of the helpful tips it gives about the game and most importantly the design of the guide itself. I like the style and design of the cover and the pages within the guide. It has a nice play on white space and the quality of the artwork is amazing as well. I recommend picking up this book as a fan of the Final Fantasy series and as a designer.

The guide can be bought online at amazon.com

I am reviewing the last of the Taschen book Web Design: E-Commerce by Julius Wiedemann. This book has many examples of unique e-commerce designed websites. I have yet to design an e-commerce website for a client. So I picked up this book for inspiration when I do get the chance to design for a client. I thought that an e-commerce website would be very boring, but after viewing this book I was actually wrong. I found sites like atlanticrecords.com and loft1.com to be amazingly designed for an e-commerce website. I recommend picking up this book as part of the set by Taschen.

I bought my copy on amazon.com.

Paperback: 191 pages

Publisher: Taschen (May 1, 2006)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 3822840556

ISBN-13: 978-3822840559

I am reviewing another one of  Taschen book Web Design: Flash Sites by Julius Wiedemann. As a graphic designer I found this book very useful, because it has very high quality flash website designs. The book has examples of innovative flash designs from websites such as Bionic Systems, Barcardi Live, Sonic Boom and Hello Sexy. This book is a little old and so some of the sites have changed but it definitely is useful for any designer looking for inspiration.

I picked up my copy at amazon.com.

Paperback: 191 pages

Publisher: Taschen (March 1, 2006)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 3822840475

ISBN-13: 978-3822840474

I bought Final Fantasy 13 Re: Artbook at the Kinokuniya Bookstore about 2 years ago. I know it is an old book but I wanted to comment on the designs and layout of the whole book. I really like the very simple and clean design of the book. What caught my attention was the illustration of Lightning from Final Fantasy 13 sitting with her sword on her lap. It is simply a beautiful design for the game and it has relevance by being a stage in the game were the final choice is being made.

The inside of the book showcases all the upcoming Square Enix games that will be releasing in the coming years from Final Fantasy 13, Final Fantasy Versus, Final Fantasy Agito (Type-0), The Third Birthday and many more. The layouts and pictures associated to each games are high quality and transmit the feeling of the games being made.

Even though this is an old issue I would recommend picking it up for inspiration and example.

I picked up Web Design: Portfolios by Julius Wiedemann when I was searching for web design examples to help with creating new websites. I found the book very useful, because it has a collection of website done by many different fields of design from graphic designers, photographers, artists, illustrators, and many more. The designs were implemented by a variety of different methods such as HTML, Flash, XML, music and video. It is part of the ICON collection which I will be reviewing more of the them soon.

I picked up my copy at amazon.com.

I read Typographic Systems by Kimberly Elam a while back during my research in graphic design. I believe that this book is a perfect addition to the other two books; Geometry of Design and Grid Systems. What makes this book different than the others is that it explores more radical and dynamic typographic examples of the Grid System. Kimberly Elam use different approaches to teaching within each example she shows. I highly recommend to any graphic designer to pick up this book, because it will be a great addition to your design library.

I bought my copy of the book on amazon.com.

Paperback: 160 pages

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (May 3, 2007)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1568986874

ISBN-13: 978-1568986876

When I was “DESIGN SCOUTING” the other day I picked up Computer Arts Magazine. The Computer Arts Magazine came with this booklet called The Incredibly Useful Book for Creative Professionals Vol. II. I recommend picking up this magazine because of this helpful booklet. The booklet comes with many great tips such as Make Your Clients Love You, Words of Design Wisdom, Keeping on Top of Photoshop, Developing A Brand Identity and many more. Some of these tips I have already learned through my own experience, but I wish I had know about them earlier. I am looking to pick up the first volume, but I do not know where or if I can get it.

The Arts Magazine can be picked up at Barnes & Noble.

I read New Media Art by Mark Tribe/Reena Jana in college for my digital media class. At the time I did not realize that studying different types of design was helpful. When I read this book it really changed my prospective how new and different technologies can changes ones own point of view. I highly recommend this book for any designer needing a alternate view of design.

I purchased my copy on amazon.com there are newer edition of this book also available.

Paperback: 95 pages

Publisher: Taschen (March 1, 2006)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 3822830410

ISBN-13: 978-3822830413

I picked up Geometry of Design by Kimberly Elam because I was so amazed by her first book Grid System. As a designer I was taught about the golden rule and the angles you can use to achieve unique design looks and layouts. What I found in this book is a refresher in what I was taught in school and many more examples by well known designers such as Fritz Schleifer, A.M. Cassandre and Folies-Bergere. The other unique part of the book is the transparent pages that shows the angles and dimensions used in the designs to illustrate what the original designer was thinking when they were designing.

It is available at amazon.com.

Paperback: 144 pages

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 2nd edition (August 31, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1616890363

ISBN-13: 978-1616890360

Grid Systems by Kimberly Elam has many great examples of design from well know designers such as El Lissitzky, Odermatt & Tissi and many more. What I like about the book is that it shows how in detail to use and understand the grid system. I recommend this book for a graphic designer looking for help or just a refresher in the grid system.

The book can be purchased at amazon.com.

Paperback: 112 pages

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (August 12, 2004)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1568984650

ISBN-13: 978-1568984650

I picked up MH2: Metalheart is Movement a while back at Barnes & Noble. I wanted to pick up a design book that had a different approach to visual and graphic design. I find that when I design sometimes I do not have enough variation in texture and design. The book I shows many examples of digital rendering design and graphic designs from digital artist and designers such as Anders F. Ronnblom and Andreas Lindholm. It also comes with a dvd that contains many postscript fonts, 3D typeface images with alpha-channels and paths, samples from Metal Heart background royalty-free collections, 100 MB high-res images, animations, video clips and graphic libraries.

The book is available at amazon.com.

MH2: Metalheart is Movement
Paperback: 168 pages
Publisher: Gingko Press; Pap/DVD edition (February 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 158423122X

When I was researching graphic design books to read, I came across How To Think Like A Great Graphic Designer by Debbie Millman. This book is about how great designer think and their own experience’s starting off in the design field. I found the book to be very insightful that some of the experiences and problems that the designers in the book had were the same as what I have had to deal with as a graphic designer. I would suggest this book to any designer needing some questions answered or many confirmation about what it takes to be a great graphic designer and start ones own career.

The book is available at amazon.com and if one would like to know more about the author Debbie Millman her website is www.debbiemillman.com