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The Photoshop Anthology
by John Maeda
My Review »
My assumptions of this book were completely wrong... I had assumed it would give me detailed guidance on how to simplify the designs I undertake and maybe even my life in general. Instead it gave me an interesting and thought provoking read. It didn't lead me by the hand along a path but showed me the path and then left me to reach my own conclusions.
If, like me, you enjoy finding quotes that seem simple on the surface but hold hidden truths then this book is for you. This is especially true if you have a creative job or hobby. A fine example of this is "great art makes you wonder, great design makes things clear." Or how about "complexity implies a feeling of being lost, simplicity implies the feeling of being found."
With only 100 pages this book is a quick read but contains concepts that will have you chewing them over for a long time. I heartily recommend it to anyone who likes to challenge their own perspectives and assumptions.
The Photoshop Anthology
by Corrie Haffly
My Review »
My approach to reading this book was all wrong. As a relative Photoshop newbie, I thought it would be best to read it from cover to cover trying things out as I went. What I failed to incorporate was how I learn best. That being, to try out things on real projects with very real needs. I persevered but have since decided to keep this book on my desk and use it as reference resource. I’ve printed out a list of all the tutorials and tips it contains for easy look-up. As I come to things I don’t know how to do then I’ll refer to it.
What it did do very successfully was give me enough of the Photoshop basics to get me heading in the right direction. I’ll now use it as a map and just refer to it as I go. At the time of reading, SitePoint were giving the PDF away for free so it was well worth the money (!). Would I have actually bought it? Maybe but I reckon I would’ve had a look around first to see what else was out there.
Opera Web Standard Curriculum
by Various Authors
My Review »
Just over three years ago I decided I wanted to move away from the IT infrastructure job I was doing. I wanted to combine my love of technology with my love of good design and become a web designer. At the time I looked into different training options. Firstly I read Learning Web Design by Jennifer Niedhurst. A good introduction book, however, it taught table-based design which, I learned shortly after completing it, was not the way to go. I then looked into doing a college qualification in web development. Again this course taught only table-based design, so there was no point in doing it. It wasn't until I discovered Ian Lloyd's Build Your Own Website the Right Way book that I found a good introduction to web standards.
I now consider myself reasonably competent in HTML and CSS. This curriculum is a great introduction to all areas of web design. It does substantially more just teach web standards. The initial articles cover the entire website design process. While for me alot of it was stuff I already knew, I can see the benefits of using it to teach newbies. In my day job, we are currently putting together a training program for our content producers. This could potentially be used for the more advanced of these to really start producing some good web pages and micro-sites.
I look forward to the articles that are still to come, especially those covering CSS and JavaScript.
Design Directories: Branding
by Helen Vaid
My Review »
When it comes to learning some things are taught and some things are caught. This book is a good example of the latter. Rather than teaching every detail of branding the author gives an overview of a particular aspect and then follows it up with examples to demonstrate it.
In some areas it’s a bit too vague while other areas seem irrelevant. However, from a designer’s perspective it is an enjoyable read from which a lot of inspiration can be gathered. It is certainly interesting to see how company branding has evolved over the years. I can recommend it as a coffee table book to pick up and read through when you have some down time...
Building Accessible Website
by Joe Clark
My Review »
It doesn’t happen very often but as hard as I tried I couldn’t finish this book.
I just couldn’t get into it despite the fact that creating accessible websites is very important to the job I do. Mainly I struggled with the author’s writing style. It reminded me of reading the original Tom Clancy novels. The level of detail given far exceeded what was actually needed to get the concept across.
If you want to give it a go then the book is available free online at http://joeclark.org/book/sashay/serialization/
Designing with Web Standards 2nd Edition
by Jeffrey Zeldman
My Review »
Jeffrey Zeldman is as close to a legend as the web design community has. From this book you can understand why. It is an excellent insight into how the designing and building of websites has changed in the last 10 years.
It also makes me glad that I am plying my trade as a web designer at this point in time when all the major browsers are starting to get with the web standards program. I have only ever used tables for presentation on a couple of websites. For the last three years, I’ve been using XHTML and CSS to separate the presentation from the content. This meant that most of the book, while being an interesting read, had little significance to my development techniques. That said, the book is packed with knowledge and experience on how to produce modern websites.
As website design stands at the pivotal point of moving to web standards I would recommend this book to all web designers and developers. Although, it may soon be time for a third edition that focuses a little less on transitional techniques.