The Elements of Graphic Design

In full color, with over 750 images to enhance and clarify the concepts, this thought-provoking resource is for graphic designers, professors, and students.

This Third Edition, wholly revised and updated with essays on design thinking by seven industry leaders and a wealth of new images, provides designers, art directors, and students—regardless of experience—with a unique approach to thoughtful, convincing design. In full color with guidance on the rules of design and how to break them for the reader’s benefit. 
 

Contributing essayists are Niklaus Troxler, Geray Gençer, Ashley Schofield, Brian D. Miller, Fons Hickman, Max Shangle, and Tad Crawford.
 

The Elements of Graphic Design, Third Edition describes how to:

• Employ white space as a significant component of design

• Define and reveal dominant images, words, and concepts

• Use scale, position, and color to guide readers through levels of importance

• Use type for maximum comprehension and value to the reader
 

Educator, author, and thirty-five-year design veteran Alex W. White has assembled a wealth of information and examples in his exploration of what makes visual design both stunning and powerfully attractive to readers.

Alex W. White is an award-winning design consultant, author, and educator. He has taught students and professionals the rightness of analytical thinking about visual communication. Among his books are Editing by Design, 4th Edition; Listening to Type: Making Language Visible; and Advertising Design and Typography. White is the Chairman of the graduate program in Design Management at the University of Bridgeport and has taught at Parsons School of Design, FIT, and the Hartford Art School. He served as President and Chairman of the Type Directors Club in New York City. White holds degrees in advertising design from Syracuse University and graphic design from Kent State University. He lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. Contact him at alexanderwwhite.com. 

Praise for the Second Edition

"White sets out key concepts of space, unity, page architecture, and typography for the benefit of other designers, art directors, and students. . . . A clear introduction; recommended for anyone learning or reviewing graphic design." —Library Journal

“Alex W. White provides one of the clearest and most thoughtful introductions to graphic design that I’ve read. This book is also one of the few to really demystify the idea and use of white space in design—a topic that at once confuses young designers and causes seasoned clients to curl their lips with disdain. Read and learn.” —Alexander Isley, lecturer at Yale Graduate School of Art, past President of AIGA NY

“The Elements of Graphic Design’s first edition has been one of the most useful books on the details of design and effective visual communication. The second edition is certain to become a standard in every design studio library.” —Sharon Werner, founder of Werner Design Werks

“An expert educator, Alex W. White has purified the fundamentals of graphic design into a vigorous and all-embracing book. No matter what stage of your design career, this second edition of The Elements of Graphic Design is, or ought to be, required reading.” —Kevin Smith, AIGA awards recipient, Professor at Parsons, The New School for Design

“Student or professional, if you need the ‘simple’ basics—or want to get to more ‘complex’ basics—if you don’t yet know the necessities of successful graphic design—or have forgotten them in the complexity of today’s overwhelming possibilities, here is the book for you. It’s by a guy who has quite a track record of speaking to both.” —Ed Fella, AIGA Medalist, Professor at CalArts’ graphic design program

“This book explains what I try to get across to my designers: how to make all parts of a design work together. My office has a big library and this is the book I hand over when breakthroughs are needed.” —Matteo Bologna, CD and founder of Mucca Design, New York