Monday, November 17, 2008
Idea Books (and their gaping holes)
When I was a little kid my parents would sometimes take me to the Santa Monica mall (for typical mall shopping things). Then afterward my father would cross us over to the shops outside of the mall so that he could visit Hennessey and Ingalls "Art and Architecture" bookstore. I hhhhhhhated it. I was soooo bored surrounded by big tomes full of boring art history things. He loved it.
Eventually they developed those dingy shops and dirty streets into the 3rd Street Promenade and Hennessey and Ingalls moved around the corner (now it's on Wilshire between 2nd and 3rd streets).
Earlier this year I found myself at the Promenade with my father and I graciously granted him the trip into H&I. To my SHOCK and SURPRISE - H&I now had a huuge selection of effin' cool books (to geeks like me) about web, package, poster, graphic, graffiti, logo (and etc.) DESIGN. (Don't ask me why some art bores me and some art thrills me... I guess it's just my taste.)
My first stop was to look for the Logo Lounge series (which is flippin' cool) before I then pored through all the web design idea books. We didn't spend much time there but, now excited, I soon drug my friend back and we sat and browsed their selections for a while.
The golden find was this book - The Web Designer's Idea Book:
The book is chock full of photos of sites based on general ideas about their design styles (i.e. "sites that are pink", "sites that collage", etc.). I NEEDED THIS BOOK when I started in my major!! I decided to buy it then and there! And then remembered that I was a cheap bastard and went home and found it on Better World Books for less $ and with free shipping. It's now full of little post-it tabs.
Turns out the book is based on the author's website - DesignMeltdown.com
There is, however, one big MISSING for me in this book and site - the "Movie Site" under site types. Where is it? It's a distinct genre of its own! I'd even accept "Radio, TV & Film" if they wanted to break it out further. (Music & Bands already has a category!) But really... I only care about the movie sites and how they carry across their concept from screen to monitor.
So I decided that from time to time I'm going to feature some movie sites in this blog - to fill this huge gap in the DesignMeltdown/Web Designer's Idea Book's world. Just to give credit where credit is sometimes due. They're already giving Emmys away for TV websites. I'm hoping Movie sites will soon qualify for tech Oscars. (So I can still hope for an Oscar in my life.)
Eventually they developed those dingy shops and dirty streets into the 3rd Street Promenade and Hennessey and Ingalls moved around the corner (now it's on Wilshire between 2nd and 3rd streets).
Earlier this year I found myself at the Promenade with my father and I graciously granted him the trip into H&I. To my SHOCK and SURPRISE - H&I now had a huuge selection of effin' cool books (to geeks like me) about web, package, poster, graphic, graffiti, logo (and etc.) DESIGN. (Don't ask me why some art bores me and some art thrills me... I guess it's just my taste.)
My first stop was to look for the Logo Lounge series (which is flippin' cool) before I then pored through all the web design idea books. We didn't spend much time there but, now excited, I soon drug my friend back and we sat and browsed their selections for a while.
The golden find was this book - The Web Designer's Idea Book:
The book is chock full of photos of sites based on general ideas about their design styles (i.e. "sites that are pink", "sites that collage", etc.). I NEEDED THIS BOOK when I started in my major!! I decided to buy it then and there! And then remembered that I was a cheap bastard and went home and found it on Better World Books for less $ and with free shipping. It's now full of little post-it tabs.
Turns out the book is based on the author's website - DesignMeltdown.com
There is, however, one big MISSING for me in this book and site - the "Movie Site" under site types. Where is it? It's a distinct genre of its own! I'd even accept "Radio, TV & Film" if they wanted to break it out further. (Music & Bands already has a category!) But really... I only care about the movie sites and how they carry across their concept from screen to monitor.
So I decided that from time to time I'm going to feature some movie sites in this blog - to fill this huge gap in the DesignMeltdown/Web Designer's Idea Book's world. Just to give credit where credit is sometimes due. They're already giving Emmys away for TV websites. I'm hoping Movie sites will soon qualify for tech Oscars. (So I can still hope for an Oscar in my life.)
Labels: books, design, ideabook, logos, web
