The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook (Graphic Design) Review

I normally like to look and flip through books before I purchase them, but after seeing it’s rave reviews I decided to go ahead and purchase the book.
It not only met my expectations as far as providing me with digital templates (which come in .EPS), but it surpassed my expectations by providing me with really inspirational package design ideas. I LOVE this book.
The picture also does no justice to the quality of the book itself either. It is a very nice book. It is a necessity for anyone studying graphic design.
BUY IT NOW!

The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook (Graphic Design) Feature

• ISBN13: 9782940361731
• Condition: New
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook (Graphic Design) Overview

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Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design Review

As an avid reader of Design Observer, I rushed out to buy a copy of Michael Beirut’s essay collection “79 Short Essays on Design.” Almost four years later, I think I have finally finished reading this collection. Beirut’s collection, though not the most conducive to reading all in one sitting, is continually surprising, and entertaining.
What surprises me most is the depth to which the book reaches on a wide variety of topics on design–from a discussion of t-shirt designs, to falling off a treadmill, it seems that Beirut can find the design in almost anything. That quality in his essays challenges the reader to do the same. Each time I re-read the essays in the book, I come out with a different thing to mull over, a new idea to try in a design solution, or just a funny line to make me smile for a day or two. Few other books I have read rival the long-term rewards of this book.
Perhaps the most fitting way to describe Beirut’s mastery of finding the design in the everyday is that same quality he discusses in the essay “What we talk about when we talk about architecture.” He begins describing the radio program “Car Talk” where conversations about car troubles can range from philosophy to relationship advice–almost anything, excluding, of course, car trouble. Beirut challenges that design lacks that same kind of community where talking about design can lead to, and connect with, other things.
In this collection of essays, I think he may have found an answer to that.

Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design Overview

Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design brings together the best of designer Michael Bierut’s critical writing serious or humorous, flattering or biting, but always on the mark. Bierut is widely considered the finest observer on design writing today. Covering topics as diverse as Twyla Tharp and ITC Garamond, Bierut’s intelligent and accessible texts pull design culture into crisp focus. He touches on classics, like Massimo Vignelli and the cover of The Catcher in the Rye, as well as newcomers, like McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and color-coded terrorism alert levels. Along the way Nabakov’s Pale Fire; Eero Saarinen; the paper clip; Celebration, Florida; the planet Saturn; the ClearRx pill bottle; and paper architecture all fall under his pen. His experience as a design practitioner informs his writing and gives it truth. In Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design, designers and nondesigners alike can share and revel in his insights.

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When you start working, your great graphic design portfolio is going to help you land that great job. Your portfolio represents your skill and artistry, so put it together carefully because your artwork is going to speak for you.

Sort through all the work you have done – paid or unpaid, including design school assignments – and select the best work. Be critical here and take help from friends or professors to get an unbiased view. Leave out your not-so-great efforts, because it’s better to show 10 samples that range from excellent to good, rather than 20 to 30 samples which may include artwork that is passable or so-so.

Let your portfolio begin with your very best design and let the final artwork be your second best design. This way, you not only kick off with a strong impression, but you also leave your potential employer with another strong impression as his last memory of your artwork.

Graphic design is found in printed materials, on the web and on CDs and DVDs, so to make a complete graphic design portfolio, include samples of your work in all three media.

Quite a few clients need printed artwork, so select your best designs including as many different projects as you can to show off all your skills.

Include, for example, letterheads and calling cards, your best logos, any CD or album covers that you may have designed, a completed campaign, brochures, designs for paint boxes or toothpaste tubes, posters and banners, newspaper or magazine advertisements, labels, postcards – a wide-ranging selection of your work, you understand? Include a few pieces that you have really excelled at, like a random artwork or photographic study showing your Photoshop skills. The best of each project should give you 10 to 15 samples, just enough to interest a client without overwhelming him. Mount your artworks well on a neutral coloured sheet to show them off to their best advantage. Use a professional looking portfolio case to carry your samples. A case that allows you to add and remove leaves is a good idea, because then you use only as many leaves as you need to display your work.

A website portfolio is practically a necessity, with the internet being almost the main vehicle of communication, information, and most buying and selling today. Having a website in your own name not only makes you look professional, it also gives you an email address @yourownname.com.

Keep the website design simple. A neutral color background will allow your artwork to stand out. Keep your image samples at 100kb -150kb, so that they load quickly and no one with a slow internet connection will have to wait. The navigation should be easy, and available on every page, so that the viewer can go back and forth easily. The design of your website itself will display your artistic skills and add another dimension to your graphic design portfolio.

Your CD or DVD portfolio will be a slightly different version of your website. You can use the same design and pages, if you like. The image files can be larger, since no download will be necessary and you can add a little animation to make it interesting – and display yet another skill! Again, be sure to make it easy for your client to find just what he is looking for.

Have fun putting your graphic design portfolio together. Make your portfolio, website and CD/DVD easy on the eye and interesting to go through – and your clients will enjoy seeing your work!

Author, Platania V. P., Jr. specializes in writing custom graphic designs [http://www.custom-graphic-designs.com] about custom graphic designs and custom stationery [http://www.custom-graphic-designs.com] photo restoration.

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