Best Desktop Publishing Books
Desktop Publishing Software is used to create visual communications, such as brochures, business cards, greeting cards, posters, web pages for professional or personal printing online or on-screen.
1. Marijuana Grower's Handbook: Your Complete Guide for Medical and Personal Marijuana Cultivation
Author: by Ed Rosenthal
Quick American Archives
English
510 pages
This book will change the way you grow. Marijuana Grower’s Handbook shows both beginners and advanced growers how to grow the biggest most resinous, potent buds! This book contains the latest knowledge, tools, and methods to grow great marijuanaindoors and out.
Use the most efficient technology and save time, labor, and energy. Ed Rosenthal has been teaching people how to grow marijuana for more than 30 years. Let him help you cultivate bountiful buds and lots of them. With 500 pages of full-color photos and illustrations, the book delivers all the basics that a novice grower needs, as well as scientific research for the experienced gardener.
All aspects of cultivation are covered, from the selection of varieties, setting up of the garden, and through each stage of plant growth all the way to harvesting. Readers can link to Ed’s research for additional information, photos, and equipment updates.
Full-color photographs throughout clarify instructions and show the stunning results possible with Ed’s growing tips. “Marijuana may not be addictive, but growing it is.” Ed Rosenthal
2. Design for How People Learn (Voices That Matter)
Author: by Julie Dirksen
0134211286
New Riders
English
Products, technologies, and workplaces change so quickly today that everyone is continually learning. Many of us are also teaching, even when it’s not in our job descriptions. Whether it’s giving a presentation, writing documentation, or creating a website or blog, we need and want to share our knowledge with other people.
But if you’ve ever fallen asleep over a boring textbook, or fast-forwarded through a tedious e-learning exercise, you know that creating a great learning experience is harder than it seems. In Design For How People Learn, Second Edition, you’ll discover how to use the key principles behind learning, memory, and attention to create materials that enable your audience to both gain and retain the knowledge and skills you’re sharing.
Updated to cover new insights and research into how we learn and remember, this new edition includes new techniques for using social media for learning as well as two brand new chapters on designing for habit and best practices for evaluating learning, such as how and when to use tests.
3. Thinking with type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students
Author: by Ellen Lupton
English
224 pages
1568989695
“Thinking with Type is to typography what Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time is to physics.”I Love TypographyThe best-selling Thinking with Type in a revised and expanded second edition:Thinking with Type is the definitive guide to using typography in visual communication.
Ellen Lupton provides clear and focused guidance on how letters, words, and paragraphs should be aligned, spaced, ordered, and shaped. The book covers all typography essentials, from typefaces and type families, to kerning and tracking, to using a grid. Visual examples show how to be inventive within systems of typographic form, including what the rules are, and how to break them.
This revised edition includes forty-eight pages of new content with the latest information on: style sheets for print and the web the use of ornaments and captions lining and non-lining numerals the use of small caps and enlarged capitals mixing typefaces font formats and font licensingPlus, new eye-opening demonstrations of basic typography design with letters, helpful exercises, and dozens of additional illustrations.
4. slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations
Author: by Nancy Duarte
O'Reilly Media
English
296 pages
No matter where you are on the organizational ladder, the odds are high that you’ve delivered a high-stakes presentation to your peers, your boss, your customers, or the general public. Presentation software is one of the few tools that requires professionals to think visually on an almost daily basis.
But unlike verbal skills, effective visual expression is not easy, natural, or actively taught in schools or business training programs. Slide:ology fills that void. Written by Nancy Duarte, President and CEO of Duarte Design, the firm that created the presentation for Al Gore’s Oscar-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth, this book is full of practical approaches to visual story development that can be applied by anyone.
The book combines conceptual thinking and inspirational design, with insightful case studies from the world’s leading brands. With slide:ology you’ll learn to: Connect with specific audiences Turn ideas into informative graphics Use sketching and diagramming techniques effectively Create graphics that enable audiences to process information easily Develop truly influential presentations Utilize presentation technology to your advantage Millions of presentations and billions of slides have been produced – and most of them miss the mark.
