Graphic Design for Art, Fashion, Film, Architecture, Photography, Product Design, and Everything In Between
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TITLE INFORMATION
Author: Andy Cooke & Angharad Lewis
Publisher: Prestel
Year Published: 2018
Dimensions: 7.75”x9.5”
Pages: 240
Graphic Design for Art, Fashion, Film, Architecture, Photography, Product Design, and Everything In Between features a collection of contemporary graphic design work from the Western World that epitomizes the use of collaboration with other fields of design. It focuses on a designer/project/client basis with questions and answers intertwined within. All of the work is centralized around the concept that graphic design is more impactful when it is used in collaboration with other fields of design.
To start off, this book has a lot going for it. The work featured is fantastic contemporary work that isn’t too trend based compared to other collection books, but it’s not too static like the work featured in more era based design books. The work featured feels like it is some of the best representational work from this era of design, and is some of the work that’ll continue to be looked at in the decades to come. There is also a decent mix of large and small, well-known and lesser-known, and award winning and have-yet-to-win-their-award studios and designers. Despite this diversity, there is a lack of representation from studios outside of Europe, more specifically, England. Almost all of the studios presented are from Europe, with only a few being from the United States and Canada, and none from South America, Africa, or Asia. That being said, it is not an accurate and appropriate representation of the amount of collaborative graphic design work being done around the world.
The best attribute of this book are the descriptions of each project. They not only describe the studio and the client, but they describe the context of the project and which decisions were made due to the context. This is one of the only contemporary collection books that actually describe the reasoning for some of the design decisions. This is so beneficial to the reader because it gives them insight as to why the work looks the way it does, and why the work is successful. The work is not just aesthetically pleasing, but it succeeds in what the client wants, and succeeds in what the clients’ audience desires.
Design-wise, this book has something going for it. The type hierarchy is solid, and the layout is modular, making each spread as interesting as the next. The dichotomy of image to text is different each spread, but somehow similar. Despite the variety of layout, the elements are structured similarly each time. The text blocks are always the same width, they are, give or take, roughly the same length, and images fit into one of several templated sizes. All of the design choices fit the rules of layout design but that is probably what is holding this book back just a bit. There is little to no big surprises when flipping through this book. It almost feels like flipping through a portfolio. Which is fine. The purpose of this book is focus on the work being presented, not the design. That being said, this book might be extremely beneficial for those who are looking to design their first portfolio, or for those looking to revamp theirs.
Although this book contains a lot of great attributes working in its favor, there are still some less favorable parts to it. One part is all of the interview responses are roughly the same, which makes reading all of them a mundane task. There are obviously some variances in answers, but not enough to warrant the amount of interviews included. Considering not every studio included an interview means that some more could have been omitted. The aim of the interviews is to help build an understanding of the importance of collaboration and working with “creative” clients [clients that are designers in other fields] compared to working with “non-creative” clients [clients that are not designers], and how that characteristic influences the design process. All of the studios roughly answered similarly; working with a creative client is usually different than working with a non-creative client, but not in an unfavorable way. Usually, graphic designers don’t need to educate a creative client about design principles and concepts as much as they do a non-creative client, but that really isn’t that important. The most important thing is that the client is open-minded, and whether or not they are creative affects that characteristic, because both types can be close-minded or open-minded. There are also some other questions regarding the effects of studios winning awards and how that affects their work, along as just how important it is for designers to branch out and morph into other fields of design.
Not only are the interviews mundane, but so is the general outline of the book. Each section starts off with a chapter description, followed by projects from different studios. Each project is structured as followed: studio description, project/client description, an interview, photos of work, and pull quotes. After reading about several projects, the subject becomes lackluster.
Despite the monotony of the writing, it does serve a great purpose; reiterating the notion that collaboration yields more interesting design work than staying within one’s own field of design. This book shows that example after example, case after case.
This book would be best for any designer who is in the graphic design field who wants to collaborate with other designers, or vice-versa. It is also great for those who need inspiration when it comes to designing a portfolio, or other publication where the work shown is more important than the design. Although the information in this book doesn’t really teach anything, it could be suitable for design students to check out so they can gain a better understanding of the significance of inter-disciplinary collaboration. If you have no interest in collaborative work, or is someone who has worked on their fair share of collaborative work, then you probably won’t take much away from this.