1 comments about Treasury of Art Nouveau Design & Ornament (Dover Pictorial Archive Series).

1. The pictures in this book are a huge source of inspiration. The clear, black and white illustrations lend themselves well to be photocopied. I love the fact that the pictures are free to reproduce. One of the designs was so pretty that I now have a tattoo of it. Now if that's not appreciation of the design, I don't know what is.

No comments about Dos & Don'ts 2: 13 Years of Vice Magazine's Street Fashion Critiques.

5 comments about Treasury of Fantastic and Mythological Creatures: 1,087 Renderings from Historic Sources (Dover Pictorial Archive Series).

1. There are some nice renderings of 3-D objects (sculptures and masks), but why would the author choose to re-draw a 16th century engraving when the original is so wonderfully done?? All the images in this book are drawings by the author. I'm not too fond of the drawing style, and the captions aren't very useful.



2. Fantastic book. Highly recommended. Bought for inspiration and collection, def worth a look! If youre looking for tattoo ideas, this is perfect.



3. These illustration are mediocre at best and I wish I had realized that they were an artists interpretation of monsters from historical sources, not direct images. Darn.



4. Satisfaction with this purchase will very much depend on your purpose. It certainly does not have much text in the book to accompany the illustrations. Personally, I wasn't expecting any having purchased other Dover publications for artists and craftspeople. Which then left the illustrations. There is a diverse range here across different parts of the world. I was expecting different 'ages' rather than different 'locations'; only because some pictorial archives (especially costume ones) start with the oldest period and work forwards.
   
   As someone looking for different animals and creatures for use in collage art, altered books and card making, this is a good book to add to my collection. There are certainly all manner of creatures contained within.
   
   If you are looking for an informative archive through text, then this is certainly not the book for you. If like me, you are looking for a range of creatures; then this book has something to offer.



5. On the one hand, the book does offer wide-ranging coverage. There isn't a region of the world that isn't covered to some extent.

   On the other hand, the textual information provided is sparse and occasionally *wrong*, and some of the inclusions are questionable.

   Each illustration has a one-sentence caption, varying considerably in detail provided. Some give you all the information you would need to find the source of the original illustration, some are a single word identifying the type of creature, others are somewhere in-between. It's unclear how much of this dearth of information is because of the reliance on secondary rather than original sources, and how much of it is because the author and/or his editor over-did the cutting.

   Also, some of the captions are mis-assigned. Going through the book, I easily spotted several occasions where two of the illustrations on the same page were clearly given each other's captions. I only spotted this a few times but it begs the question, how many other such errors are there in the book that I didn't spot?

   Finally, some of the illustrations included really don't belong. Details from Bosch paintings make sense, they're demons ("fantastical and mythological creatures") from hundreds of years ago ("from historic sources"). But there are some figures from modern art included that don't seem to belong, particularly a Picasso that's just an abstract rendering of a normal human.

   It may well be more useful for its bibliography than for its content.

No comments about The Production Manual: A Graphic Design Handbook (Advanced Level).

No comments about Happy Halloween CD-ROM and Book (Electronic Clip Art).

5 comments about Handbook of Ornament.

1. Originally published in 1888, this book is the real deal. Honestly, this book renders so many others I have on the shelf useless. It goes through EVERYTHING ornamental from furniture, to alphabets, to architecture, to tracery, plain design, cutlery, and everything else you can think of. At first, I scoffed when I got this book because it covered such a wide range of ornamentation. I mean, what book have you ever seen that does a GOOD job covering a range? Then, when I got into it, I realized that it DOES go into detail in each section. Having 3000 images makes this possible, but what I like too, is there is a substantial amount of text explainig where the design comes from.
   
   I think its nearly impossible to find a book this rich in resources for less than $20 USD.



2. This book is a terrific reference. It presents copious examples along with very thorough identification for sources. It allows me to quickly pick a style that fits the need and also provides enough information to allow me to dig a little deeper and investigate a particular style through other reference material. Just perfect for what I need and wonderful for my uses.



3. This is an indispensable resource for the novice or serious designer/painter. Some designs are very small, and others are so ornate that they would be difficult to reproduce without spending considerable time and effort. However, I found most to be easy to scan, print on a transparency, and enlarge with an overhead projector. The section called "bands" has beautiful designs that could be handpainted or made into border stencils. Chapters include geometric designs, natural forms such as foliage, fruit and flowers, mythical creatures, individual ornaments, capitals and bases for columns, decorative panels, vases, several lettering styles, and much more.



4. This book has been in print since 1888! Yes, it's that good! It's a bound version of an earlier work that was a folio. Forty years ago, my art teacher showed me his copy. I went out and got one. It's still on the shelves, but price has risen. It a collection of drawings from many sources: Cathedrals, Estates, Chateau, public buildings, museums and their contents! All collected before the Franco-Prussian war. Many things that no longer exist in this world. If you wish to depict life in the dark ages, the renaissance, Atlantis, Troy, the enlightenment, Hyboria, Byzantium, Rome, Carthage, etc., YOU NEED THIS BOOK!!!



5. Not only does this book contain a huge assortment of extremely clean and scannable examples of ornamental designs from different periods and cultures, but also provides diagrams and information you can use to create your own original designs in a given style. This may be the last book I buy (except newer copies of THIS book!) on ornamental design.

No comments about Design: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions).

5 comments about Magazine Design That Works: Secrets for Successful Magazine Design (That Works Series).

