Roger C. Parker's Graphic Design Tips

New location for Roger C. Parker's Graphic Design Tips

Thank you for visiting Roger C. Parker's Graphic Design Tips blog.

I have consolidated all of my graphic design, marketing, and writing articles, resources, and tips into my Published & Profitable blog.

At my Published & Proifitable blog, where you'll find over 1,000 posts about content marketing, print and online graphic design ideas, latest trends in design, and information about upcoming events.

You may also enjoy visiting Design To Sell Online. Although I'm not currently updating the site, it contains a graphic design blog and chapter downloads from my recent Design to Sell book.

Best wishes on your graphic design explorations!

Roger C. Parker

 

Is this the best book on type?

Effective graphic design is based on choosing the right typefaces and using them intelligently.

Few books do as good a job of relating the centuries-old craft of typography with today's digital environnment as James Felici does in his Complete Manual of Typography: A Guide to Setting Perfect Type.

This is the best single volume available for anyone who wants to know how to make their ads, brochures, newsletters, and other marketing communications more attractive and easier to read. This book does the best job of combining the aesthetic aspects of typography to the capabilities of today's page layout programs.

Click here for a copy of my Guerrilla Marketing & Design newsletter discussing other favorite books on typography.

Learn how to create an effective logo

There's a world of difference between an alphabet and a logo, and the best way to learn how to convert the characters in an alphabet into an effective logo is to read Doyald Young's masterpiece volumes:

• Logotypes and Letterforms
• Fonts and Logos

These two volumes define the high end in graphic design book publishing. Not only is each page a visual delight in itself, but you'll learn exactly how a master typographer takes the standard characters in an alphabet and converts them into an appropriate and memorable logo.

Visit Doyald Young's website to preview these books and advance your design education to the next level.

Third edition of Editing by Design now available

The third edition of Jan V. White's Editing by Design: For Designers, Art Directors, and Editors is now available and should be considered required reading.

Editing by Design enjoys a long, successful history, first appearing in 1974. Jan White completely revised the third edition, but--fortunately--it still has the original's one-to-one conversational tone and  revealing hand-drawn illustrations.

Jumpstart your InDesign, Quark, and PageMaker graphic design skills

Chuck Green has just introduced three books which can jumpstart any design project:

• The InDesign Ideabook
• The PageMaker Ideabook
• The Quark Xpress Ideabook

Chuck's goal is to helop you "start your next project with most of the work already done." He achieves that goal by providing a CD containing over 300 ready-to-use files with each version.

These files provide the framework you need to succeed.

Click here for more information.

Alex White's Thinking in Type

I've long been a fan of Alex White's Type In Use. But, now there's a new, even better Alex White book: Thinking in Type: The Practical Philosophy of Typography (Allworth Press).

Alex White is one of the very few designers capable of writing a book that lives up to the title. His unique abilities probqably come from his background as an educator, mentor, and speaker--as well as a leading New York City  art designer. Thinking in Type contains hundreds of typographic suggestions and tips, annotated illustrations, typeface examples, and assignments that can benefit designers at all levels of expertise.

You'll spent dozens of happy hours reading about the history of type, the best ways to use it, and examining the numerous illustrations and specimens. You'll leave with a new respect for the typeface designer's abilities, and new confidence in your own abilities to use type to make your message--or your client's message--as readable and legible as possible.

The only way Thinking in Type could be better would have been for it to be printed in a larger, i.e. 8 1/2 by 11-inch format, which would allow the details of the illustrations to emerge with greater impact.

Everyone's favorite type book?

I've been a fan of Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Design ever since it first appeared.

In clear and simple language, free from jargon and overintellectualized generalities, Bringhurst demystifies type and shows how to choose and use it more effectively.

You'll learn just enough about type to make better decisions.  Bringhurst describes the  major characteristics of typeface design, profiles and shows the most popular typeface designs, and shares hundreds of usage ideas. You'll learn how to fine-tune your print publications so they are both more attractive and easier to read.

Perhaps most important of all, in an age that glorifies quick-obsolence, you'll find The Elements of Typographic Style to be a delight to own and keep next to your computer. It's one of the best-designed and best-printed books available.