Frank Carlson Library

The design bar is at an all-time high for those brave enough to participate in the industry. Today's designers must be clear on all the steps necessary to create work that stands out in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Unfortunately, most design books only focus on type, color, and layout issues. The Design Matters series takes a more in-depth approach, allowing designers to learn not only how to create work that is aesthetically appealing,...

Minimalist poetry for maximalist times. “Sheets: Typewriter Works” extends the minimalist explorations of Cameron Anstee's first collection, “Book of Annotations”. Prompted by receiving the Olivetti Lettera 30 typewriter that belonged to poet William Hawkins after his death in 2016, the works in this book explore how small poems operate through the freedoms and constraints of the typewriter as both a decaying machine and a mode of composition....

The final installment in this acclaimed series offers astute and controversial discussions on contemporary graphic design from 2001 to 2005. This collection of essays takes stock of the quality and profundity of graphic design writing published in professional and general interest design magazines, as well as on blogs and Internet journals. Prominent contributors include Milton Glaser, Maud Lavin, Ellen Lupton, Victor Margolin, Mr. Keedy, David Jury,...

This updated edition of the much-heralded classic of page design offers surefire ideas and inspiration to anyone stuck with the task of designing cutting-edge printed material. This book is a collection of more than 2,000 visual "idea generators"-illustrations and line art-that visualize the various abstract problems that page editors encounter.

Author and design expert Steven Heller has revisited and revised the popular classic Design Literacy by revising many of the thoughtful essays from the original and mixing in thirty-two new works. Each essay offers a taste of the aesthetic, political, historical, and personal issues that have engaged designers from the late nineteenth century to the present-from the ubiquitous (the swastika, antiwar posters) to the whimsical (MAD magazine parodies)....

A treasure trove of lettering styles and decorative elements, this handy reference offers an abundance of eye-catching alphabets, numerals, ribbons, borders, flowers, banners, and other easy-to-trace embellishments. With this guide, it's easy to add a personal touch-humorous, dramatic, or romantic-to any handwritten message or meditative journal. Hundreds of ornaments, all of them hand-drawn by the author, include dozens of alphabets and numerals....

The thrill of victory-the agony of defeat. We're not talking about just any failure. Design failure. So public. So humiliating. How do designers who are really, really good (we swear!) turn a disaster into a triumph? Read this book and find out, as dozens of top names reveal the heartbreaking-and sometimes hilarious-mistakes they have made and talk about how they were able to grow from the experiences. Self-delusion, over commitment, procrastination-they're...

How does a designer create graphic solutions to the behind-the-scenes editorial challenges at a magazine? Designing Magazines is the complete guide to understanding the inner workings of magazines and their day-to-day management and a great guide to using that knowledge to create visually stunning, editorially effective magazines, in both new designs and rebranding. Thirty-five experienced editors, designers, and consultants, all at the top of their...

Take a peek inside the heads of some of the world's greatest living graphic designers. How do they think, how do they connect to others, what special skills do they have? In honest and revealing interviews, nineteen designers, including Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Beirut, David Carson, and Milton Glaser, share their approaches, processes, opinions, and thoughts about their work with noted brand designer Debbie Millman. The internet radio talk host...

Feeling uninspired? If you're a creative professional-or just someone who'd like to be more creative in your work and daily life-look no further than Designers Don't Have Influences. Creative director, writer, advocate, and design cheerleader Austin Howe's elegant, incisive, and amusing essays are sure to appeal to a wide spectrum of readers. Howe chronicles the lives, philosophies, and work processes of leaders in disparate fields from art to spirituality...