Customer Reviews
Excellent - used everything here for my ppt presentations - By: Celtic Mystery, 17 Jul 2008 
I bought this book based on the stellar "Presentation Zen" by Garr Reynolds. (A must-read if you do presentations of any type).
What I was seeking to glean from this book was how to improve the look of my PowerPoint presentations. Though Robin doesn't cover this specificallly, everything she writes about can be applied to the design of the slides.
The book is aimed at 'non-professional' designers. By this I mean those of us who design things in our work, but aren't trained to do so, e.g. flyers, event alerts, newsletters, reports, business cards, studies, articles, etc.
I found it funny how often she tells us not to be "wimps" in our design choices. I mean she REALLY tells us a lot. But her point is we need to be bold, not "wimps", in our design choices ... but only once we know the basics.
All in alll an excellent read. Good examples, good overview at the end of each section, & good pop quizzes to make sure we were paying attention :-)
Not quite as awesome as you'd be led to believe. - By: Icy Sedgwick, 28 Apr 2008 
I like the concept of this book - a design book that's written for those who aren't essentiallly designers, but need to use design in everyday life. Based on the idea that you've never studied design before, Williams covers the essential topics & points out the biggest mistakes that beginners make with clear examples, & plenty of "before & after" shots so you not only see why something looks terrible, you also see how simply it can be fixed. It's a short book & it's not difficult to understand. However, I just can't bring myself to give it anything higher than 3 stars because Williams' writing style verges on patronising, & I found it almost TOO basic in places - once you've read it, you'll pretty much never need to refer to it again. If you're a design student, then don't even bother with this. If you're someone who uses design on a casual or non-professional level then you'll benefit from borrowing this book from your local library & reading it cover to cover, but I wouldn't spend any money on it.
The best... - By: Kjell R. Jørstad, 22 Oct 2007 This is probably the best book in design & typographic principles for a novice that I have read. It has lots of examples & ideas how to use type & design, & not to forget it has a list of the fonts used in the examples which I think is very helpfull.
If you have none or little experience in design or typography this is the book to get.
Prevent design crimes - By: John Tree, 30 Aug 2007 Coming from a fine art background rather than graphic design, & having done design work for many people over the years, I have always had nagging doubts that I might be committing design crimes without realising it. Was I choosing the right typefaces? Was I striking the right balance between design & readability?
The answer is, that what has taken me many years to learn by trial & error, the author has condensed into a clear, easily understood, step-by-step read. It has also taught me quite a few tricks I had never considered.
You are taken through a series of single designs, looking at different aspect each time: Contrast, repetition, structure etc. & by the end you have a professional looking layout that can hold it's head up high.
Highly recommended as an easily digestible read for beginners, or others who just needed to know some of the important design rules without going too deep. Wish I'd read it years ago.
Super Guide - By: Darren Frew, 04 Jan 2007 This book is easy to read & covers alll the principles that can make great design. It doesn't matter if you want to put together a report, a flyer or the local nursery school jumble sale poster, this book will help you to design a more impressive result. I would go as far as to say this book should be required reading for any non-professional designer that is responsible for producing literature for group or public consumption.
A great starter for anyone interested in design.
