MTIV Process Inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designer: Amazon.co.uk: Hillman Curtis: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

With his first book, Flash Web Design, Hillman Curtis quickly earned "Flash Guru" status, and deservedly so. MTIV expands upon that. Like the coolest mentor one could ever hope to find, he strikes a chord with his audience by sharing, not just the nuts and bolts behind his creations, but his ideas on good design methodology.

Here he shares his respect and excitement for New Media, gives a blueprint for design challenges of all types, taps into the myriad of visual and literary inspirations that fuel his imagination, and shows readers how to get past their own moments of "designer's block".

Curtis is a fine storyteller. He takes anecdotes of coffee breaks, book tour lectures, work, life and art, and weaves them around design maxims. For every morsel of advice, there are three or four personal stories that illustrate how he arrived at it and puts it to use. He shows how books, movies, print ads, just about anything, can be used in the search for creative solutions.

The seven steps in "Process" comprise the bulk of the book. These are the exact steps Curtis' design team applies to each project. Without giving too much away, they are: Listen, Unite, Theme, Concept, Filter, Justify and Eat the Audience. (Well, you'll just have to get the book to find out about that last one.)

In "Inspiration", we learn that Curtis draws from Hemingway, Mies van der Rohe, Sidney Lumet, David Mamet, Leonard Cohen, Mark Rothko and Joseph Müller-Brockman, among others. And the book finishes with a bang in the third chapter "Practice", a collection of helpful tips in typography, colour theory, XML, grids and much more, from experts such as Joseph Lowery (author of the Dreamweaver Bible) and usability authority Steve Krug.

MTIV is not just an easy read; it's fun, warm, encouraging and, yes, inspiring. A self-taught artist, Curtis has made MTIV the perfect Boy Scout manual for those who have stumbled on design as a new career or just languished through too many uninspired afternoons in front of the computer. --Angelynn Grant

Product Description

MTIV (Making the Invisible Visible) is an indispensable guide for the new age of media design. This book is about HOW to achieve the results that bring in profits and make you a better designer. This beautifully written and designed book unveils the methods behind Hillman Curtis' phenomenal success as a new media designer. In well-crafted narrative and instructional form, Hillman outlines his systematic approach for working with clients to develop clear, cogent, and creative communication - three "musts" for successful design.

Through trial and error, Hillman and his company honed a seven-step process for creating concepts, and developing and designing new media. Often overlooked or unknown by designers, the methods in this book are distilled from years of experience and enhanced by Hillman's years as a leader in the design field. Divided into three parts - "Process," "Inspiration," and "Practice" - the book offers a practical methodology for successful artistic and professional work and also offers technical advice for translating this to the web (color, XML, streaming media, and other topics are discussed). Written with a subtle sense of humor and narration that really flows, this book is a joy to read, with great advice that helps designers with their own design work.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Inspirational on many levels 5 Feb 2004

By TheJonesBoy VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I bought this book to help dig me out of frequent design blackholes. I expected it to be like many books of it's kind - a project for a 'face' design to flex his ego with very little killer but lots of filler. Wrong. Curtis is refreshing and compelling. Being self-taught (as he is himself) I never feel like he is talking down to me when I return to the book. His ideas on how to seek inspiration are helpful but his advice on client relationships really opened my eyes. He does leave one wondering just why anyone would use a designer (in that he makes you feel more like a translator of others ideas rather than a purveyor of your own - but that's my own hang up and not his fault!) but overall this book is a real help. Less practical and more spiritual but a boon for the weary designer, especially one that doesn't have the fallback of a design team to bounce off. An almost Zen-like tome, this is a book that refreshes the creative juices in a way that other books simple cannot reach.

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a keeper 27 Jan 2003

By A Customer

a personal gem from one of the leading figures in the creative online community. this is not a workbook or manual of sorts, but gives the reader a personal take on the creative process as well as client relationships and project execution. a book you keep taking out of the bookshelf and flick trough....

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

Great book, different to anything else out there right now . 29 Jun 2002

By "gwefrynthyer"

This really is a great book. I have been looking for something like this for a while now and this offers great information without sounding like a patronising textbook, or being yet another awful book on 'usability' that seems to aim to make the web a very stale place indeed.

Some of the ideas and processes here will be a little loose for some those who work for larger corporate eCom/web agencies - and that's exactly why those who do work for corporates should read it. For everyone else this is a really well written find that goes is a great book of inspiration.

Totally recommend.