1 comments about Wiener Werkstatte: 1903-1932 (Special Edition).

1. Another in Taschen's fine line of art books, clear, sharp, color illustrations; an extaordinary value.

4 comments about The Nature of Design.

1. This book was incredibly easy to read and get through. It could have been more thorough of topics covered. Many things were touched and sometimes left me wanting more. Some topics that are essential to graphic design were not covered at all. This book was for a beginning design class and for a beginning class it was worth getting but you'll need to buy other books to substantiate what you get from this one.



2. This book is a great introduction to the fundamentals of design. It is light on text but gives a sufficient explanation of each principle to get you started. The visuals are great and varied, examples are taken from nature, architecture, industrial design, cooking (yes, you read that correctly) and of course graphic design. You know a book addresses fundamentals when it's principles can be applied to such a wide range of concretes! I like that the authors explicitly included such diverse examples, the diverse graphics greatly enhance the explanations and help the reader gain a firmer grasp of the *principle* and not just a particular application of the principle.
   
   My one complaint is that important aspects of design are omitted. For example, the topic of color is not covered, not even in essentials. It is implicit in some chapters but you have to infer how a design principle such as unity would apply to the selection of a color palette. A minor complaint is that there is too little content on each topic, the explanations could be "fleshed out" a little more.
   
   The book itself is beautifully designed and easy to read. I think I read it in a 2 days. It provides a good introduction to design for the newcomer and a good refresher course on the basics for the experienced designer.



3. I'm not a designer. But recently having read Chip Kidd's "The Cheese Monkeys," about graphic design students, I developed a layman's interest and came across The Nature of Design. It does an excellent job of presenting the key elements and principles of design (graphic, industrial, landscape, etc.)in a format that's easy to read, well illustrated, and takes its examples from a variety of design fields. For the general reader or a novice (or would be) design student, this is a great place to start. Highly recommended!



4. I'm a beginner in the design world, and I really liked this book. The authors overview the fundamentals of design, but there is very little text. Instead, the content is comprised mostly of visuals which illustrate the concepts the authors are presenting. Some of the visuals have accompanying text which explains why they were included, others don't. I think the best way to benefit from this book it to work through it, really examining the variety of pictures.

1 comments about Decorative Arts 70's (Klotz).

1. Decorative Arts 1970's is a presentation of "[t]he fascinating history of design traced by [the] Deorative Art Yearbook (Yearbook)...printed in a somewhat revised form." Divided into 8 sections: Architecture and Interiors; Furniture; Textiles and Wallpapers; Glass; Lighting; Silver and Tableware; and Ceramics, this book offers a plethora of color and b&w images, along with somewhat limited text, which is written in English, French and German.

   The book is dominated by the Architecture section, which is filled with mostly b&w (some color) photos, floorplans and useful information about the structure, the architect and the interior design. The remaining sections, all much smaller, offer examples of the pieces, their designers, measurments, materials, distributors and countries of origin. The overall layouts of these sections, while pleasing to eye, are presented in a very confuseing manner. The description of each item is numbered, but instead of numbering each photo, a "key" is offered (in a different spot on each page), which maps out the number of each photo. Furthermore, the book goes for pages at a time without page-numbers, rendering the index difficult to use.

   Overall, the book presents many interesting pieces of 70's design and includes works by all the usual suspects, along with some unusual ones. I would have liked to have seen sections devoted to plastics (some of which can be found in the furniture section) and electronics (completely missing in action), but overall I am not complaining. If you are a fan of books such as "Italy: The New Domestic Landscape" and "L'utopie du Tout Plastique" you are likely to enjoy this one as well!

5 comments about Art Nouveau Jewelry.

1. This book covers the specific influences of various European countries and the US in jewelry design during the Art Nouveau period. It covers the designers and their pieces with spectacular photographs of pieces that will knock your socks off. It is a fabulous reference book, but also one that you can curl up with on a rainy day and sip cocoa. Handy guides to identification - makers marks and signatures. Prepare to be wowed.



2. I pondered over purchasing this book for probably two years. This was due mainly to the fact that there was no way to really view the content of this publication. Frankly, the authors offering of an inside look of their book was ridiculous. Show me some pictures!!! I really hate to purchase something that I can't see! Finally, I bit the bullet and purchased Art Nouveau Jewelry. I was stunned by the volume of beautiful color pictures. This book turned out to be just what I was looking for, basically a pictorial presentation of jewelry from that era. I search constantly for any reference material that I can find on this subject (Art Nouveau era jewelry) and this book is one of the best that I have found. So if you are a jewelry designer like myself and are always looking for inspiration, this is an excellent book for your collection.



3. A very good book about this period, no other one has covered the subject as this one.



4. i wanted to know more about art nouveau jewelry and this book really helped me for that purpose.
   it has lots of pictures and info about whatever there is to know and see.
   the only dissapointment was that majority of the pics are in black and white. You miss out on all the enameling work colors..
   also i expected to see more from lalique.
   overall though its a good book for starters.



