Turned the light on for me as to why my fliers, brochures and business cards were so hard to really "get." Because I'm a visual artist I hadn't thot I needed any help. How wrong I was! This book is great for beginners, it's short and sweet, and great bathroom reading!

Very unintimidating, with before and after examples of how certain pieces were improved. It will change the way you look at written copy. I am a novice and it helped me learn the basics very quickly.

Upon receiving the book I was surprised how thin it was. But overall I am very happy about the purchase. A thicker book might have been more complex. This has simple language, it's easy to read and easy to apply. After reading most of the book I had to create a flyer, and following the tips made the work easier and the result much better: even graphics professionals say the result is pretty good!

I read some of the other reviews in preparing to write this. I am definitely a non-designer but have found a need to learn some design principles. I thought the book was great for its intended audience and probably for more experienced people as well. I have already applied the design principles in my work, web site development, and I re-did my letterhead based on what I learned here. Is it the best that could be done by an experienced designer? No. Is it a lot better than it was before? YES! I tested some of my small web page improvements on a few people and got confirmation that I have learned some very useful tools to improve my work.

I got a chuckle from some of the negative reviews, things like "I am a designer and it didn't help me." Duh! It is not aimed at them, and I thank the author for that as it might have gone over my head if it were.

I am excited enough about what I learned that I plan to take a few college courses to go even further. Thanks for the inspiration!

One of the things that is so great about Robin William's books including this one is that she gives you the graphic supporting the text on the same page. You do not have to search for the graphic a few pages before or behind the text. Everything she says makes sense when you see the graphic.

Non-Designer's Design Book is great for someone like me - I knew nothing about design and have browsed the web, but all the information on design is disguised and not really made clear or practical. This book is the opposite - practical advice, no chit-chat, straight to the point and clear writing.

My designs are much better, and the tips on typography were the cherry on top of the icing. Get this book and let your designs grow spectacular.

I was very satisfied with my recent purchase for this text book that I needed for my college class. It was delivered on time, and in great condition.

This book is an easy read, it is very entertaining, and will improve your print designs. It is great for teaching you to refine your page layouts. I loved the writing style too.

Fun, practical, readable and packed with examples are just a few of the words that came to mind as I was reading "The Non-Designer's Design Book" by Robin Williams. She has done it again and produced an updated version of a classic that is thoroughly enjoyable to read. I feel the book was written specifically for me - someone who is looking to increase their Design skills, develops presentations, white papers and other documents, and which them to have a 'professional' look and feel, then this book is for you. Robin discusses the four basic principles of Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity. If you don't apply these principles, then you are very likely to have a crap presentation, newsletter or document. She also covers the use of color and how the use of typeface can influence your readers perception of you and the document you developed.

As an added bonus, Robin spread included several exercises throughout the book. For me this is a huge benefit - it gives me a chance to try and apply the skills she described. Any book that helps ME improve, is worth the price on the cover, and this book is worth every penny.

All-in-all, I highly recommend this book and found the examples very helpful. Run, don't walk to the bookstore to get your copy.

The Non-Designers Design Book is well thought-out and organized. I come from a programming background and my ability to design visuals is limited, so whenever I find a book that can shed light on how designers think and put it in terms that a programmer can understand I am all for it. If you are a designer I think this book would be too basic for your liking, but us non-designers it is as simple as it gets. Do not get the wrong idea the information may be presented in a simple organized way, but the information is very valuable. I would have liked more examples for the web, but the concepts can easily be translated to the web. It was a pleasure to read and I recomend it for any non-designer. I give it four out of five stars.

Once again when a real expert writes a book the complex can seem so simple. This is a gorgeous book. She shows you exactly what to do about keeping items with intellectual connectivity proximate. She holds forth on how to best use Alignment, Repetition, Contrast and Colour for print, web and all types of content. Thoroughly done asd 100% enjoyable ot read. I loved the sections on Fonts; begone Arial/Times Roman !

I started reading this book yesterday afternoon because I wanted to spruce up my business card. The author's introduction & explanation to basic design principles was clear, easy to understand, & illustrated with plenty of visual examples. I've always been a hobbyist designer, initially relying on MS Publisher templates to put things together but then gradually started making my own designs from scratch over the years, so I thought my initial design for my business card was pretty good. But as I read through this book, the author gave several examples of amateur mistakes, many of which I was guilty of. But then the author also gave examples of how to fix these mistakes by employing the design principles she explains. This is probably one of the most useful books I've ever purchased!