Product Description

Here is a reference for any graphic designer working with international clients or designing for an international audience. The first trick is understanding the culture and knowing how firmly traditional symbols are held, and how far the boundaries can and should be pushed to achieve the most effective design message for the project. This guidebook covers everything designers need to know about the national and international meanings of various traditional and not-so traditional cuLtural symbols. and their implications and associations. Chapters are arranged geographically by region and by country for an easy-to-navigate reference. This resource is packed with important symbol definitions and is illustrated with real-life graphic design examples of symbols used in print, packaging, advertising, multimedia, environmental graphics, and more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1971957 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

From the Publisher
This guidebook covers everything designers need to know about the national and international meanings of various traditional and not-so traditional cultural symbols, along with their implications and associations.

About the Author
Anistatia R. Miller and Jared M. Brown write and design from their home in Boise, Idaho. Together, they were contributing editors for Adobe's on-line magazine and have written articles on modern iconography for Icon Thoughtstyle, Wine Spectator, U&Lc, and Adobe Magazine. They have also published numerous books including Shaken Not Stirred: A Celebration of the Martini and On This Day in History.

Cheryl Dangel Cullen is a writer and public relations consultant specializing in the graphic arts industry. She is the author of Graphic Design Resource Photography, The Best of Annual Report Design, and The Best of Direct Response Graphics. Cullen writes from her home near Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she plans and implements public relations programs for clients in the graphic arts, paper, and printing industries. She frequently gives presentations and seminars on innovative ways to push the creative edge in design using a variety of substrates.

Customer Reviews

No substance and an empty promise
Huge disappointment. One star for a nice but decieving cover (and there isn't a zero-star). In fact, I learned that the symbols on the cover were nothing more than a convention used by the authors to catagorize their 8th-grade-level passages into people, plants, animals, gestures/language, and shapes for a region/country.

However, the coverage of countries/cultures was quite sparse--they completely missed the Middle East. It's basically a portfolio of works done by their designer friends for foreign clients, as if a few (sometimes one) client's work represents a cultural reference.

I actually question whether the authors' understand the definition of a symbol or icon...
"A SYMBOL for untold riches during the fifteenth century, Australia and the surrounding islands were finally opened... But Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand soon became ICONS of both refuge and desparation in the 1780's..." (p.172)

To her credit, Anastatia Miller's book, "What Logos Do and How They Do It" was good and useful, which leads me to believe the books lacking is due to the publisher or the Cullens.

(This is not my first disappointment with a Rockport published design book; I will be very hesitant before I buy another one.)

For a good book on symbols, try "Signs and Symbols..." by Adrian Frutiger.

Well, the flag is right this time...
Interesting concepts - to put together books on global colors (see: "Global Graphics: Color") and symbolism for the field of graphic design. This information is needed in this world of global messaging. After having my doubts confirmed on false data in the color book, however, red flags still want to wave in my brain with this book. At least the German flag is displayed correctly in the "Symbols" book. And both books are well designed and great eye candy. "Symbols" also gives various avenues for creative thinking. I would be careful with their facts, however. Check them twice or three times with other sources just to be on the safe side.