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I stumbled on this book at the local library and found it a very fascinating read. I've been involved in graphic production for years and can push the objects around on the comp, but never really knew the basics and foundation of visual language.This is a great primer to learn the basic concepts that lead one to want to learn the syntax and the structure of the visual nouns learned.This is something I will purchase and pore over until I learn the concepts.
Im a college design teacher and this book would be great for a middle-school art/design class.If you want simplistic.this may be for you. Seriously, someone wanted a publication and farted this thing out. Wow. Thats just it for this book. I mean, it gives you the vocab of the elements.thats it.
I really do think people should form their own opinions about reference materials however, maybe you could learn a great deal from this work. Buy it, try it, but I honestly can't envision the need for this volume in light of so many other exemplary works on the subject. Simple shapes and the like may be the building blocks of structure, but without any really tangible information to be gleaned we are left with an attractive skeleton. It also unfortunately reads like stereo instructions and the knowledge it tries to impart is thoroughly basic at best. It is ruthlessly straightforward in regards to expressing it's information, in a layout that is without a doubt concise and efficient. This book certainly takes the simplicity route. The nadir. Yes there are some bits of wisdom in this book as well as some fetching Adobe Illustrator rendered graphics, but by and large we're just left with more white space than a snowstorm.
Everything was excellent except the quality of the binding on the book. it isn't bad enough for me to want to return it but it is something to mention.
Their positive discrimination is evident in all of their publications. It's an interesting exploration using only basic geometric shapes. His thesis is that we cannot understand the visual images that assault our eyes unless we share a common understanding of the symbols involved. All you need to know is that it is published by Princeton Architectural Press. Dondis in 1973 with "A Primer of Visual Literacy".
Princeton publishes some of the most important books on design. Leborg enlightens us with a symplified but nonetheless complex view of symbols that are abstract, concrete, active, and relative. However, it was (is) a heavy read. The standard for visual literacy was set by Dondis A. Christian Leborg's "Visual Grammar" gives us a more visual approach to the subject.
This is a "must have" book for those who teach design and a desirable book for students.
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