Robin Williams Design Workshop

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Idea Generator
Review: After purchasing Web Design Workshop (and loving it), I desired more books from this wonderful author. I have my own web design business and was asked to build a newsletter. The Design Workshop book came in handy. Every page is worth reading and filled with great color. She gives clear examples of good print work and how to capture the reader. The most important quote in the book, "We may talk about creating a design, buy what we really want to do is communicate-communicate an idea, a feeling, or a message." This is so important in print and web design. My personal breakthrough from this book was the awareness of the many different image fonts I could use in my design.

Robin Williams forces a designer (or reader) to look outside the box and try new design techniques. A fabulous book!

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Idea Generator
Review: After purchasing Web Design Workshop (and loving it), I desired more books from this wonderful author. I have my own web design business and was asked to build a newsletter. The Design Workshop book came in handy. Every page is worth reading and filled with great color. She gives clear examples of good print work and how to capture the reader. The most important quote in the book, "We may talk about creating a design, buy what we really want to do is communicate-communicate an idea, a feeling, or a message." This is so important in print and web design. My personal breakthrough from this book was the awareness of the many different image fonts I could use in my design.

Robin Williams forces a designer (or reader) to look outside the box and try new design techniques. A fabulous book!

Rating:
Summary: Non-designers get another boost!
Review: As a self-taught, working graphic designer, I am indebted once again to Robin Williams' clear, principle-based teaching approach. Having become her fan through the "Non-Designer" book series, I found this one the best help yet.

Williams gives us more principles of sound design, which she then shows at work through a series of daily applications--letterhead, web sites, brochures, etc. She uses the principles in example after example, explaining why they are examples of good or blah design. I return to her examples again and again for simple ideas to juice up my non-profit communications and raise my customers' expectations of visual communication.

Snazzy pictures, lots of ideas, and comforting encouragement all make this one an essential part of my reference library.

Rating:
Summary: Non-designers get another boost!
Review: As a self-taught, working graphic designer, I am indebted once again to Robin Williams' clear, principle-based teaching approach. Having become her fan through the "Non-Designer" book series, I found this one the best help yet.

Williams gives us more principles of sound design, which she then shows at work through a series of daily applications--letterhead, web sites, brochures, etc. She uses the principles in example after example, explaining why they are examples of good or blah design. I return to her examples again and again for simple ideas to juice up my non-profit communications and raise my customers' expectations of visual communication.

Snazzy pictures, lots of ideas, and comforting encouragement all make this one an essential part of my reference library.

Rating:
Summary: Basic design and typographic principles are taught
Review: Basic design and typographic principles are taught in a title which is illustrated with hundreds of design examples and which clearly remarks on how designs may be effective or ineffective. From assessing before-and-after examples to considering different designs for business cards, advertising and web sites, Design Workshop provides a well-rounded foundation for beginners.

Rating:
Summary: Great learning experience
Review: I am not a graphics artist nor an art student. I needed some ideas for a project and this book came in very handy. I learned a lot from "The Non-Designer's Design Book" by the same author and when I saw this book, I just had to get it. It is one of my best investments yet. I love learning new things and this book opened my eyes to many aspects of design.

At first, I was almost going to give up and hand over the project to a professional but after reading the book, I found many helpful ideas and was inspired to give it a try on my own. I produced a flyer, a Flash presentation, a product logo and a report layout and cover based on the lessons from these two books. I will not claim that they are works of art but many friends and clients have complemented on the outcome. Some of my clients even thought that I had had them professionally done.

Although there are others who will say that some of us just has the flair for designing, I don't think I would have been able to do all that without the help of these two books. For those of you who wish to create artwork for print, I would recommend starting with "The Non-Designer's Design Book" and then advancing to this book. Also check out some other books by the same publisher mentioned in the introductory chapter of this book.

Rating:
Summary: not very helpful
Review: I didn't like it and it didn't help me. I was looking for a tutorial, but this book is more like an overview of web design.

Rating:
Summary: Robin Williams Design Workshop
Review: I found this book very informative and interesting. It had a lot of useful information, and the info was presented in a very "reader-friendly" format. There were a lot of examples in the book used to prove a point, instead of a 'just take it for granted' procedure. The book was simple and straightforward but not boring. The book was written 'to' the audience, with words like 'you' and 'your' instead of 'one' or 'some designers'. It really made the book have a personal impact.

On the other hand, the book wasn't 'all encompassing', like it seemed to be. Many references to previous books by the author showed that this was a book for most people. I would have added more to the book instead of constantly referring to previous books, if I was the author. Also, in the book, questions are asked to the reader, but there aren't answers printed anywhere in the book, which can be confusing.

Personally, I would rate this book as an 8 on a scale of 1-10. It was a great book to read and it taught me a lot. It could have had more 'guts', but it was very well written. I would definitely suggest this book to others, if they were interested in design. It was well worth my time and a good book to 'keep on file!'

By M.L.Conklin

Rating:
Summary: Great ideas and an easy-read book!
Review: I had to buy this book for a design class in college and now that I am out of college, I still use it for ideas on projects and inspiration. Robin writes in a very easy to understand language and gives you lots and lots of pictures to illustrate what she is saying... the WHOLE book is full of colored photos! I liked this book so much, I decided to purchase Robin Williams Web Design Workshop.

Rating:
Summary: Great Ideas!
Review: I have really enjoyed this book. Being a designer, I sometimes need ideas to help get me going, and this book provides it in spades. I really like the way that the author took some ideas from concept, through to completion. It really provides a great insight into the designer's mind. I wholeheartly recommend this book!