Visual Thesaurus: A Quick Flip Brainstorming Tool for Graphic Designers - Softcover

Hatmaker

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1564968944 ISBN 13: 9781564968944

Publisher: Rockport Pub, 2003

Synopsis

Writers are word artists, and one of their primary tools is the theasurus. Now designers--image artists--finally have a similar sourcebook for stirring their creative juices.

Visual Thesaurus offers a dramatic new way for designers to think about and approach the creative process. No more "designer's block" to lock artists into conventional image traps. No more relying on other designers' work for inspiration. This unique and compelling book works by creating a visual narrative of words and concepts--inspiring designers to entertain as many variations on a theme as possible. Organized alphabetically, each entry is accompanied by a stream of associated images that mirror the way the artist's creative mind actually works. From client brief to final presentation, designers can call on this one-of-a-kind idea generator to find distinctively different visual solutions for every kind of design project.

* Offers a dramatically new way to approach the creative process, emulating how the brain actually works
* Provides a simple tool for unlocking creative thoughts--without having to look at other artists' work
* Sidebars of real projects illustrate the creative thought process that sparked specific designs

About this title

About the Author

As a partner of Hatmaker, Chris Goveia has been directing, designing, and producing broadcast design for eight years. Chris takes a hands-on approach to design, spearheading extensive strategy and design projects for such clients as Cinemax, Court TV, Hearst Entertainment, Warner Bros., and Sony Entertainment. Chris' work has received numerous BDA awards, as well as multiple Telly Awards, AIGA awards, and others. Many of his creations, including the Cinemax logo, have been featured in books on motion graphics for both Rockport Publishers and Dimensional Illustrators.

From Publishers Weekly

Based on the premise that graphic designers are "image artists" in the manner that writers are "word artists," this book of brainstorming cluster diagrams claims to mimic the action of the designer's mind in its pictographic organization. Each page offers a single-word concept, which the authors illustrate with icons whose relevance varies between obvious and incomprehensible. Take the entry for "yearn": there's a man incubating a baby in his belly, a flat-chested woman in boxer shorts (or a man with a womanly face and legs?), a guy playing guitar, a sad-faced dog and a woman with one hand on her stomach and another on what seems to be a cocktail. (The pictures are tiny, usually less than an inch tall.) Despite its cleverness, the book comes across as a half-baked self-promotion ploy on the part of Hatmaker, a branding company from Boston whose corporate work appears for no reason scattered throughout, including in an ad for itself between the entries for "tropical" and "ugly." And with only about 600 word-concepts, this thesaurus feels spare and remedial.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rockport Pub
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1564968944
• ISBN 13: 9781564968944
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 312