Creative Core Series

Visual Design speaks design, through design, to designers, presenting 95 core design principles with concise text and a touch of visual wit. Author of the bestselling Index series on design basics, Jim Krause uses a combination of Helvetica and Dingbats to teach a wide range of design topics (both conceptually and compositionally related) in a one-topic-per-spread format. Using humor, practical tips, and inspiring visual examples, Krause makes it clear how each of the 95 axioms of effective design are relevant and applicable across all forms of visuals: print, Web, and fine arts.

In this book, you’ll learn how to:
• Direct the eye through your designs using size relationships, color, visual pathways, and typographic hints
• Design effective compositions through grids, frames, outlines, dynamic spacing, symmetry, asymmetry, shading, patterns, and textures
• Fool the eye with shadows, depth, op-art, and visual subtraction
• Understand how color works and how to use it effectively
• See and use type by understanding type rules as well as when and how to break them

Visual Design is the first title in the brand new New Riders Creative Core series, which aims to provide instruction on the fundamental concepts and techniques that all designers must master to become skilled professionals.

Color for Designers

by Jim Krause

Published 17 September 2014

Most of today’s books on color lean in one of two directions: toward heavy-handed theory-speak or toward ready-to-use palettes that will likely be out-of-step before the book has received its first coffee stain. Color For Designers leans in neither direction, instead choosing to simply tell it like it is while bringing home the timeless thinking behind effective color selection and palette building.

In this fundamental guide to understanding and working with color, bestselling author Jim Krause starts out by explaining the basics with an introduction to the color wheel, hue, saturation, value, and more. He then dives deeper into the practical application of color with instruction on how to alter hues, create palettes, target themes, paint with color, use digital color, and accurately output your colorful creations to print.

The book is set up in easy-to-digest spreads that are straight-to-the-point, fun to read, and delightfully visual. Color For Designers–releasing on the heels of its companion volume, Visual Design–is the second book in the New Riders Creative Core series, which aims to provide instruction on the fundamental concepts and techniques that all designers must master to become skilled professionals.

Lessons in Typography

by Jim Krause

Published 3 June 2015

Get hands on with type in this lesson-based addition to Jim Krause's popular new Creative Core series on design fundamentals. In Lessons in Typography, you'll learn the basics of identifying, choosing, and using typefaces and immediately put that knowledge to work through a collection of exercises designed to deepen and expand your typographic skills.

After a crash course in type terminology, you're encouraged to walk the talk with lessons and exercises on creating type-based logos, crafting personal emblems, choosing and using the right fonts for layouts, designing your own fonts, fine-tuning text like a professional, hand lettering, and more. Krause uses practical advice, humor, and page after page of visual examples to give you a complete education in designing with type that you can read in a matter of hours and continue to learn from over the course of your career.

In Lessons in Typography, you'll learn how to:

Identify and discuss fonts like a design professionalChoose and combine fonts effectively for use in your projects and layoutsCreate monograms and logos using existing typefaces and custom-built letterformsModify fonts to meet your design's specific needsSpace letters properly using tracking, kerning, and leading and create eye-pleasing layouts

Lessons in Typography is the third book in the New Riders Creative Core series, which provides instruction on the fundamental concepts and techniques that all designers must master to become skilled professionals. Additional titles in the series include Visual Design and Color for Designers.