Unspecial Effects for Graphic Designers

Author: Bob Gill

Publisher: Graphis (NY) (2001)

Binding: Paperback, 160 pages

Graphic designer says: to hell with special effects.

The thesis of Unspecial Effects for Graphic Designers is that the most effective way for print to compete with the dazzling special effects of the hottest music videos or the latest alien movie is by going to the other extreme...to reality! To, in effect, say to the audience, "have you ever noticed this before? Even though it was right under your nose."

"In the back of his new book, Bob Gill lists the dates that he designed each of the projects pictured. That is the only way to tell which ones were designed yesterday and which were designed fifty years ago. Styles come and go, but ideas are timeless. That's why Bob Gill is one of the heroes that got me and so many others into graphic design in the first place."
Michael Bierut

"Bob Gill has a unique ability to cut right to the chase; to take complex turgid problems and arrive at exciting and intelligent solutions...both graphic and literary. And what's so fortunate, the description of his process of how to get an original idea, is so well articulated."
Lou Dorfsman

About the author: Bob Gill is among the wittiest, most inventive designers of his generation, a founding partner of Pentagram, inducted into the NY Art Director's Hall of Fame and recently the recipient of the London Art Director's Lifetime Achievement Award. He works independently in New York.

Dabitch figures; If you have seen Gill's work and you like it - you'll love to have this book as a reminder that simple solutions count, as inspiration, as the back to basics brilliance it is.
If you know of anyone who is interested in graphic design, this would be a fine addition to their "inspiration" pile. Gill has a quirky , and sometimes pun-ridden sense of humour in anything he does, and if you fail to smile when flicking through this book, check your pulse you might be dead. Blissfully free from stylistic executions with no content, Gill reminds you why less is more, and how! The idea counts, in graphic design too, kids. (Remember the old saying "Ideas move nations, typefaces don't"? Right - then you'll totally get Gill.)

Also makes a smashing gift for the budding designer types.