Jim Krause

Master the 3 C's of Head-Turning Design! Cover your basics with the book that covers everything from typography and color to layout and business issues! Jim Krause, author of the popular Index series, guides you through the understanding and practice of the three elements every successful visual design must have: Components: Learn how to get the most out of the photos, illustrations, icons, typography, linework, decoration, borders and backgrounds you use within your design. Composition: Practice combining the components of a design in a visually appealing way by using the principles of placement, grouping, alignment, flow and spacing to create a pleasing, cohesive design. Concept: Utilize the intangible elements of theme, connotation and style to present and deliver your message in a way that will wow your clients every time. Whether you're a new, mid-level or experienced designer who is brainstorming ideas or finalizing your presentation, this handy-to-use, take-it-with-you book will instruct and inspire you to new heights of creativity.

Design Basics Index

Over 1100 Color Combinations, CMYK and RGB Formulas, for Print and Web Media

Color Index

Sit! Stay! Be Creative! It's tough to be creative on command. And with deadlines looming, you can't wait for inspiration to strike. That's where Idea Index comes in. Don't let the small size fool you. Inside you'll discover thousands of big ideas for graphic effects and type treatmnts — via hundreds of prompts designed to stimulate, quicken and expand your creative thinking. Use Idea Index to brainstorm ideas, to unclog your mind, and to explore different looks and approaches. The Idea Index — instant creative genius when you need it most!

Idea Index

Idea Index kick-started a revolution in graphic design books, unique in size, feel—and most important—wealth of ideas. Layout Index is the next step, a compendium of layout idea-generators that will help designers explore multiple possibilities for visual treatments each time they turn the page. The visual and textual suggestions are divided into eight major areas, including newsletters, flyers, posters, brochures, advertising, stationery, page layout, and Web pages.

Layout Index

Not Your Typical Digital Photography Book Photo Idea Index is a "what if" book intended to supercharge the creative passion and technical savvy of both designers and photographers. Whether you're an amateur or a seasoned pro, this book will expand your vision of the world and provide you with hundreds of ideas and tips designed to strengthen your ability to capture and create images that are intriguing, technically sound and aesthetically attractive. What's more, every image inside Photo Idea Index was created specifically for this book (no stock photos!) using modestly priced cameras and equipment that are readily available to those of us without mega-amounts of cash to spend. Photo Idea Index is truly a one-of-a kind resource for image-makers of today.

Photo Idea Index

How creative can you be? You don't turn off the creative juices when you punch out for the day. That's because, for you, creativity is more than just a job - it's a passion. Even so, everyone needs a boost now and then. Creative Sparks shows you how to ignite your design ingenuity 24/7. Jim Krause provides the friction with 150+ mind-bending concepts, images and exercises that will help you: Maximize your professional success Find new sources of inspiration and encouragement Make your time at work more productive Uncover the secrets of creative fulfillment Bottom line: Creative Sparks will have an explosive impact on your designs - and your life.

An Index of 150+ Concepts, Images and Exercises to Ignite Your Design Ingenuity

Creative Sparks

This updated, expanded, and oversized inspirational resource presents 1,100 color palettes, with light, bright, dark, and muted varieties for each one, making it the most expansive palette selection tool available. Color Index XL provides aspiring designers, artists, and creative individuals working with color with an indispensable, one-stop method for reviewing and selecting current, up-to-date color palettes for their creative projects. Designer and lecturer Jim Krause's classic resource is back with a new approach that presents each group of palettes in an oversized form for easy visual review, and bleeding to the edge of the page (edge indexing) for quick access. By providing variations for each palette, Krause ensures that creatives can find the best color selection for each project's needs. This book serves as the perfect resource for teachers, students, and professionals of all kinds in the art and design space who want to stay up-to-date on the ever-evolving trends in color.

More Than 1,100 New Palettes with CMYK and RGB Formulas for Designers and Artists

Color Index XL

Must-know Typographic Principles Presented Through Lessons, Exercises, and Examples

Lessons in Typography

Instructive and enlightening. Fun, too. D30 is a workout book. In addition to dozens of readily applicable tips, tricks and informational tidbits, D30 contains thirty exercises designed to develop and strengthen the creative powers of graphic designers, artists and photographers in a variety of intriguing and fun ways. What will you need to begin? Not much. Most of the book's step-by-step projects call for setting aside an hour or two, rolling up your sleeves and grabbing art supplies that are probably already stashed somewhere in your home or studio--things like pens, drawing and watercolor paper, India ink, paint, scissors and glue. Digital cameras and computers are also employed for several of the exercises but--and this should be welcome news to those readers who spend their days looking at computer monitors--the majority of the book's activities make use of traditional media to illuminate creative techniques and visual strategies that can be applied to media of all sorts. Thumb through the book (or look at the samples posted on JimKrauseDesign.com) and see for yourself!

Thirty Days of Creative Design Exercises & Career-Enhancing Ideas

D30 - Exercises for Designers

Discover the things around you through the eye of your camera Photo Idea Index: Things is a photography book unlike any other. Rather than focusing on the "how to" aspects of digital photography, author Jim Krause focuses on the "what if" aspects. You'll learn how to use your camera to explore the world around you from different perspectives and how to capture awe-inspiring digital images. For inspiration, you'll find a vast assortment of photos of household objects, plants, animals, machines, architectural details, treasure and trash. Krause shares his shooting techniques—both on-site and post-shooting digital treatments—so you can train your eyes to look for situations that will allow you to capture shots and create remarkable compositions.

Ideas and Inspiration for Creating Professional-Quality Images Using Standard Digital Equipment

Photo Idea Index - Things

Type Idea Index is a tool - an idea-generating, horizon-expanding, knowledge-broadening power-tool that can be used to boost the creative output of designers, illustrators and anyone else who uses type. The basic principle behind Type Idea Index is simple: ideas breed ideas. If you are looking for new ways of employing type in your works of art and design (or new twists to apply to your current typographic techniques), check out Type Idea Index. You'll find yourself face-to-face with 650+ custom-created, idea-sparking examples of typography and type-intensive design. For maximum user-friendliness, these samples are organized according to the theme they express (Energy, Elegance, Order, Rebellion) and the sort of real-world application they relate to (initials, monograms, logos, headlines, paragraphs). Expand your knowledge of type and brainstorm for ideas every time you design with letters and words. Type Idea Index is the sixth installment in the best-selling, globally popular Index series by Jim Krause.

The Designer's Ultimate Tool for Choosing and Using Fonts Creatively

Type Idea Index

Don't Wait for Inspiration to Strike Whether you're facing a new logo project or you've reached a block in your current work, The Logo Brainstorm Book will inspire you to consider fresh creative approaches that will spark appealing, functional and enduring design solutions. Award-winning designer Jim Krause (author of the popular Index series) offers a smart, systemic exploration of different kinds of logos and logo elements, including: Symbols Monograms Typographic Logos Type and Symbol Combinations Emblems Color Palettes Through a combination of original, visual idea-starters and boundary-pushing exercises, The Logo Brainstorm Book will help you develop raw logo concepts into presentation-ready material.

A Comprehensive Guide for Exploring Design Directions

The Logo Brainstorm Book

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.

Ninety-five things you need to know when choosing and using colors for layouts and illustrations

Color for Designers

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 professional Choose and combine fonts effectively for use in your projects and layouts Create monograms and logos using existing typefaces and custom-built letterforms Modify fonts to meet your design’s specific needs Space 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.

Must-know typographic principles presented through lessons, exercises, and examples

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.

Jim Krause

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