3 comments about Lift Off: Air Vehicle Sketches & Renderings from the Drawthrough Collection (Air Vehicle Sketches).

1. I'm no 3d master, but when I wanted to get back into it I was looking for some inspiration. This book didn't let me down. It's filled with mind-bending stuff from really talented people.



2. Scott Robertson is an educator as well as a designer. That shows in this book, editorially, since he reveals early thumbnail, development sketches and final renderings. If you want to see a designer's process laid bare, here's a helpful resource. Don't forget Scott's Gnomon DVDs, as they further expose his process and techniques.



3. For those craving more futuristic design books, the Robertson works are highly desirable. He's no Syd Mead or Ron Cobb, but his works are slick, and well-rendered. A note of caution however; he is a much better artist of ground vehicles than aircraft. Most of his air vehicles are obviously derived from passenger car sketches, sans wheels. If you have the funds for both of Robertson's books, great. If you can only buy one of them, buy his book on ground vehicles.

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.

5 comments about Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series).

1. This is a beautiful book illustrating the different ways cultures reform the body and for what reasons. It is just like actually visiting an exhibit at a major museum. But this you get to take home and enjoy over and over. The photos are plentiful, full color, large and professional. The text is not overly scholarly, but informative and intelligent. It does leave me wanting to delve deeper into the subject intellectually.



2. To read this book reveals not only plenty of interesting and quite often surprising information on fashions past and current but its text and pictures are highly complementary. In addition a lot of the provided information gives insight into social structures of the centuries referred to - and once more it is proven that fashion is one of the quickest instruments to testify social and historical changes to the world.



3. Extreme Beauty is a wonderful book that celebrates the Metropolitan's equally brilliant exhibit about fashion and it's different preoccupations with the body. The exhibit was magnificent, and the book truly honors the tone and feeling of it, while being extremely informative in it's own right. The book is divided into different chapters such as neck and shoulders, waist, chest, etc. Each chapter features photos of the garments displayed in the original exhibit, as well as additional historical drawings and photographs of the various fashions and cultural trends that have celebrated the parts of the body. And, as promised in the title, the book explores the cultural foundations of bodily transformation and mutilation(?) through everything from extreme corsetry, [..] footwear and peircing to the tribal women who use metal rings to actually elongate their vertebrae. Harold Koda's insightful and meticulously researched commentary is just the icing on the cake. This is a must for any fashion library, but also of great interest to non-fashionistas.



4. Sentient humans with brains as well as bodies have always been fascinated by the way we adorn ourselves and why. Once we can get past the cultural anthropology of fashion, and the fads that make it a billion-dollar world industry, we can dig down to discover the roots of historical and current adorned beauty, and EXTREME BEAUTY does this . . . beautifully.
   It is pleasing--in an era in which physical beauty and adornment typified by fashion have been roundly rejected by most of the jeans-wearing public--to find a book that lets beauty out and helps us exercise our sense of mystery and wonder, based in no small part on human sexuality and attraction. Harold Koda (curator of the Costume Institute at New York's Met) has mounted a show and created a book with marvelous insights and passion, and the illustrations are wondrous--consider, as a case in point, Thiery Mugler's 'Chimere,' with its savage eroticism.
   One could quibble with Koda's arbitrary division of the body into 'neck and shoulders,' 'chest,' 'waist,' 'hips' and 'feet,'
   and his exclusion of the fascinating face/head/hair perplex, and the hands, with their magical touch and allure. But this book and its illustrations will become a benchmark by which human adornment is judged, and is a keeper of power and importance.



5. Harold Koda's Extreme Beauty surveys concepts of fashion and beauty. Koda considers the evolving, changing strategies of beauty around the world, focussing on different body parts and how they are accented and displayed through varying uses of clothing and cultural perception. Black and white and color photos of unusual fashion choices and styles make for some eye-opening insights.

5 comments about Laces: 100s of Ways to Pimp Your Kicks.

1. I was on the mailing list for the announcement of the publication of this book, but like a number of things on my ToDo list, it got shoved aside and forgotten for a while. Finally having it in my sweaty little hands, I've got to say that this book is just way too cool for words. I wish I'd had this decades ago. Oh yeah, and my kids love it, too. This book could be crappy, but instead it's decidedly sturdy. My imagination conjures images of the author arguing with the publisher to get it done properly. He definitely won, too. It's designed in such a way that you can open it to a page, fold the flap with the laces over and learn by doing. The best way to learn, if you believe neuroscience. It comes with extra laces and a resealable plastic pouch (also sturdy) to keep them in. Altogether brilliant.



