The Non-Designer's Design Book

If you want a crash course on why some things look better than others / how to not design your next event cover photo like a grandma, this is a must (and very easy) read.

Super practical principles that I will carry with me for the rest of my life (the primary four - CRAP acronym). Will work better if you are immediately applying the learning!

I read this book for a design class at college. The book is alright.
It explains a lot of the basics and it gives some good examples. It covers pretty much every thing you need to know in order to get your design basics right and it's written at a level everyone could understand.

The write up however, lacks a lot of punch and feels sloppy. The items and examples are connected in a way that makes the book a real drag to read. It's very objective and the level of the writing is at times childish. I feel like it could have been more interesting if other examples were used and the writing was more passionate.

The writer also uses way too much personal information. She constantly refers to her own writings and the Shakespeare scripts she has published (or tries to publish). I'm not a big fan of this, as it feels really like a marketing trick to include this in the book, and it doesn't add any value at all.

Good if you're a blank slate

This is an excellent reference work for those who want or need to design something, but who do not have the luxury of going to design school. The information is presented clearly and concisely, and there are many examples of the principles being discussed found throughout the book.

I first got this book for one of my college editing courses, and I still reference it regularly. It's helped to give me more tools to use in explaining why something does or doesn't work from a design standpoint.