Visual Language for Designers

Malamed, Connie. Visual Language for Designers: Principles for Creating Graphics That People Understand. Rockport: Quayside. 2009. 240p. photogs. bibliog. ISBN 978-1-59253-515-6. $40. GRAPHIC ARTS
E-learning, visual communication, and design consultant Malamed sums up the crux of her book: “poor design is a major reason why information is misinterpreted,” and all of the graphic imagery and text she includes are committed to trying to distinguish between good and poor design. The dozens of images contributed by designers all over the world are absorbing, but a large percentage is reproduced at a scale that makes reading their text difficult or impossible. Their visual success may be evident, but whether they function well as conveyors of information is sometimes difficult to judge. In the accompanying text, Malamed explores cognitive psychology with jargon like “texture segregation,” “preattentive processing,” and “primitive features,” none of which are defined in the 11-item glossary. If the reader sticks with the text, everything eventually is explained, but this volume is not effortless. Verdict This is much less a how-to than a solid intellectual underpinning of perceptual psychology; although the perceptual psychology is discussed in detail, the actual ideas involved in the graphic imagery are never analyzed. For design students and professionals. -- Library Journal, July 2009