Ask what I do for a living, I'm happy to answer, "Graphic Design."
Easy.
It gets a bit more challenging if you reply, "What exactly IS that?"
It would be much easier if I could pull out a copy of Graphic Design, Referenced; but that won't be likely unless you happen to be a guest in my home. Clocking in at about 4 lbs and just shy of 400 pages, Graphic Design Referenced may not sound like a summary, but the reality is that Byrony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit have managed to tackle the daunting task of breaking down the varied fields of visual communication into manageable and meaningful bits.
Graphic design shares vague boundaries with writing and visual art. It can be hard to describe exactly where one begins and the other ends, which is probably why it holds such a fascination for me. The authors have wisely chosen to aim straight for the center, focusing heavily on typography - where words are made visual.
While the book bursts with information about type, objects, designers - plus a truckload of images - it is well-written, beautifully laid out and expertly typeset. Great typography is kind to both eye and mind. It makes the content more clear, the information more accessible.
Another success is how the content has been divided. Cleverly avoiding the temptation of a long and complex timeline, they've grouped the information in such a way that each example has a clear relationship to its neighbor. The Practice section is the largest, illustrating design in the context of how we experience it: on walls, shelves, newsstands, in stores and even churches. Graphic design is all around us, which is why I sometimes struggle to put my finger on exactly what it is. Graphic Design, Referenced goes a long way to provide clarity to the uninitiated.
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