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Summary: Great jumpstart for basics of design
Review: This book is an excelent way to learn the bare basics of design. As a web designer, I find my self using the techniques exlplained with every project. It's an hour's worth of reading that could change your whole outlook. I definately saw all the things I was doing wrong, and now my designs are better for it.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book for Beginners!
Review: This book is written in a friendly, non-threatening way and gives the reader great basics in doing page layouts. It is a quick read if you have some experience in design, but then it's not written for people with design experience! A lot of the comments that I read here were about using this book as a guide for web design, and this book is not about web design! (She does have another book that is for web design though.) So if you need to layout a newsletter, print ad, or flyers, this is the book for you!
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Summary: DIY For All
Review: If you are a person who would rather learn things by yourself and enjoy using graphic software packages to create home made graphic stuff for whatever use, then this book will come in handy to show you the very basics of visual composition for desktop publishing in a very simple straightforward manner. I for one, pay a lot more attention to aestethic aspects and get better results after I read this little masterpiece.
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Summary: Opens the eyes of the design-blind
Review: Why review a seven year-old design book, one ostensibly before the widespread adoption of the Web? Because design principles existed long before the web, and because this book is both fundamental to learning about design, and directly applicable to Web design.Four principles of composition and a handy set of categories and contrasts of typography make this simple book a pleasure to read. The author starts out with the story of how sometimes there are things of which we are unaware, but once we recognize, we see everywhere. Design patterns and elements are everywhere around us (both good and bad), but we simply don't recognize them, don't have words for them, and are unable to *see* them. This uncomplicated, yet powerful set of design principles can open the eyes of the design-blind.
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Summary: Made me a believer
Review: I'm a programmer who is occasionally forced into web design issues. I found this book to be invaluable.
For a long time I've had designer friends, seen design books and so on but never found one that distills the basic concepts in such a concise and clear voice.
I also, for a long time, attributed design to a vague notion of taste or artistic sensibility when there are facile principles (or best practices) for graphic design.
I'm disappointed with the people who reviewed this book seemingly without looking at the title: FOR NON DESIGNERS. It is a simple, quick book - easily read on the plane or between projects that will teach some essential principles that will make you better at what you do.
Rating: 
Summary: Is that it?
Review: This book should have been titled "Last minute design dos and don'ts" or something like that.
It's written in the style of a magazine article and not what one would expect from a BOOK. It took me one hour to read (not browse) through the whole thing and although I admit I got one or two good pointers out of that hour, I don't know if it was worth my money.
I was expecting a book with some advanced concepts written in a language that the common people would also understand but the book is extremely general. I guess if you have zero clue as to what a webpage is and/or how to creat a homepage, this book could be a good prelude to what you're going to buy later because it definitely is NOT enough.
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Summary: A best value for aspiring designers!
Review: Robin is a great teacher and designer and you could learn from years of experience in a few hours with her books. The non designers design book is an example of this. If you are new, buy it! If you have some experience with graphic design, maybe you don't need it.
Rating:
Summary: Very good for the "non-designer"
Review: If you care about the visual aspects of web pages, or even the reports and paperwork you produce at the office, this book is a good read. I have no official "design" training, but I do web design and photo work as a side business. It was good for me to see some things I've just done because they "look right to me" quantified as principles of good design. This book clearly labels itself as what it is, and delivers the concepts in a straightforward and "non-snooty" manner. I'll be very interested in pursuing more of this author's works. In my opinion, she deserves the praise she's earned for writing clear, understandable books with a great deal of information and no pretense.
Rating: 
Summary: For complete beginners
Review: I was also misled by the reviews. I am not a designer, and I was looking for something to help my design skills. However, this book was much too basic to teach me anything. I only got a little from the extensive section on type, most of which I knew about. I would like to see something with a little more depth. I know these principals, but would like something help me execute them better.
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Summary: Great things in little packages
Review: At first I must say I was a little daunted by the name of the author, thinking what does "Robin Williams" know about design. A little while later I was pleasantly surprised to read that this author is a woman (who by simple twist of fate shares the name of the famour actor), but is no less talented in her field. Robin has a way of laying out information for the non-designer in each of us. The Joshua Tree principle on which I guess she could base the eye of the designer on, is simply being able to identify by name the elements of design that you like and why you like it. She then takes us through a journey of the principles of design. While this book doesn't make you a great designer in one shot, it makes you a better one. Again this is not for the design professional who has been formally trained, but is for the designer who has been doing this for years not knowing why they were doing it, but now being able to conciously name and purposely break different design rules to achieve the desired effect. You're asking now, "Should I buy it?". My answer depends on who you are, "No" for the instructed designer, and "Yes" for the rest of us.
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