Product Description

Designers and others who work with type and graphics will find this guide to be both enjoyable and useful. It explores the essence of graphic communication, explains how graphics function as a language, and suggests innovative ways for designers to combine words and pictures.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #472034 in Books
• Published on: 1992-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From the Back Cover
Type and Image The Language of Graphic Design Philip B. Meggs What is the essence of graphic design? How do graphic designers solve problems, organize space, and imbue their work with those visual and symbolic qualities that enable it to convey visual and verbal information with expression and clarity? The extraordinary flowering of graphic design in our time, as a potent means for communication and a major component of our visual culture, increases the need for designers, clients, and students to comprehend its nature. In this lively and lavishly illustrated book, the author reveals the very essence of graphic design. The elements that combine to form a design— sings, symbols, words, pictures, and supporting forms—are analyzed and explained. Graphic design’s ability to function as language, and the innovative ways that designers combine words and pictures, are discussed. While all visual arts share common spatial properties, the author demonstrates that graphic space has unique characteristics that are determined by its communicative function. Graphic designs can have visual and symbolic properties which empower them to communicate with deep expression and meaning. The author defines this property as graphic resonance and explains how it occurs. After defining design as a problem-solving process, a model for this process is developed and illustrated by an in-depth analysis of actual case histories. This book will provide insight and inspiration for everyone who is interested or involved in graphic communications. While most materials about form and meaning in design have a European origin, this volume is based on the dynamic and expressive graphic design of America. The reader will find inspiration, hundreds of exciting examples by many of America’s outstanding graphic designers, and keen insights in Type and Image.

About the Author
About the author Philip B. Meggs is currently Professor of Communication Arts and Design at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, and contributing editor of Print magazine. He is the author of A History of Graphic Design (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) which received an award for excellence from the Association of American Publishers, and co-author of Typographic Design: Form and Communication (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) His graphic designs have been widely exhibited, including the Print Regional Design Annual, Communication Arts Design Annual, AIGA Communication Graphics, and The New York Art Directors Club annual exhibition.

Customer Reviews

best for beginners
Although this text is a vital first step in design education, it falls short for an experienced designer; basic juxtaposition, etc. Get it out of a library and spend your money on any of the Looking Closer series by Michael Beirut... they will infinitely expand your perceptions of what design is and explores contemporary issues facing designers today.

Do not buy unless you have to.
I got this for school, I thought it would be a good read. I was wrong. I could have passed the class without buying the book.

Another GREAT book by Philip Meggs
I have always found Philip Meggs worthy of reading and have tremendously benefitted from these readings. This book excellent and anyone who is serious about design should definitly have this book.