I was introduced to this book early in my undergraduate studies of design but rediscovered it during my recently completed senior year. It became a reference for every project and a permanent fixture on my bedside table. I was required to read many different books on history but this was the only one that I read time and time again.
In my opinion, this 3rd Edition "A History of GD" is the best reference book written about graphic design. This 500 plus pages book/bible is simply divided into 5 sections, 1) The Prologue to Graphic Design, 2) A Graphic Rennaissance, 3) The Industrial Revolution, 4)The Modernist Era, and 5) The Age of Information. The topics range from the invention of writing to, creation of new typogrphic styles to, the digital revolution and computer art. There are plenty of graphics and photos on every page to accompany the wonderfully written text. If you study art history or graphic design, I think this would be a great reference book to have. It will take some time to read the entire book. But this is like a text book, so, reading only part of the chapters would be quite informative as well. Once you are done, you will definitely appreciate graphic design/graphic designers.
This book is one of the best presentations of the evolution of visual thinking and design. It shows the great design of each era, and a highly readable text tells about the philosophy and formal developments that occurred. It has about a thousand illustrations.