5. This book far exceeded my expectations for the price! The only minor criticism I have is that I wish ALL the photographs had been in color. A great deal......

5 comments about Of Brigands and Bravery: Kuniyoshi's Heroes of the Suikoden.

1. The other reviewers have done a great job highlighting the most important reasons this book is great, so I'll just add that what makes it an other books like this a great buy is the price tag. It is a cheap way to get a good look at many Kuniyoshi prints without paying the asinine price of the hardcover museum editions. Its a book of great art to be enjoyed by fans of Ukiyo-e but also should be a center piece at any good tattoo shop.



2. I have nothing to add. It's a very good quality title. If you now "Water margins", and you like it, you will have a fun with this book.



3. The prints in this book are fantastic, large with great color reproduction. It also an excellent read for anyone interested in japanese woodblock printing. An all round excellent book.



4. The cover even makes me kind of wonder. Its paperback although the pages are pretty durable. I like the little stories about each character. The pictures are breathtaking and beautiful.



5. Of all the superb books published by Hotei on the subject of Japanese woodblock prints, Inge Klompmakers' "Of Brigands and Bravery: Kuniyoshi's Heroes of the Suikoden" is far and away my favorite. This reflects not only my enthusiasm for the 19th-century artist Kuniyoshi but also an appreciation of the rich symbolism embedded in his treatment of the "Suikoden" heroes.

   The "Suikoden" (the term is the Japanese rendition of the original Chinese title of "Shuihu zhuan") is a epic Chinese novel that is known in English as both "The Water Margin" and "All Men are Brothers." The novel, which lionizes an outlaw band of 108 men who commit crimes on behalf of the common people, was first translated into Japanese in the late 18th century. In the 19th century, a reworking of the novel brought it to an even wider Japanese audience, and at this juncture a number of leading print artists--including Hokusai and Yoshitoshi--illustrated it. However, it is the treatment of the bandits by Kuniyoshi--who depicted 75 of the 108 heroes--which has enjoyed the most enduring popularity and influence.

   In the original Chinese novel, six of the 108 bandits are described as tattooed. In Kuniyoshi's series, covering just 75 of the bandits, that number was expanded to 15, and Kuniyoshi's "Suikoden" series became the leading evolutionary influence on Japan's complex style of tattooing.

   Recently the "Suikoden" has enjoyed a major renaissance of popularity. Kuniyoshi's prints are revered by the international tattooing community, and the novel itself has inspired a series of fantasy games. Beyond these considerations, it is worth examining Kuniyoshi's accomplishment within its historical context. In the late 19th century, the Japanese enjoyed increased access to literature from abroad, had an urbanized population that supported a vigorous publishing industry, and perfected the technology of woodblock printing. These three developments jointly produced an extraordinary marriage of text and art, a marriage that enriches us all today.

2 comments about The Golden Age of Advertising - The 70s (Taschen 25).

1. Julie scoffed at the purchased, and then was seen absorbed in the book laughing and smiling and waht not.



2. As the preface to this book points out, print advertising in the 70s was ugly and uninspired. The book does an excellent job of presenting a variety of ugly advertisements, for ugly products, that support this assertion.
   
   I recommend this book to anyone who is curious what advertising looked like 30 years ago, or if you want to see if advertising from the 70s was as bad as you remember (it is!).

1 comments about Mosaic and Tessellated Patterns: How to Create Them, with 32 Plates to Color (Dover Pictorial Archive Series).

1. The book introduces the basic types of tessellations and presents many examples. Note that the book title say "32 plates _to_ color" and not "32 color plates". The "look inside" feature shows already colored tessellations, but they are not in the book. It's not a problem, but don't expect to get color plates. This book is more geometric in its approach than "Principles of Pattern Design" by Proctor (isbn 0-486-26349-5) and may complement it nicely.

No comments about Style School Volume 2 (Style School).

4 comments about Legion of Super-Heroes Archives, Vol. 1 (DC Archive Editions).

1. Excellent. The characterisation is fabulous and the sub plot of the substitutes is well recognised, My only concern is the price, but that's not Amazons fault. Wonderful part of COMIX forgotten hisory.
   
   Make's me feel 12 again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
   
   Greg from Oz.



2. Volume 1 of the Legion of Super-Heroes is an interesting look at their earliest appearances. The team grows in fits and starts as seen through other series (Superboy, Supergirl, and Superman) as a strange assortment of teens from the future appear in Smallville and Midvale for a wide variety of odd reasons. It is hard to keep track of the growing membership as many appear only in the background and main plot points often revolve around a new member appearing for the sake of the story, such as the rather odd Star Boy and the more interesting Ultra Boy storylines. Only near the end of the volume does the Legion itself get its own storylines and the early issues begin with a bang as the Legion suffers its first death, Lightning Lad. The promise of greatness is apparent in a few of the stories, if not quite delivered, but this volume is still essential for any Legion fan.