2. Ian Fieggen describes and illustrates so many lacing options. He suggests horizontal, vertical, twisted, and even stars. A couple of options relieve toe pressure, a bonus for aching toes! His sketches provide easily understood lace paths. There are plenty of colorful flat and round laces included with the book to encourage practice. The ends of those laces don't go unattended; a whole section on ways to tie them off gets away from the usual bow. Best yet, there is a cure for how to succeed in lacing: get the right length. As an example, for Lug Bar Lacing, compute the following formula:
   ((H+W)x(P+1)+Vx(P-1)+L)x2
   where P is eyelet pairs, H is horizontal distance between eyelets, W is width of lugs, and L is the amount desired to tie the knot. As other formulas include square root and power of two, it's a great time for calculator practice. In case you still have a cord undersized, several lacing options are available for short laces. There are other opportunities for Ian Feiggen's designs, such as new cut T's, side-cut jeans, scrap booking (lots of eyelets there), and maybe even storage tarps (your outdoor grill would look so good).



3. I love this book and so do my two kids, a 7 yo boy and an 9 yo girl. I originally bought the book to help my son learn to tie his shoes. He is left handed (and I am right) and has some fine motor difficulties. We tried my way and a few ways on the internet and just couldn't come up with an easy enough way for him to learn to tie.
   
   The book has the lacing on the outside. It is designed so that the book folds open in order to view the instructions alongside of the lacing. He learned one of the tying methods on a car trip in less than 5 minutes.
   
   The kids take the book in the car and try different lacing patterns. My daughter loves changing the lacing pattern on her shoes. They have both changed their lacing patterns numerous times since we bought this book.
   
   I have learned so many things from the book too. Some of the lacing patterns are to help shorten those long laces that come on kids shoes these days. There are lacings for making shoes fit tighter, looser, for keeping the laces out of bicycle chains, and not to mention making a fashion statement.



4. This book was a surprise ! I picked it up because, as a graphic designer, I was interested in its unusual book design. But, after leafing through it, I found lacing styles for all kinds of shoes -- not just children's shoes and athletic shoes. Want to know how to do a Roman lacing for your dress shoes ? This book has it. How about a useful lacing style for hiking boots or bicycling shoes ? It's here.
   
   Of course, the stars of the book are the neat decorative lacings. Adding a flair to your everyday shoes, a decorative lacing will set you apart from the crowd. My favorites are "starburst" and "checkerboard."
   
   With a little creativity, you can apply the lacing styles to anything with a lace-and-eyelet system. For example, Renaissance faire performers, such as myself, will enjoy this book for new ways to lace up their boots, tunics, bracers, doublets, and corsets.
   
   In short, this is a great book for creative folks all ages.



5. My 11 year old daughter was able to immediately tie some fun laces. She loves this.

2 comments about Pocket Pal: A Graphic Arts Production Handbook.

1. As a student I got my first one and am getting ready to get my next. The Pocket Pal should be required reading for everyone in advertising and production, from the art director, the production manager to the account team. These are need to know terms!



2. Nearly 30 years ago, as an art student, I bought my first copy of this classic work. Small, clear and well organized, this book remains the essential guide for anyone who needs to understand the basics of graphic arts and printing production. Most of the artists and production people I know always keep a copy within reach. Like them (and me), you'll consult it again and again.

1 comments about The Redstone Diary 2009: The Black and White Diary (Redstone Diary).

1. I been through Filofax and PalmPilot, but this engagement calendar seems to work the best for me and I have been buying them faithfull for several years. Most engagement calendars are very pooly designed. Redstone, however, is well thought out. The size is good, the paper quality is excellent and takes ink well (unlike most calendars with that terrible shiny paper), there is adequate writing space on the calendar side, and the pocket page has been reinforced. What is very important to me is that the calendar page is consistently on the right with the art work page on the left. The art page generally leaves room for additional notes...I somehow manage to write all over it. I tend to staple invitations, brochures, etc. on the left as well. Every year Julian Rothenstein and Mel Gooding come up with a very interesting theme with fabulous art work.
   
