colleen@telesoft.com (Colleen Wirth @second) (02/21/90)
Greetings: I am FINALLY publishing the results of my query for Layout/Design, and Graphic Arts books. I know I asked for this information way back in November but many of these books were difficult to find, or they were not in stock at the UCSD bookstore and had to be special ordered. My original request was for two different kinds of books: Page Layout for Text (technical manuals mostly), and Graphic Design/Art books for artwork, graphic displays, and cover art. I was able to look at most of the books in the following list. All of the books looked useful, but were geared toward different audiences with different needs. The books that best met my needs (*) are the ones that I bought. What we publish here are very long, incredibly dull computer compiler manuals. We use the UNIX system with nroff/eroff and the -me macro package. Most of the "Desktop Publishing" books were, therefore, too elementary, or were geared toward smaller publications that are inherently interesting and easy to read. Jan V. White's book, _Graphic Design for the Electronic Age_, was not in stock at the UCSD bookstore. I looked for it at the library, but they didn't carry it. They did carry another book by the same author called _Editing by Design_. I was sufficiently impressed with this book (although it was outdated), to order his new book. This book finally arrived 2 weeks ago. I bought the book Saturday and read it over the three day week-end. It is a wonderful book, that is full of the kind of information that everyone doing electronic, and traiditional publishing should know. He offers advice for choosing type styles, and shows a multitude of different page layouts which have "stood the test of time", something he stresses throughout the book, and something that I have a great deal of respect for. He also gives a list of components that every technical manual should contain. The two books by Parker, _Looking Good in Print_ and _The Makeover Book_, were geared toward Desktop Publishing and Newletters, respectively. _Looking Good in Print_ was o.k., but it didn't have enough specific information for publishing LONG manuals. Although principles that work for smaller publications should work for longer ones, the book didn't impress me enough to buy it. _The Makeover Book_ was a book of before and after layouts for things ranging from newsletters to order forms. One problem with it was that it had a tacky cover. While that's not awful (and I realise that the author does not always get to choose the cover) it made me suspicious. It did offer some helpful tips, but didn't meet my needs, and some of the designs looked too "fussy". I already owned the _Pocket Pal_ and do recommend it. Much of the same information is covered in White's book, though. _Layout_, by Allan Hurlburt, is an impressive book. It contains an incredible assortment of graphic art techniques. The book is beautifully laid out as well, and I found the simplicity and elegance of the book's design worth the price of the book. I will say though, that I prefer black and white to color, so I may be partially biased toward this book because of that. This posting is getting way too long, but I want to share this information that so many people took time to share with me. All of the recommendations I received I kept, and all of the books are worth looking in to. Look at as many of them as you can find, and choose the ones that meet your needs. I had a lot of fun investigating this fascinating topic. Many thanks to all who responded. Colleen Publishing/Copy Layout Books: * Graphic Design for the Electronic Age (3 recommendations) Jan V. White A Xerox Press Book Published by Watson-Guptill ISBN: 0-8230-2122-X (softback) ISBN: 0-8230-2121-1 (hardback) Getting it Printed (2 recommendations) Mark Beach, Steve Shepro, and Ken Russon ISBN: 0-9602664-7-X Looking Good in Print: A Guide to Basic Design for Desktop Publishing (2 recommendations) Roger C. Parker Published by Ventana Press ISBN 0-949987-05-7 The Makeover Book (2 recommendations) Roger C. Parker Published by Ventana Press ISBN 0-940087-20-0 Desktop Publishing With Style (1 recommendation) Design Principles for Desktop Publishing (1 recommendation) * Pocket Pal, a graphic arts production handbook (1 recommendation) Michael H. Bruno, Editor Published by International Paper Graphic Art/Art Layout Books: * Layout: The Design of the Printed Page (1 recommendation) Allen Hurlburt Published by Watson-Guptill ISBN: 0-8230-2656-6 (softback) ISBN: 0-8230-2655-8 (hardback) Typographic Design: Form and Communication (1 recommendation) Carter, Day, and Meggs Typography: how to make it most readable (1 recommendation) Rolf Rehe Digital Typography: An Introduction to Type and Composition for Computer System Design (1 recommendation) Richard Rubinstein Published by Addison Wesley ISBN: 0-201-17633-5