3. The DC Comics Archive Editions may come with a high price point, but it would be hard for any fan to argue he wasn't getting his money's worth. Where else could you get the entire history of the Legion of Super-Heroes (in order of publication, no less?) -- up to ELEVEN volumes now!

   This first volume, of course, contains the first several appearances of the Legion and of Legion-related characters, back when they were mainly supporting members of the Superboy -- and later Supergirl -- cast. The Legion plays a very peripheral role in several of the stories -- the one where Supergirl is trying to find Superman a wife, for instance -- and in some the Legion doesn't appear at all (such as the Mon-El and Ultra Boy origin stories where the Legion is merely alluded to). Eventually the book makes it to the era where the Legion got their own serial -- "Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes," and although members of the Super-family still appear in most of these, the Legion is finally being allowed to come into its own.

   The characters introduced in this volume range from the inspiring (Brainiac 5, trying to atone for his ancestor's sins, the poor, exiled Mon-El, etc.) to the deliciously silly (I confess, I'm a big fan of Matter-Eater Lad and Bouncing Boy. I'm probably the ONLY fan of Matter-Eater Lad and Bouncing Boy) and this book also contains something that was pretty rare at the time -- the death of a superhero. You just didn't see that sort of thing in DC Comics in 1958.

   I can't wait to pick up volume two. Oh -- and kudos to DC for keeping the cover design of their Archives uniform for so long. Unlike Marvel's similar "Masterworks" series, I can start my LSH Archives collection right now and I know that all eleven volumes will look like a set on my shelf once I've got them. It's a small thing, I know, but it's something I appreciate.




4. As a collection of essential comic book classics this can't be beat. Each one of these stories is a winner. Unfortunately, as one of the first editions in DC's Archive series it suffers from a number of production missteps that too often distract.
   1.) Although like all DC Archive Editions this is printed on sturdy archival paper designed to last for ages, the dust jacket was not produced with logevity in mind. I have had my copy for ten years now and the dust jacket has already become very yellow. So yellow in fact that the Super-Hero Clubhouse on the cover has become the exact same color as the once-white background.
   2.) A lot of noise was made by DC when these editions were first released regarding an extensive color reconstruction that, theoretically, was to remain faithful to the original material with the exception of minor corrections where neccessary. Sadly, the colorists involved in this edition took great liberties. Comparing the original comics with the Archive edition can be a real shock as some stories, for example the story introducing Ultra-Boy, seem to be colored without consulting the originals at all. Another annoying choice made by the colorists involves alterations of a 'retroactive continuity' sort. In the early stories there was always a scene near the end that showwed a handful of anonymous members of the Legion. In the Archive edition the colorists have changed the coloring on these unnamed characters to make them appear to be characters who would be introduced later (e.g. coloring a character green with yellow hair to make it appear Brainiac Five had been there from the first story). These coloring changes now become editorial decisions that do more harm than good. As for color corrections where neccessary, the Archive edition manages to make many mistakes that were never in the originals. Just witness the inconsistant all-yellow and sometimes yellow-and-red of Supergirl's "S" insignia on her cape. These mistakes are not present in the original comic.
   3.) The coloring is made up of very large pixels that don't conform to any shapes other than rectangles. This was an early attempt at using the computer to color a comic, it didn't work that well and it's painful to behold. At the price these books are listed, one would have hoped DC would've worked out the kinks in their coloring software before using it on such a project. Another glaringly anachronistic coloring gaffe is made by continious use of an airbrush or spray paint effect (it honestly looks like it was applied using a mouse in an old MacPaint program). Airbrushing effects were simply impossible using the 4-color printing process of the late fifties and early sixties, and it really looks awful besides.
   Now the good news: DC has had ten years to get it right and I can report that they have indeed. A comparison of this edition with Volume 11 will reveal all these issues have been corrected in later editions. But the mistakes in these early editions were never corrected...

3 comments about Decorative Art 50s (Taschen 25 Anniversary: Decorative Arts Series).

1. Taschen writes this is a sourcebook. It just shows where design comes from. What was done in that era. And this book does just that and does it good. No high-brow comment, just reproductions of pages of house-plans, chairs, sidetables, glass ceramics etc. So, if you want to know if your old chair has any historic relevance, look in this book and see if there is a design original, or you might own it! Emphasis on the US, England Scandivavia, Italy and the Netherlands.



2. Once you get past the lovely cover, the interior of this book consists entirely of magazine pages from the 1950's reproduced wholesale. While that means authenticity, it also means small,uninspiring black and white photography. Like looking at an old magazine, not the beautiful graphics one usually expects from Taschen.



3. An absolute must have for anyone with a love for the modernist design movement of the 50's and 60's, or if you're looking to stay consistent with a modernist theme while redecorating. It's so sleek and plastic and modular. I love it! And in the tradition of Taschen books, the price is well worth it!