Wandering about in Barnes & Noble the other day, I discovered a little gem called “Before & After: How to Design Cool Stuff” written by John McWade. As an avid reader of design books and articles I was pleasantly surprised to find out the basic and not so basic elements not only of good but excellent design.

Although I design for over 10 years now, the information I found in this book was an eye opener; and I thought I knew how to design stuff. Needles to say – after reading and studying it, now I can design cool stuff. This book should be on the desk of every designer who respects his craft.  

The real life projects presented are easy to follow, the “before & after” offers a wonderful way of observing a project from start to finish and above all John McWade takes you to a grand journey into the world of design. He presents key elements of designing brochures, logos, ads, DVD covers, websites, newsletters and even presentations.

Compared to other books, the “Before & After: How to Design Cool Stuff”, has no design fluff or unnecessary explanations. It’s straight to the point, bare bones solid design information makes it a great read.  It’s very clear to me that the author wrote it with the designer in mind, offering detailed and technical advice on concrete examples.

What you’ll learn from the book:

• How to “manipulate” the viewer’s eye to concentrate on specific areas of the design
• Basic techniques of line, motion and color
• How to select the right typography for your design
• How to visually communicate with art

These are just a few but what makes this book fantastic is the simple explanation of why a design works in one way and not another, offering the blueprint for cool.