Elements of Graphic Design: Space, Unity, Page Architecture, and Type

Approach page design in a revolutionary new way! Unlike other graphic design books, The Elements of Graphic Designreveals the secrets of successful graphic design from the unique perspective of the page’s “white space.” With the help of carefully selected examples from art, design, and architecture, the book illuminates the role of each design element and how it can be rendered more effective by including white space in the page architecture. The book also demonstrates how white space can lend “sound” to typography or shift the “weight” of a page. Clear, insightful comments are presented in a dynamic page design, and interactive design elements, thought-provoking captions, and scores of illustrations challenge designers to “think out of the box.”.

Writing for graphic designers, art directors, and students, White (a seasoned graphic designer and educator) offers a method for successful designs for maximum reader comprehension. He demonstrates how to use scale, color, and position to guide the reader's eye through levels of importance. Other concepts include employing white space, using display and text type, and defining dominance in images and text. Imaginative analogies and hundreds of illustrations help demonstrate White's methods. Annotation c. Book News, Inc.,Portland, OR

Library Journal

For those in need of concentrated curriculum, this volume by graphic designer White (Type in Use) provides a crash course in the fundamentals of graphic design. The book begins with a refreshingly concise overview of the communicator's job, then elaborates on what White considers the seven design components: unity, gestalt, space, dominance, hierarchy, balance, and color. While one would be hard pressed to take issue with the perspectives advanced here, readers may wish that White had taken more of his own advice. The book's jam-packed pages, crammed with diminutive (and sometimes dubious) examples, are a bit daunting. A book half as dense and twice as large would have provided a much more compelling demonstration of White's ideas. Though focusing more narrowly on information design, Edward R. Tufte takes a similar instructional approach in his gorgeous Visual Explanations; Philip Meggs's History of Graphic Design is also highly recommended. Design professionals may find the occasional kernel of wisdom in White's book, but those new to the profession will benefit most. For larger public libraries or libraries serving design programs.-Phil Hamlett, Turner & Assocs., San Francisco Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Alexander W. White is an accomplished graphic designer who has shaped the visual design of nineteen magazines and twenty identity programs and been a consultant to numerous publications, art directors, and editors. He has taught design at the Hartford Art School of the University of Hartford for fifteen years and has lectured widely on typography and design to professionals in corporations and at conferences. The author of Type in Use and How to Spec Type, he lives in New York City. .