5. 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (Voices That Matter)
Author: by Susan Weinschenk
New Riders
English
256 pages
WE DESIGN TO ELICIT RESPONSES from people. We want them to buy something, read more, or take action of some kind. Designing without understanding what makes people act the way they do is like exploring a new city without a map: results will be haphazard, confusing, and inefficient.
This book combines real science and research with practical examples to deliver a guide every designer needs. With this book you’ll design more intuitive and engaging apps, software, websites and products that match the way people think, decide and behave.
INCREASE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF YOUR PRODUCTS. Apply psychology and behavioral science to your designs. Here are some of the questions this book will answer: What grabs and holds attention. What makes memories stick? What is more important, peripheral or central vision?
Can you predict the types of errors people will make? What is the limit to someone’s social circle? What line length for text is best? Are some fonts better than others? These are just a few of the questions that the book answers in its deep-dive exploration of what makes people tick.
6. Adobe InDesign Classroom in a Book (2021 release)
Author: by Kelly Anton
Adobe Press
English
448 pages
The fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe InDesign Classroom in a Book, the best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks, offers what no other book or training program does – an official training series from Adobe, developed with the support of Adobe product experts.
Adobe InDesign Classroom in a Book (2021 release) contains 15 lessons that cover the basics and beyond, providing countless tips and techniques to help you become more productive with the program. You can follow the book from start to finish or choose only those lessons that interest you.
This book will also help experienced InDesign users elevate their skills, understand best practices, and learn about new features. Purchasing this book includes valuable online extras. Follow the instructions in the book’s Getting Started section to unlock access to: Downloadable lesson files you need to work through the projects in the book Web Edition containing the complete text of the book, interactive quizzes, and videos that walk you through the lessons step by step What you need to use this book: Adobe InDesign (2021 release) software, for either Windows or macOS.
7. Hand Bookbinding: A Manual of Instruction
Author: by Aldren A. Watson
Dover Publications
English
160 pages
Before the advent of modern mass-production methods, books were bound by hand to remarkably high standards of quality. Beautiful and durable, they appealed to book lovers who appreciated not only a book’s content but also the quality and craftsmanship of its binding.
Unfortunately, the introduction of machine-binding methods, while making books widely available at reasonable prices, also largely curtailed the art and craft of making fine books by hand. This expert guide offers a solution. In its pages, craftspeople can learn the traditional methods of bookbinding and produce high-quality hand-bound books themselves.
Thorough, detailed instructions, with over 270 helpful illustrations by the author, cover materials, tools, and equipment (including making your own); fundamental procedures and technical methods; rebinding an old book; making a slipcase, and other essentials. Also included are well-illustrated, step-by-step directions for eight binding projects: dust jacket; blank book, single signature; folio; blank book, four signatures; manuscript binding; music binding; and two more.
8. Adobe Photoshop: A Complete Course and Compendium of Features
Author: by Stephen Laskevitch
English
416 pages
1681985152
Adobe Photoshop: A Complete Course and Compendium of Features is your guide to creating, editing, and enhancing images and designs in Adobe Photoshop. Whether you’re retouching a photograph, making a simulated chalk drawing, or creating a composite photo with a 3D drawing, Photoshop is the tool for youand this book will teach you what you need to know.
First, with a complete Course that includes a set of projects and lessons derived from Adobe Certified Instructor Steve Laskevitch, you will learn the procedures needed to use Photoshop effectively and professionally. Dozens of lessons are included that can be applied to any graphics you have in mind.
Through these step-by-step lessons, you’ll be exposed to all of Photoshop’s features in practical contexts and its best practices for optimal workflows. To complete the Course, we’ll supply lesson documents and their assets to download. These can even serve as starting points for your own projects.
Then, for greater depth of knowledge and subsequent reference, you’ll use the Compendium to uncover more of the how and why of Photoshop. With each topic easy to access, you can find and explore all of Photoshop’s key features and concepts in depth.
9. Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities, 2nd Edition
Author: by David Airey
Peachpit Press
English
240 pages
Completely updated and expanded, the second edition of David Airey’s Logo Design Love contains more of just about everything that made the first edition so great: more case studies, more sketches, more logos, more tips for working with clients, more insider stories, and more practical information for getting the job and getting it done right.
In Logo Design Love, David shows you how to develop an iconic brand identity from start to finish, using client case studies from renowned designers. In the process, he reveals how designers create effective briefs, generate ideas, charge for their work, and collaborate with clients.
David not only shares his personal experiences working on identity projects – including sketches and final results of his own successful designs – he also uses the work of many well-known designers such as Paula Scher, who designed the logos for Citi and Microsoft Windows, and Lindon Leader, creator of the current FedEx identity, as well as work from leading design studios, including Moving Brands, Pentagram, MetaDesign, Sagmeister & Walsh, and many more.
10. Adobe Illustrator: A Complete Course and Compendium of Features
Author: by Jason Hoppe
English
388 pages
1681985314
Adobe Illustrator: A Complete Course and Compendium of Features is your guide to building vector graphics, whether you’re creating logos, icons, drawings, typography, or other illustrationsand regardless of their destination: print, web, video, or mobile. First, with a complete Course that includes a set of projects and lessons derived from Adobe Certified Instructor Jason Hoppe, you will learn the procedures needed to use Illustrator effectively and professionally.
Dozens of lessons are included that can be applied to any graphics you have in mind. Through these step-by-step lessons, you’ll be exposed to all of Illustrator’s features in practical contexts and its best practices for optimal workflows. To complete the Course, we’ll supply lesson documents and their assets to download.
These can even serve as starting points for your own projects. Then, for greater depth of knowledge and subsequent reference, you’ll use the Compendium to uncover more of the how and why of Illustrator. With each topic easy to access, you can find and explore all of Illustrator’s key features and concepts in depth.
11. Sketchnote Handbook, The: the illustrated guide to visual note taking
Author: by Mike Rohde
Peachpit Press
English
224 pages
This gorgeous, fully illustrated handbook tells the story of sketchnotes-why and how you can use them to capture your thinking visually, remember key information more clearly, and share what you’ve captured with others. Author Mike Rohde shows you how to incorporate sketchnoting techniques into your note-taking process-regardless of your artistic abilities-to help you better process the information that you are hearing and seeing through drawing, and to actually have fun taking notes.
The Sketchnote Handbook explains and illustrates practical sketchnote techniques for taking visual notes at your own pace as well as in real time during meetings and events. Rohde also addresses most people’s fear of drawing by showing, step-by-step, how to quickly draw people, faces, type, and simple objects for effective and fast sketchnoting.
The book looks like a peek into the author’s private sketchnote journal, but it functions like a beginner’s guide to sketchnoting with easy-to-follow instructions for drawing out your notes that will leave you itching to attend a meeting just so you can draw about it.
12. Adobe InDesign Classroom in a Book (2020 release)
Author: by Tina DeJarld
Adobe Press
English
448 pages
Creative professionals seeking the fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe InDesign choose Adobe InDesign Classroom in a Book (2020 release) from Adobe Press. The project-based step-by-step lessons show users the key techniques for working in InDesign. Designers will build a strong foundation of typographic, color, page layout, and document-construction skills that will enable them to produce a broad range of print and digital publicationsfrom a simple postcard to an interactive Adobe PDF with form fields.
The real-world tasks in this comprehensive book are presented in easy-to-follow lessons and are designed to train beginning Adobe InDesign users in the programfrom fundamental features to powerful layout and output skills. The online companion files include all the necessary assets for readers to complete the projects featured in each lesson.
All buyers of the book get full access to the Web Edition: A Web-based version of the complete ebook enhanced with video and multiple-choice quizzes.
