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Looking for a good Design and layout book!
Howdy doody,
I’ve been looking for a while to find a book that will give me some insight into good layout and design practices. I anyone can recommend anything that I would be able to buy from a UK company, I have bought a book in the past from a company in the states but the carriage was more than the book!
ANDY
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23 Replies
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Mike Stevens – "Mastering layout" is the book to get – (American of course but available in Britain). I lent this book to a guy who used to work for us – he left and so did the book so I need to get another copy.
I don’t thinks it’s expensive – certainly an excellent investment if you want to improve your design capabilities and understanding of what makes a good sign. 😀
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Thanks for that Phill,
I have seen this on some websites before but I have never committed to buying it. I’m very sceptical about buying things like books over the net because the sites don’t go into too much detail so you never really know what you’re getting !
However….
I’ve just been on amazon.co.uk and bought a copy £29.95 + £2.75 postageANDY
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That’s great andy – I promise you you’ll not be dissapointed with it 😀
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I agree with Phill. That book should be required reading before anyone is allowed to pick up a brush or buy a plotter.
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A copy of that book should always be on the shelf and be reread at least once a year.
Phill,
Do you want me to come over and help track him down for you!
Safe to say you’ll be more careful who “borrows” the next one you get?Andy,
If you feel inclined to do so, after reading through it how about posting some comments. I found, for myself anyway, it was a bit dry and tough to digest the first go around. (plus I was new to the industry) Now, after every reread, I pick something else up that I didn’t quite catch the last time through. Now, if I could only retain what is read….:)
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course i will bob not a problem,
it may take some time though as its "big brother season" here in the uk (you know the programme where they lock 10 people in a house together and watch their every move) and with live around the clock coverage on cable, reading will take the back burner!!! 😆
ANDY
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Priorities! I understand all to well. For the last few weeks I have been watching the playoffs for our major league ice hockey teams. Now that the season is “over” ( 😉 , please see note below), time to get back to work.
PLEASE NOTE: Glenn Taylor may respond to this message saying that the season isn’t over yet. Don’t believe him! (It was over when “my” team was shut out last Friday evening 😳 (ouch!), being eliminated and not making it to the finial round to face “his” team.) 😆
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I know what you mean Bob – It took me a few reads to register what was being taught. It’s hard to take it all in on the first read – but I think with experience and re-reading the book you learn more and more and understand more of what is being taught. I can look at a sign and recognise if the designer has read and understood this book. Mike Stevens who wrote it (sadly now deceased) was not only talented, but had the insight to see that good layout was a result of understanding and following a set of rules. He realised that good layout was not a case of natural talent – but was a skill that could be taught. This gives hope and inspiration to all of us. Our own Mike (The Sign) I believe is similarly gifted. 😀
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I agree Phill, good layout can be taught…
Just give me one day with anyone who’s not sure and I’ll change the way they layout and design signs forever. It’s a process, a mechanism – and the trick is knowing how it works! I’m self taught, and so teach my own system but although I’ve never read Mike’s book, I’ve no doubt we would have come to similar conclusions on some, if not many, things.
By the way, Your CD will be on it’s way this week Phill. Thank you.
more soon
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LOL Bob!!
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Yes, it CAN be taught! I can’t remember when I wasn’t hanging around either the Graphics Studio or the firearms room with my Dad. I grew up learning about layout, and I don’t really remember any intense lessons, it was just a day by day thing and I grew to recognize when things balanced, light values, negative space, optical correctness and howtofitawholelotofcopyononelinewithoutrunningoutofspace! …..whew!
:^)
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like mikes CD, this book sounds like a handy thing to have guys! 😀
rosemary! excuse my stupidity. but what do the numbers represent in you & your dads signatures. 🙄
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Robert, both Dad and I collect and shoot Swiss rifles. I have a number of different kinds, but my favorite is the 1911sr. It was made in 1913 and I use it in shooting competitions. I just don’t shoot offhand because it’s rather long for me and I only weigh 125 pounds.
We both love these old rifles. If you’d like to see what they look like they’re at http://www.swissrifles.com
We have both the old and the new types, and both of us are serious reloaders. Usually art and firearms don’t mix, but with us, they do.:^)
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ah i see. thanks for explaning, it is starting to make sense to me now. 😀
funny you should mention about art & firearms mixing. mikethesign also has a background in firearms although im not exactly sure what type. 😀
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Mike might be the proper calibre, BUT……Can he be REloaded???
hehe
:^) 🙄
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what you see is what you get…Lock, Stock and Barrel.
My being part of UKSG is not just a ‘flash in the pan’…
and I rarely go off ‘half cocked’ about any subject on the boards!
hehehe 😉
more soon
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Very cool, Mike! Maybe I’ll post a few questions for you in the General forum. THis isn’t the right place for it.
Tata!
:^)
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maybe Mike ‘The Sign’ could do a master class that we could attend.
We’d bring beer, food and a bag of money of course!what do you think Mike?
Johnny
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Well, Johnny….
I shall be at the UKSG meet in York in October – buy me a pint and I’ll tell ya’ anything! 😉
more soon
mikethesign
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Here’s 3 other books that folk may find interesting that I have "Signs, Graphics & other neat stuff" & "More signs, graphics & stuff" both by Gary Anderson & "Trucks" by Bob Behounek, all at 12-15 quid each, although they are american books they all contain brilliant ideas for layouts and colours, I got them from AS Handover in London 020 7359 4696, they have loads of books and videos.
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Hi Rosemary just read your interesting post on rifle shooting we, in the UK find that everything to do with firearms is alien to us, the only forum for shooting anything left in the UK is shooting on farms and in clay pigeon clubs which are very very stringently policed. I used to have a shotgum licence and the police were always visiting me in the middle of the night to check that my gun was kept locked away with the ammo separate strange really as i never actually owned a gun it was always supplied at the gun club! i have visited the states many times 20 states in all but sadly not Montana a very beautiful part of America I have a friend who has stayed on a ranch in Montana many times and is about to apply to live in the state with a rancher she has met over ther i will find out where it is!
What is it really like to live in an environment where people can legally carry guns are you scared that they will use them does the concept of everybody carrying them cancel out the potential danger i visited a friend in Texas 2 years ago a state where it is illegal to conceal a weapon! he proudly showed me his hunting cupboard it contained 3 handguns a
browning 12 bore repeater shotgun 2 hv rifles and get this- an AK47 what could the guy possibly want all that for?? he said hunting- hunting what- rhino!! do you have a similar arsenal do you hunt i felt uneasy in many large cities in the US especially Washington DC Kansas and New York possibly I would not in Billings!!
regards Steve -
another source of design inspiration is right here on the net, its free, full and falls at your fingertips !!!!
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Anything Mike! What ya drinking?
See ya there.Johnny 😀
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