The Vignelli Canon

This compact book is an invaluable primer for the novice graphic designer or for the experienced designer keen to reconnect with the fundamental principles of design. Master designer Massimo Vignelli draws on his much-awarded design career to offer sage advice on design and strong opinions on the woes that have befallen good design since the advent of desktop publishing. His aim is to give young designers the tools to advance their design skills and increase their creativity, hoping that the discovery of new principles excites and inspires, just as they inspired the young Vignelli. The book is divided into two sections the 'intangibles' and the 'tangibles'. In the former, he urges designers to research, to uncover complexities and to understand the nuances of the job at hand. He urges discipline, adherence to the rules of design, relevance and appropriateness, and the search for what he calls an intellectual elegance, the essence of design.
The 'tangibles' section covers many of the visible aspects of design that are essential parts of the designer's tool kit, such as standardised paper sizes, grids, margins, basic typefaces, type size relationships, scale, texture, colour, binding and more. Generous illustrations and examples accompany each topic. With this succinct volume, Vignelli has succeeded in sifting through the often ego-driven and subjective field of graphic design to present solid, basic, invaluable advice that aspiring designers will return to again and again.