1. Briefly looking through this book you can quickly see that it is not a technical design book.
   
   It does a very nice job at praising various popular magazines, and it does highlight fundamental design practices within magazine design.
   
   It is a good overview book. It is also a good book to see many images of successful magazines without having to hunt down various magazines.
   
   However, the problem is the book does not going into the technical process of magazine layout. Magazine layout IS a very technical process that most books don't explain. There is much about the grid - it is extremely important and very under estimated. It is also more simple than most people would think. There is also much about magazine layout and structure this book will not cover. Also about the whole process, from layout to print. There are a MILLION questions and problems that pop-up while designing a magazine. Many considerations and variables that vary. This book does not bring up any of those.
   
   Can you design a magazine after reading this book? No.
   Can you evaluate and understand magazines better after reading this book? Yes.
   Can you get a feeling for what magazine design is about after reading this book? Yes.
   Can you get some great ideas out of this book? Yes. ...you can also get them by looking through quality magazines.



2. Very helpful in what's "hot" in magazine design. Covers differnt genres in mag. design. Extensive reasearch and helps generate different design ideas. Only complaint: Took 2 long to recieve. From my order date, it took over a month.



3. I think a person's appreciation of this book depends on their particular field and learning style. I work as a graphic designer for a number of different hobby magazines, and my learning style is that of a sponge - I see something, I soak it up. This book was PERFECT for me. I like to page through it, soak up the ideas, immerse myself in these various styles of good design before embarking on my own projects. I have a number of design collections, but this is the best one I've seen that's magazine specific. I also found the articles interesting and to the point, but they are more of a supplement to the designs.



4. I'm just launching a new magazine, so I have alot to learn. I have read some terrific books; this is not one of them. Basically the pictures are nice, but I honestly cannot think of one thing I learned from this book.



5. I found this book to be a good place to look for inspiration and overall themes. It doesn't get too much into the nitty-gritty, hard-working pages of ads mixed with content, but it does talk about process and consistency of voice. The author lets several editors explain the design choices they made when faced with title relaunches and updates, and how those choices reinforced the type, photography, writing style, and illustrations used. There are rationale breakdowns of section headers, feature articles, grids, typography, photographic styles, etc, for several well-maintained and respected magazines.

2 comments about Fashioning Fabrics: Contemporary Textiles in Fashion.

1. The book itself contains nice layouts, plenty of accompanying text to reflect the designers it features, and nice to impressive photography that also reflects the designers' points of view. Most of the photos' visual impact comes from the (edgy) color and textile combinations used (including make-up affects); however, I wished it would've contained bolder layouts, but I guess this is what's to be expected of a paperback, slightly smaller footprint fashion book as I'm partial to the larger size books that can really wow you with one page full of vibrant color topped with a micro or macro aspect. The models were high fashion, runway model types wearing very creative pieces throughout the book but also expect lots of contextural writing. Note that I didn't actually read the book but scanned through the pics and some representative writings only for a minute because I was buying it as a gift for my high school grad niece who's interested in art school. I was more interested in how the visual impression of the photos would appeal to her. I was excited and thought it'd be good to excellent for her EXCEPT and unfortunately for one darn little but questionable photo! It was a frontal photo of a group of runway models wearing one featured designer's fashion (statement) in which one model was completely nude from the neck down and the other was nude from the waiste down (they were wearing "designer-modified" middle eastern type traditional women's clothing). I'm not a prude, and I probably should've known better via the fashion world perspective on the human body as art, but I certainly don't want my niece's parents to remember me as the aunt who unwittingly gave their daughter a book containing this particular photo. Had it not been a gift and for myself, I probably would've been fine with the book. So I'm returning it and felt the need to FYI other potential buyers. There was another tiny photo of a model's "behind" dressed in ethereal textile but it was done nicely and that I could've lived with.



2. This book shows us how to take a simple fabric and turn it into something more by manipulating or embellishing it into something else. We see the work of skilled designers who specialise in making something more out of a flat piece of material then transform it into something wearable.

5 comments about Bridal Gowns: How to Make the Wedding Dress of Your Dreams.

1. I really like this book! I knew it would be good information because of what I know of the author (extremely talented and accomplished seamstress and owner of the New Hampshire Academy of Sewing), I just didn't expect it to be so jammed packed with not just good information, but great information!
   
   The fully illustrated tissue fitting of real brides, the hints on the most flattering features of gowns for different body types, the information on lace and sewing with lace - it's all just really helpful and completely applicable to real people sewing real bridal gowns. She makes this sometimes scary and intimidating venture approachable and doable.
   
   Highly recommended.



2. This book covered the basic Palmer Pletsch pattern fitting techniques (though Fit for Real People is more thorough), and features some tricks for veils and bustling that are wedding gown specific. It would be particularly useful for making a gown for someone with fitting challenges, but it's not a great resource if you're trying to clone an engineered gown from a bridal salon. That's where "Bridal Couture" comes in handy.



3. The book arrived quickly and in great condition. It looks like it has lots of information to help with making my daughter's wedding gown...I'll begin sewing in September.



4. Very informative I will use the book alot



5. I am in the Bridal Alterations business and also sew weddings on the side. I am just starting out and wanted to learn more about the insides of wedding gowns. I have used other books by these women (Fit for Real People) to teach sewing classes in local fabric stores and knew they'd put out a great product. Inside they tell you what fabrics to use for interlining, interfacing, step by step construction, patern fitting, and more. There's even a checklist for constructing a wedding gown and yardage and instructions for making petticoats. I REALLY recommend this book!