“Graphic Design the New Basics” by Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips
Author of this post: Brockett Horne | About Blog Authors »
In this design primer, Lupton and Phillips represent graphic design basics for 2008 with profundity and clarity. The text reconsiders principles from the Bauhaus legacy, but in tune with current digital tools and culture. The approach is systematic, rigorous and brimming with postmodern inspirational examples from professionals and students. Finally! I’ve been waiting for the celebratory return of formal language to design dialogue.
The book, published by Princeton Architectural Press and Maryland Institute College of Art, features expected chapters on point / line / plane, rhythm and balance, scale, and texture, but also prioritizes newer basics such as transparency, modularity, time and motion, rules and randomness. Succinct, tight essays frame the visual examples in relation to the historical notion of “language of vision” and the formal constraints implied by current software. Learn more:
Students and professionals alike will find the formal experiment in the book both inspirational and significant in defining current practice. The book is both one for the design lover and the student in all of us.
And how about you? What textbooks did you buy as a beginning designer? Did they serve you well? Please share your stories by posting a comment!
