Rating: 
Summary: a passion for evocative, communicative design
Review: Not all of us have seen the examples Coloninger writes about in his book. That's why I found Fresh Styles to be so helpful. For those of us who are "beginners" - who usually only visit such web sites as amazon.com and cnn.com - I highly recommend this book. It will open your eyes to a whole new world. For those of you who are "veteran web designers," I cannot see how, like the individual from Portland, Maine, Fresh Styles wouldn't make for a good "leaping point." I've seen Van Gogh's and Matisse's artwork a hundred times, and yet it still moves me. And that's what this book is about. Fresh Styles awakens a passion for "evocative, communicative design." Not many people I know can create something out of nothing. We all need ideas, examples, illustrations, models, etc to stir up our own imaginations. Coloninger has done this for us by describing ten web design styles that are, in my opinion, unique and ... well, inspiring.
Rating:
Summary: a passion for evocative, communicative design
Review: Not all of us have seen the examples Coloninger writes about in his book. That's why I found Fresh Styles to be so helpful. For those of us who are "beginners" - who usually only visit such web sites as amazon.com and cnn.com - I highly recommend this book. It will open your eyes to a whole new world. For those of you who are "veteran web designers," I cannot see how, like the individual from Portland, Maine, Fresh Styles wouldn't make for a good "leaping point." I've seen Van Gogh's and Matisse's artwork a hundred times, and yet it still moves me. And that's what this book is about. Fresh Styles awakens a passion for "evocative, communicative design." Not many people I know can create something out of nothing. We all need ideas, examples, illustrations, models, etc to stir up our own imaginations. Coloninger has done this for us by describing ten web design styles that are, in my opinion, unique and ... well, inspiring.
Rating:
Summary: Fresh is RIGHT!
Review: The subtitle for this book is "Eye Candy from the Underground" and how appropriate that is! If you're looking for fresh ideas and unique approaches to design, this is the book for you! Packed full of colorful photos of actual websites, the author has also taken the time to explain the theory behind the designs themselves. I found the techniques and ideas presented here - pulled form some of the hottest designers our there - to be incredibly unique and thought provoking!
Rating: 
Summary: pseudo-analytic nonsense
Review: This book is completely useless for a serious web designer. Completely misguided from an aestetics point of view, this book doesn't go further than a pseudo-analysis of design style. Even the "techniques" section is really a couple of "how to copy this" advice, nothing deeper or broader. The novice won't find anything to grasp the essentials or fundamentals of what design really is (or a particular "style" for that matter), the pro will find this useless. Don't even think about usability of cource. There is much more to design than this book suggests and certainly freshness doesn't come from copying a style bound to be trivial in a couple of months but from analysing and deepening in what design for web is. If you come from a design background you are already well equiped so, look for something on usability rather. If you are a novice avoid this copycat approach to design and look for something on the fundamentals.
Rating: 
Summary: Just what I have been waiting for
Review: This is a great book. I have been looking for a book to help get my creative juices flowing and when I saw this at the store I knew I had to have it. Very informative. I can't way to try and incorporate some of the techniques into my personal site.
Rating:
Summary: get this book.
Review: very well written. the ten styles examined are explained thoroughly, and then the techniques used are discussed, with URL's given for PhotoShop brushes, clip art, etc. also visit http://lab404.com/ for up to date information. I enjoyed reading the book, and now I can't decide which style to use on my site! :-)
Rating:
Summary: Great review of web styles
Review: We've all seen the examples Coloninger writes about in his book but he goes over why they look the way they do and the reasons to incorporate them into your own site. Every web designer needs to first read "Don't Make Me Think" (Krug, Black) and Fresh Sytles. If you put both idealogies together into one site, it will be a success and you will be proud of it. I've been accused of making my sites both too vague and too plain. Both books together will transform your views of design and usability on the web. Fresh styles has plenty of color screenshots of sites and great commentary on each one. Highly recommended for any level of web builder/designer.
Rating:
Summary: Take this book for what it is...a great inspiration source
Review: When I read this book, I was immediately captivated by the sites it presented. This book is not meant to be a Web bible and the writer does not say this anywhere...instead, the styles and case studies he presents are meant to show you what can be done with the web instead of the typical bland boxy website. This is possibly the best web design idea book I have seen b/c it shows the reader plenty of examples and styles and gives basic tips on how to achieve that style. The most important thing the book does is it opens the reader to styles that he/she probably wasn't even aware of. I totally disagree with the reviewer below that gave this book 1 star...the style names are a playful way of presenting some of these websites. And when you go through the examples, the sites in each category definitely do have similarities...so categorizing the sites is not faux pas by any means.
Rating:
Summary: Panned it
Review: You CAN judge a book by its cover artwork. Yes, the cover art is supposed to make one think of Seattle grunge, but undoubtedly it also will remind you of what that refrigerator must smell like. Nice pictures, nice layout, nice presentation, but pretty much useless if you want realistic ideas that you can use, let alone implement, in the corporate world (and BTW, the corporate world does extend to rockers like the Stones). If you really want to take a look at the book, go down to your nearest Big Box bricks-n-mortar storefront and thumb through it there.
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