Creative Low-Budget Publication Design

Rating:
Summary: The bearable lightness of nickeling-and-diming
Review: The nine sections of CREATIVE LOW-BUDGET PUBLICATION DESIGN show high-impact graphics cutting costs with clip art and on-hand photos, imaginative grids and typefaces, and one- or two-color ink printing. What it comes down to on any budget is readability, with easy-to-relate-to centers of attention, designs, and moods. On a shoestring, it also helps to proofread early against corrective reprints and to minimize design and paper expenses, the latter of which can be 50 percent of all costs.

I especially like Mary Pretzer's information on color. Black elegantly organizes while a second color accents. Also, two colors together can create the illusion of a third color, known as the adjacency factor.

Excellent evidence backs each budget measure, and the do-it-yourself section example of a coffee stain scanned for background art proves great ideas can be inexpensive. With a good index and well-explained terms, the book gets along with Val Adkins' CREATIVE BROCHURES & BOOKLETS, Poppy Evans' THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ECO-FRIENDLY DESIGN, Steven Heller's NEWSLETTERS NOW, and Rita and Roberta Street's CREATIVE NEWSLETTERS & ANNUAL REPORTS. Anyone interested in desktop publishing, graphic arts, marketing or just painlessly learning something new should walk away a happy camper.

Rating:
Summary: More than Creative Low-Budget Design
Review: This book is a great marketing resource. The thinking behind the examples is what is really inspiring. The book goes beyond being a useful guide and idea resource. It demonstrates how to get results and think creatively whatever your budget.

I've worked in both for-profit and non-profit organizations and Mary Pretzer's book has been a great help for projects in both situations.

Creative Low-Budget Publication Design goes on my list of marketing classics.