   This year they eliminated the blank pages for notes, which I think was a big mistake. Instead they provided 24 pages of a monthly calendar with artwork on opposite page. For me this does not work. They also moved the pocket page from the front to the back, which makes it bulky for writing because I usually have the pocket page jammed with junk. Still, it is the best engagement calendar I have been able to find...and I have looked at them all.

2 comments about Swedish Style: Creating the Look.

1. This is a lovely book with beautiful color pictures from what I think is authentic interiors. The author walks us through the essence of swedish style via colors, fabrics, accessories and furniture. I miss not having typical interiors and suggestions of how to decorate individual rooms such as hallways and kitchens etc. The main focus is on livingrooms and bedrooms. I still think it's a good purchase and this book gives me a lot of inspiration.



2. This is a good and basic introduction to the elements of Swedish style in interior design.

   There is a simple historical summary that captures the background to Swedish design without making erudite comments on the style itself, other than to list the fundamental principles.

   The asthetic choices are very tuille and English in flavour; something that a middle-class London matron may aspire to. The lack of real recourse to original Swedish design and then imaginative and tasteful modern alternatives makes this book disappointing.

   "The Swedish Room" is far more inspiring and authentic.

5 comments about Tibor Kalman, Perverse Optimist.

1. for those who like graphic design this is an icon. A rich illustraded biography and radical ideas



2. I waited 5 years before I bought this book. Just buy it, you'll love it.



3. i have been trying to write alot abt this great designer/man, but couldnt write a word because he is so true and real, that you start loosing words for him. He lives with designer who consider their resposibity and moves on. TIBOR tells the story of Tibor's life and his achivement phase to phase. I dont want to complete this book or Close this book, because it is full of Wit, Humor and Lots of Sense. A book that showcases the thumbnails, sketches, art-work, approvals and disapproved work.
   You can find lots of lessions, essay and speeches about Tibor and From Tibor that are helpful esp. for Design Students/Teacher and Graphic Designers in the end. It a worth buying book for every student-teacher and designer!
   WELLDONE!



4. I first heard of Tibor Kalman while browsing a copy of "Interview", just to learn that it was a tribute. Sometime later, I found a smiling bookcover looking at me. I bought it. I was waiting for the bus and started to read it... I could not put it down again. I read textes, subtitles, infos, even the small characters of the work reproduced. It was not enough. It made me regain the somehow lost faith in design, showing me how humour, money and a cause could be combined together with surprising results.
   Do not be fooled: this book goes beyond the cult of the author's personality; it shows brief, concept and ways of thinking which are useful to everyone, not only designers and students.
   Although I knew it from the beginning, in the end I had tears in my eyes, because this man was gone and could no longer make our world a better place.



5. Kalman was a fascinating artist, but above all, he was down to earth. He told it like it is. That's why people found his work disturbing and cutting edge at the same time. His images and ideas have the power to change how people think. As an artist, he was vastly underrated, but his art made important comments about popular culture. He fits right in with Warhol, Rauschenberg, et. al. This is a book worth many times its price.

1 comments about Painter in a Savage Land: The Strange Saga of the First European Artist in North America.

1. Miles Harvey once again provides an example of excellent storytelling; not only does he give life to an important but relatively unknown period in our collective history, but he excels at crafting a story that subtly ties the past to the present.
   I like his exhaustive research, and how he can stick to the facts while exploring possibilities and make relevant the lives of people who previously felt so distant.
   His treatment of indigenous Terra Floridians speaks to his ability to examine people and places from more than one perspective. He knows how to engage a reader!

2 comments about Best Ugly: Restaurant Concepts and Architecture by Avroko.

1. This book is unlike anything else out there. It gives valuable insight for anyone interested in design, architecture, restaurant design or working in any of these industries, it's also great for anyone who is curious about great design and art or has heard about AvroKo. They have won numerous awards and being able to see their projects in-depth is a truly unique way to see how this top design firm works. The photos are amazing and beautifully shot and the design of the book itself is the best I've seen in any kind of art or design book like this. It also gave me a really great look at their design process and the outstanding projects they've designed. I've been to Public (which is one of the coolest restaurants in NYC) and this book makes me want to visit all the restaurants they've designed. I would highly recommend it as both a beautiful book to own and give as a gift.



2. THIS BOOK IS BETTER THAN ANY DESIGN BOOK I HAVE EVER READ THE PICTURES ARE AMAZING I JUST WISH THIS COMPANY WAS IN THE UK