When I released my book Design Fundamentals a few months back, quite a few of you suggested I should offer a free sample. It was a good idea and a complete oversight on my part for not having offered one initially.
I’m correcting that today.
I thought about offering the introduction to the book as the sample, but decided instead to offer something meatier from deeper in the book. I figured this would give you a better feel for what’s in the rest of the book than the intro would.
I opted for the section about direction and movement. It’s from the chapter of the book that discusses different attributes you can apply to design elements. It’s also a topic I haven’t specifically covered before here on the blog so hopefully it’ll be something new for you.
You can download your free sample here.
Of course, I won’t object if you decide instead to just a buy a copy of the book.
Thanks.
Download a free sample from my book, Design Fundamentals.
Hey,
I loved the way you designed books
simply beautiful
Thanks Gargee. I’m not sure how beautiful it is, but I’ll gladly accept the compliment. Thanks.
Hi Steven
I would like to buy your book but I have no Paypal account, and I don’t want one. I may be overly cautious but there seems to be too many people phishing around. So I use an e-card, you know, the kind which has a one time validity. Is there a way I can pay the book with it ?
Thanks for your answer
Jean-Louis
Hi Jean-Louis. . I sent you an email with more details. I’ve never had a problem with PayPal myself, but I do understand that some people are concerned about using it. I’m sure we can find another way to do this.
Thanks.
Hi Steven !
I learned a lot about design thanks to the thoroughness of your website. It helped me tremendously to improve my … photography. Thank you very much !
In this sample however, I find the way you deal with movement a bit ambiguous. For me it might mistakenly be understood as a “visual path” theory. As you know, these theories were invalidated by studies of saccadic eye movement. This might need to be clarified… 😉
Thanks LeFred. Glad some things I’ve said were helpful. That you can apply them to photography while I’m writing about design, shows how universal some of these things are.
Can you send me a link to any saccadic eye movement studies invalidate anything I said? As far as I know what’s in that chapter is accurate, but if it isn’t I definitely want to know so I can correct and update it.
When you write
“Movement is the path the eye follows when looking at a composition.” on page 6,
or “Compositional movement occurs when the elements in a composition
move the viewer’s eye through the composition. This can occur by
following a repetition of colors or patterns through the composition.” on page 8,
I think it might seem a bit oversimplified. But of course, it depends on your teaching choice, overcomplexifying is easier than simplifying.
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.fr/2009/09/eye-tracking-and-composition-part-1.html
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2011/02/06/the-eyes-mind/
These articles suggest that eye movements are complex and involve peripheral and central vision at the same time. For example, eyes don’t follow leading lines, but leading lines help to draw attention to some areas of a design. This is the nuance I think might be ambiguous in this sample.
I see (pun perhaps intended) what you’re saying. I don’t think it really makes anything I said in the chapter ambiguous though. Saccadic eye movement is a more advanced subject than what I’m trying to get across.
Sure, there’s a nuanced difference, but for practical purposes I don’t think it changes how you would design something. In either case if your goal is to get someone looking at one part of the screen to notice another part of the screen, you could draw a line between the two parts as one possible solution.
I do see your point though. I think it’s really just a matter of the subject I was writing about and who I was writing it for.
Thanks for the links. You’ve given me an idea for a post or series of posts. I think I’ll dig a little deeper into saccadic eye movements. I have a couple of books here that go into the subject and I now have your two links. I’m sure I can find more with a little research too.
Thanks again.