100 Habits of Successful Graphic Designers: Insider Secrets from Top Designers on Working Smart and Staying Creative

by Sarah Dougher, Josh Berger, Plazm

In need of advice? Just want to sounds off? Opening this volume is like grabbing lunch with a fellow designer to commiserate or celebrate. In its pages, noteworthy designers, both past and present, working in fields ranging from graphic design, fashion, architecture, typography, and industrial design sound off on every topic, ranging from deadlines, inspiration, competition, rules, respect, education, and handling criticism-all with a certain amount of irreverence. Their thoughts are boiled down into succinct, quotable quotes and one-liners that exemplify their character and demonstrate their philosophy on the world around them.Enjoy reading thought bites from everyone from Art Chantry, Margo Chase, Ed Fella, John C. Jay, Hideki Nakajima, Stefan Sagmeister, and Rudy VanderLans.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Art Design

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[François · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is mistitled. These are 100 tactics for successful graphic designers. This author doesn't know what a habit is. "Work with nonprofits", "Work for government" are not habits. Many of the suggestions in the book can be summarized as "Work on projects with groups/companies you don't usually work with, and don't work with assholes. Work on new types of projects." I'm not a graphic designer, but I was hoping to glean work habits from successful designers, and this book didn't deliver.

[Kate Green · Rating 1 out of 5]

Filled with common sense suggestions that you knew already, this book often contradicted itself and I was left uninspired.

[R.Friend · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a bit disappointed in this, mainly because Plazm had the means to interview so many other designers--hell, the very title is "100 habits"... Seems like they could've broadened it much more than they did.

While I love the work of Ed Fella and Stefan Sagmeister, I found it a tad repetitive to see their material on what seemed like every other page. And while both they and some of the other contributors had some very good points, I found much of it to be rhetoric.

All in all, it's worth an extended glance at the bookstore. But not really a keeper.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the overall organization of the sections. I appreciated that it covered a range of working styles that at times led to contradictory tips, but represents multiple points of view and working styles. There is enough variety to appeal to and inspire a wide range of practitioners, though it would have been nice to have a slightly larger pool of designer input. My one criticism is that a few of the points could have been put into more general terms to be supported by the designer's example instead of mirroring them in a way that made it less accessible.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting ideas, lots of what designers (should) already know.