The Big Book of Design Ideas (Hardcover)

Apart from the blurb on its inside jacket, there is no introduction, or preface or prefatory note that gives the reader a sense for the what, the how and the why. For me, an introduction is part and parcel of a good, non-fiction book.

Many times over The Big Book of Design Ideas slips badly on its presentation because the captions, though concise, aren't as clear as they could be. There are no section dividers; and we're talking about a book nearly 400 pages long.

On page 89, for example. I see one of the pieces of work on display: a white envelope with its contents strewn about. The caption reads: creative firm Square One Design. Grand Rapids, Michigan. Art direction Mark Gorman. Designer Elena Tislevics. Client John Woodcomb. As there are no section dividers, the only clue as to what this piece is is on the contents page about 90 pages behind. Only then did I find out that it's probably a catalogue or a brochure.

Compare that to this caption on page 150 of Typography now: the next wave: Emigre. Magazine pages. Emigre Graphics, USA, 1989 (opposite), 1990 above. (Note: I have also reviewed Typography now: the next wave for Amazon.co.uk.)

Yes. I believe that great works could inspire great works. But visual presentation counts a lot, especially when you're talking about page layout and design.

The Big Book of Design Ideas could have been truly big and inspirational if only the people behind it took care of the details.

I only hope that the editor, the art director, the designers and the publisher of The Big Book of Design Ideas would consider and take care of the small details. That is if the book makes it to the next edition. That is if they want to come up with a book that is truly inspiring...

Jam packed with images of fairly recent graphic design, there is liitle to complain about really. There are lots of inspiring ideas to be found, and the book is divided into sections (so you aren't just randomly searching through it) which include book design, packaging and advertising. However, it is quite hard to see the section headers as they are very faint and are written in an outline font in the top outside corner of each page. Being a design book in itself, it is a little sad that it has not been designed better.

It's basically just a catalogue of examples, which is useful if you want to steal ideas or just keep up to date with current trends. Some of the work is what I would classify as 'average', although there are some good examples of innovative work in the 'self-promotion section'.

On the whole, I would say it's a good book. However, there is a newer version of this book out now, so if you can afford to fork out a little more, I would advise that you spend your money on that instead.