13. Adobe Acrobat DC Classroom in a Book
Author: by Lisa Fridsma
Adobe Press
English
336 pages
Adobe Acrobat DC Classroom in a Book, Third Edition, is the most thorough and comprehensive way for you to learn how to reliably create, edit, share, and sign PDF documents and forms with Adobe Acrobat DC. Each of the 13 lessons in this step-by-step, project-based guide contains a project that builds on your growing knowledge of the program, while end-of-chapter review questions reinforce each lesson.
This cross-platform (Mac and Windows) book shows you how to collaborate effectively through electronic reviews, easily work with PDFs across multiple platforms and devices (including via the Adobe Document Cloud service), and speed up your production and business task workflows with Acrobat DC.
You will learn how to easily convert files from any application to PDF and how to directly edit text and images in PDF documents. You’ll also learn how to build PDF forms, and to speed up business workflow by gathering feedback and approval using new shared document review features.
14. Functional Art, The: An introduction to information graphics and visualization (Voices That Matter)
Author: by Alberto Cairo
0321834739
New Riders
English
Unlike any time before in our lives, we have access to vast amounts of free information. With the right tools, we can start to make sense of all this data to see patterns and trends that would otherwise be invisible to us.
By transforming numbers into graphical shapes, we allow readers to understand the stories those numbers hide. In this practical introduction to understanding and using information graphics, you’ll learn how to use data visualizations as tools to see beyond lists of numbers and variables and achieve new insights into the complex world around us.
Regardless of the kind of data you’re working withbusiness, science, politics, sports, or even your own personal financesthis book will show you how to use statistical charts, maps, and explanation diagrams to spot the stories in the data and learn new things from it.
You’ll also get to peek into the creative process of some of the world’s most talented designers and visual journalists, including Cond Nast Traveler’s John Grimwade , National Geographic Magazine’s Fernando Baptista, The New York Times’ Steve Duenes, The Washington Post’s Hannah Fairfield, Hans Rosling of the Gapminder Foundation, Stanford’s Geoff McGhee, and European superstars Moritz Stefaner, Jan Willem Tulp, Stefanie Posavec, and Gregor Aisch.
15. Burn Your Portfolio: Stuff they don't teach you in design school, but should (Voices That Matter)
Author: by Michael Janda
New Riders
English
400 pages
It takes more than just a design school education and a killer portfolio to succeed in a creative career. Burn Your Portfolio teaches the real-world practices, professional do’s and don’ts, and unwritten rules of business that most designers, photographers, web designers, copy writers, programmers, and architects only learn after putting in years of experience on the job.
Michael Janda, owner of the Utah-based design firm Riser, uses humor to dispense nugget after nugget of hard-won advice collected over the last decade from the personal successes and failures he has faced running his own agency. In this surprisingly funny, but incredibly practical advice guide, Janda’s advice on teamwork and collaboration, relationship building, managing clients, bidding work, production processes, and more will resonate with creative professionals of all stripes.
16. Sketchnote Workbook, The: Advanced techniques for taking visual notes you can use anywhere
Author: by Mike Rohde
013383171X
Peachpit Press
English
The Sketchnote Workbook, the follow-up to Mike Rohde’s popular The Sketchnote Handbook, shows you how to take the basic sketchnoting skills you learned in the Handbook and use them in new and fun ways. You think you have fun taking sketchnotes in meetings?
Try using them to record your travels. Or start a food journal. Or break out those visual notetaking skills in your next brainstorming sessionwhether you’re at work or school, or just trying to figure out how to organize the paper that’s due next week.
The Sketchnote Workbook comes with a 2+ hour companion video that brings the ideas you read about in the book to life. Mike takes you on the road with him to various locations to show you first-hand how to use sketchnotes to generate ideas, document processes, map out projects, learn new languages, create visual to-do lists, and capture the everyday experiences that mean the most to youwhether it’s a trip, a meal, or an episode of your favorite TV show.Don’t worry.
You don’t need to know how to draw to use the book or the video. Mike gives you a quick recap of how to use five simple shapes and basic lettering techniques to create visual notes that you’ll want to share with your friends.
