I’ve added a few more books to my Recommended List.
The first is Thinking Creatively: New Ways to Unlock Your Visual Imagination. I’ve actually read a couple of books related to design creativity, but this was the only one I felt was worth recommending.
This one helps to show how different types of designs come together and is a big help if you’re feeling a little design-challenged.
One thing in particular I like about the book is the exercises at the end. Normally I’m not too keen on exercises at the back of a book (too much like high school, I suppose), but these are actually fun.
For example, in the section about type and images, the instructions state: “Design a word so that its connotative meaning is the same as its denotative meaning…Design the word whisper to sound like a whisper. Take a word like stable and find five typefaces that would convey the appropriate meaning for it.”
You’ll find that book listed in the Business / Motivation section of the Recommended List.
Also in that section you’ll find A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. This was written by Daniel Pink. His other book, Free-Agent Nation, is also in that section and has been there from day one. To me, Free-Agent Nation is mandatory reading for people who are thinking of freelancing. So when Pink’s A Whole New Mind came out, I put it on my reading list and finally got to it a couple of weeks ago.
I think copywriters and designers will relate to what Pink says and maybe get some confirmation that they’re heading in a strong career choice at a time when as many things as possible get out-sourced overseas. And as the title alludes, the book covers how the hemispheres of our brains work and how we need them to work in order to excel in our careers. (Don’t worry, it’s not a dry read.)
The next book is more of a reference and you might not need it now, but it’s the type of book that you’ll be glad you have handy when you suddenly need it. It’s called Forms, Folds, and Sizes. You’ll find that one in the General Layout Books section.
There’s a little of everything in this book: measurement conversion charts, info on paper types, envelope sizes, postal standards, bar code standards, print bindings and a lot more.
Last but not least, I created a new section called Adobe CS3 Related. With the Creative Suite 3 now out, I was looking to see what, if any, books were available for my library. It’s probably not surprising, but most books aren’t quite out yet, but they are listed as pre-orders. So, since I was looking anyway, I tossed them all into this new section.
While I state it on that section of the Recommended List, I’ll repeat it here: Those books are ones I don’t own, mainly because they’re not out yet. It’s just a convenient list if you’re a CS3 user and want to see what’s coming.
By the way, I am using CS3 now…at least InDesign. I started using that this weekend for a new project. As I mentioned in a prior blog post, it’s the little improvements that I like that will help me be more efficient.
And kudos to Adobe support. I was having trouble installing the software yesterday (Friday) and knew I’d need some tech support. It was ten minutes before 5pm Pacific which was when they shut down for the day.
I called the toll-free number and actually got through to a human. Reaching a human was impressive enough, but getting one ten minutes before quitting time for Friday and the weekend really impressed me.
The guy told me what I needed to do to fix the problem and it worked great. (For the computer geeks among you, it was a folder-level permissions issue with Windows.)
