Aspects of Contemporary Book Design

Bought this after seeing all the high reviews on it. Overall, this book is jammed pack of information, however, it should be understood that this book isn't meant for beginners. It is more so meant for those who either have the basic fundamentals of typography down or looking to understand how others typeset and design books.Personally, for me the book was a joy to read. With cute humor and insightful advice, I found it a pleasure to learn just what thought process went into crafting the books. Of these, my favorite was the section on Penguin Books.Admittedly, not all sections will be useful. As a typographer who works with clients that write light novels, the section on fiction was more useful than the section on cookbooks. Still, regardless of what your taste or needs are, this book has information that can be used and referenced when need be.If you need a book that gives you the basics of typography then you should look elsewhere but if you want one that gives you insight on how a designer thinks and crafts a book then this book is for you.

I was looking for interior book design ideas, but this didn't help like I thought it would. Bottom line is that I'm NOT an interior book designer, so that could also be an issue here...

Well written, has humor, very complete, and everything you would want to know about traditional print book design. This was from the head designer on the Penguin team, and though most of the book is going over personal experience for why he chose a specific design, rather than any theoretical framework, the things he says are smart, to the point, and useful. Particularly his outline of the Penguin series was useful to me as a new designer. Also has lots of interview-type sections with other prominent designers of print books. Though the market is now more and more in ebooks and the book is not modern in that sense, print books aren't going to disappear. This has been one of the most useful books I've read on design.

How often can you find out how the best book University Press designers approach their work? This book has interviews with the designers and shows how many small but important decisions are necessary for a book to be beautifully designed and appropriate for the subject matter. I have read this twice and enjoy the conversational quality of the interviews. The illustrations of various types of books are very helpful reminding us how many types of books there are.

The item arrived in reasonable time. I'm thoroughly satisfied with the item.

I adored this book when I bought it as a design student. And now that I'm actually designing books, I still go back to it every six months or so: for technical information, for a pep talk, and for companionship. You get to hear different designers talk about their projects—and the conversation is concrete and specific (not vague, abstract, self-puffing art-speak). The examples are strong and many of them have excellent captions—the kinds of captions you can learn from. There's no tiny, gray type: this is a book designed to be read and used, not just looked at. Usually I'm OK with used books, but if you can buy a new copy of this it'll be worth it. The softcover picks up dirt pretty easily; getting to read the pristine version when it first arrives is pretty special.