Desktop Publisher's Idea Book, The : Second Edition

Rating:
Summary: One Great Resource -- Many Great Applications
Review: Although the Idea Book includes many projects designed with easy to follow templates in mind, probably the best thing about this book is that it's NOT just another book of templates.

I found many projects in the book to be unique and effective revenue generators and promotional tools that I may never have otherwise created.

I personally used his "WebCard" idea (page 321) on my own website, and response to this one simple little graphic application has been phenomenal.

The "Book Jacket Index" (page 44) is now something I use on all my frequently referenced books -- highlighted passages can only be seen when you remember which page they're on, and I'm tired of all the little Post-Its poking out of my books -- they get bent, moved, and eventually dry-up and fall out. The jacket index eliminates these problems.

The "Info Book" and "Take A Test Brochure" are two more examples of great items to suggest design clients use as marketing tools.

And don't forget Chuck Green's website, ideabook.com -- it's Chuck-full (I mean Chock-full) of additional information for using design, clipart, and fonts effectively. A great resource for any creative professional.

The only improvements I would recommend for the next edition of this book are the use of color photographs and the inclusion of a template-filled CD-ROM, or a companion webpage where the templates could be downloaded.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected...
Review: I just received the "Desktop Publishing Idea Book" and I am in love. One of the sections I enjoyed is the Resource section in the back in respect to Project Materials. I would love to see a section on the ideabook.com web site relative to these type resources. I spent about three hours on the ideabook.com web
site this morning. What a wonderful source of information in addition to this valuable book, and the site's structure and navigation is commendable.
Having been developing web sites myself for over five years, I am slowly making my way into DP because my clients think that because I am a professional web developer and graphic designer, I should be able to whip up a business card or brochure for them. The concept isn't hard for me. I have been artistic and a natural brainstormer all my life and enjoy dabbling with new software. The problem is taking the time out to branch into
another area and going through that uncomfortable learning curve. Chuck's book is a wonderful tool to set my brain in motion and it has done just that. Having only browsed through a few chapters and jumping from section to section, I already have pages of notes and ideas to help promote my existing dot com businesses. This morning I also ordered Chuck's newest "Logo" book too and anticipate the wealth of information it likely contains. Thank you, Chuck Green, for the inspirations
and nudge forward into DP. It undoubtedly will take some of that uncomfortable learning curve away.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring and Practical
Review: I used this book as a classroom text for a DTP course I was running. The students loved it, not just because it showed sample layouts with good use of contrasting fonts and plenty of white space, but also because the projects were practical and small scale, aimed at someone with a laser printer and office supplies. Green's ideas show that with a couple of quality fonts and classy clip art anyone can potentially do good design. I'd like to see a new edition that takes advantage of the low costs of digital presses, but as it stands the book is inspiring. Note, by the way, that most of the projects are designed for US-sized stationery, but can be adapted.

Rating:
Summary: Chuck's brain should be bronzed!
Review: There's no need to come up with original design ideas when you can just steal them from this book. I've never seen a more complete desktop publishing book packed with simple, uncluttered, and unique design ideas.

The book is n divided according to the type of document you need to publish: tickets, invitations, brochures, flyers, websites etc. Chuck also jumps out of the box and offers suggestions for jazzing up forms (timesheets, document routing records, meeting agendas), packaging projects (jars, mailing tubes, shipping labels), post-it notes, baseball caps, and t-shirts. There are just too many categories to name.

There are photos for every design, along with the specs: spacing, font type and size, and credits for the clipart or photo used in the design. Chuck makes it way too easy to knock-off his ideas.

Rating:
Summary: The Desktop Publisher's Idea Book, Second Edition
Review: This is an incredible book. Chuck Green shows us how he produces clean, professional, fresh, striking ideas for a large variety of design applications and he tells us how he produces them. His instructions, like his designs, are well laid out and very clear. Novice designers can now produce very professional and effective design by following his advice and examples. Experienced designers will find a wealth of information.

I have gone to Chuck's web site Ideabook.com for years to get ideas and reference. I was always amazed how Chuck could have so much information and by the use of layout, colour and graphics make the site inviting, fun and yet not cluttered. His book follows his web site design in that he shows both great design and how to instructions in a very appealing and easy to follow way. Chuck's ability to simplify the complex is unique and to me very valuable. Tremendous value, a must have reference book.

Rating:
Summary: The book was a great idea
Review: With so many desktop publishing books on the market, it's easy to get confused as to quality. The truth is that there's something of knowledge to be gained in just about every book. What's difficult is finding one right for your current level of knowledge-and one that will help you move on in your education.

This book will be of such help to at least three distinct types of reader.

First, despite the fact that it's not the book's focus, design theory makes its way almost unintentionally onto each page. This isn't a design book, so it doesn't actually _instruct_ you in the art. But the images in the book are competent, generic examples of standard principles of design. If you follow the basic constructs the author offers, you will, perhaps without meaning to, produce work that is suitably well-designed for almost any commercial purpose.

Second, the book gives an overview of how to get your designs from idea to computer to paper. It doesn't tell you specifically how to use your particular software or a particular printing company. I'm not sure the word "Adobe" or "Corel" appears anywhere in the text. What it gives you are the steps necessary to create high quality work on a shoestring budget. It gives you information about where to get clip art, how to deal with an illustrator specifically hired for a certain job, what are the most common fonts used in professional applications, how to ensure you're not violating copyright. These are areas that have had relatively minimal coverage in the instructional press, so the somewhat scant attention this book gives is a comparative abundance. In particular, the book has helpful information on how to find a good service bureau for your final output. The notion of contracting with printers in other parts of the country is a concept that will be foreign to a number of readers. It's a common practice to large companies, but this book makes real the possibility for smaller businesses and home enthusiasts.

Third, the book reaches people who have a great deal of experience with desktop publishing, but may need a single, unified resources for the multiplicity of "special" projects they infrequently may be called upon to make. How do you make buttons, for instance? How do you label a shipping tube? How do you create a magnetized memo? Who makes baseball caps and can I create my own design for them? Can I really make personalized coasters for my 15th high school reunion? Where can I have personalized Post-It (tm) Notes made? These, and many other "unusual" projects are given great attention in this book.

Indeed, this is really the book's focus. The author, Chuck Green, has an obvious passion for personalization. He wants you to know that for any purpose, be it commercial or personal, there's a way to make a great impression that you haven't thought about. In that quest, Mr. Green has used his book to centralize thousands of disparate addresses, phone numbers, and ideas into one location so that you can get started almost immediately. For its modest price it will give you more solid, usable advice than many more expensive, application-specific volumes.

And the book doesn't stop with the last page. There's a very cool website associated with the book that will help you continue on in your knowledge. To be sure, you don't need to read the book to access the website, but I think it's a measure of the passion the author has for his subject that he's willing to continue devoting time to it by maintaining an active, growing website. This is no `hack' author trying to cash in on the desktop publishing phenomenon. This is someone who really cares about what he writes and wants to continue giving you the most up-to-date information possible.

Despite all this, I think there are groups who might be disappointed with the book. If you already do a lot of specialized jobs for your clients, the ideas may seem quite basic. I think, too, that if you're just printing newsletters or the occasional flyer, you might think this book is full of useless information.

But I think that such people are entirely in the minority. This book has a tremendous amount to offer for the even slightly creative. Even if you _thought_ you only did newsletters for your church or flyers for your club, the wealth of information here makes you _want_ to do more and better work than you've done before. And that, I suppose, is the very point of desktop publishing in the first place.