Go Hardcover – Illustrated, 16 April 2014

“I wish I had this book when I was a kid!” blurbs Jeff Kinney, author of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series. I have to echo his words with a very emphatic “Me, too!!” Sadly, I can’t even remember when I first heard the term “graphic design.” I’m pretty sure it wasn’t until I was a teenager. Probably not until high school when I had to start taking those career tests and figuring out how I was going to turn my creative interests into some kind of job with a recognizable title that could pay the bills (um…I’m still working on that part). But even without knowing the term, I loved graphic design from a very early age. While other kids played Monopoly, I designed and created my own board games. While other kids played house, I played travel agent and created my own brochures. While other kids played video games, I played with every single font on my dad’s computer. Chip Kidd, book design wizard, would have absolutely wowed grade school me. If I had read his smart and fun primer on graphic design when I was a kid, I would have felt like I’d found my mother ship—or at least the manual. Right from the beginning, you know you are going to have fun: the cover features a large red octagon, but instead of the word “STOP,” which is what you’d expect, it has the word “GO,” which is the book’s title. Also, the author playfully uses the spelling of his last name for the subtitle: “A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design.” What is so fantastic about this book is that Kidd introduces the principles of graphic design in a manner that is simple yet elegant, without ever dumbing down. When explaining how graphic design is different from other types of design, such as architecture, fashion, or industrial design, he says, “graphic design is purely a head trip, from your eyes to your mind.” And what a head trip he takes his readers on! Every spread that introduces a design principle is itself artful design. Kidd teaches by example, not only using images from his own work and that of other graphic designers, but also using the text of his explanations as part of the visual lesson. On the page that explains inversion, the word “inversion” is printed upside down. However, as can be expected from his inversion of the “STOP” sign on the cover, Kidd also demonstrates the importance of turning familiar concepts upside down in the name of creativity. On a page that discusses the concept of big and small, the word “big” appears in a minuscule type size smaller than the body text while the word “small” is so large it stretches from margin to margin like an attention-grabbing headline. Best of all, at the end of the book, Kidd encourages his readers to dive into graphic design with several hands-on projects. “Whatever you do, don’t…” he says, “STOP,” with the word “STOP” in a green light circle. Although GO didn’t come out soon enough for me to enjoy as a kid, I think it’s also a great resource for adults, because it reinforces the basics and reminds us that good design is nothing more or less than how each designer sees the world from his or her unique perspective.

This is a great book for begining/budding designers! Really insightful and appropriately aimed to a younger crowd. I bought one for myself and my niece who's 10 and starting her own sticker-making business.

I am a fine artist who bought this book on a whim. A long-ago neighbor of mine knew Chip, and was enthusiastic about his work, and somehow this lodged in my mind. Also, I read his novel “The Cheese Monkeys” about art school and thought it was wonderfully written and hilarious. So...deep in an internet rabbit hole, I landed on Amazon, saw this book and pressed BUY. Now graphic designers and oil painters inhabit (at least in my mind) different worlds - Different materials, different intentions, different effects. Perhaps that’s what made this box so compelling to me. Every page is an illustrated example of a visual affect or design principle. Seeing chips amazing work and hearing about how it utilizes these ancient principles was invigorating and helpful to this perceptual painter. I recommend this to anyone interested in the visual arts or publishing. Thank you Chip!

Delightful. A fun, informative, and beautiful intro to graphic design. It's a great companion to Picture This: How Pictures Work by Molly Bang, and the Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams. Oh, and his examples are spectacular.

I haven't kid-tested this one yet, but it looks like a winner. It touches on all the basics: how to assemble and compose imagery, type and a little typography, color, expression - in short, all the things an adult student would spend semesters on. It doesn't present nearly the level of detail, of course, but just enough to bring each idea to life and maybe even tease a young reader into looking deeper. The cover recommends this for ages 10 and up, but you know your young'un. A precocious and interested 9 could certainly handle it, but a kid might outgrow the level by their teens. For its target audience, I can't imagine a text much better than this. It's big, bold, well-organized, and well-suited to attention spans that might not last ten pages. I could imagine a few more exercises than the ones in the back, especially when the child reader has grownups who lack the knowledge to lead very far - but, if the parent can, then so much the better. I'll look forward to seeing a child's response to this one.

I had the awesome opportunity to hear Chip Kidd and Chris Ware Speak last night as part of the lecture series at the Seattle Town Hall last night. He spoke about writing this book because no book that explained graphic design had existed for youngsters. This book does that, and much more. As a graphic design instructor and art advocate in public schools, I wish I had found this book sooner. It so beautifully explains graphic design by example (it is beautifully designed), visually (information is presented visually as well as written) and concisely. I think this book would be a good text and/or reference for an introductory high school Graphic Design class. As an experienced graphic designer, I'm so happy to now have it on my book shelf and think anyone who works in or appreciates good design will enjoy this book.

Chip Kidd's humor and ability to clearly convey concepts and information come together in this wonderful introduction to graphic design principles and visual communication. Don't let its designation as a kids' book fool you, though. Go is an excellent resource for high school and college students, or persons of any age interested in understanding more about effective and creative visual communication. Highly recommended!!

Great book. Kind of a beginners guide is some ways. The broad ideas of graphic design. But a fun presentation of it. As is becoming typical, it arrived with the hard over crushed in the corner. Amazon is becoming a sea of third party knock off crap items... or poorly boxed poorly shipped damaged merch. The number of books that have arrived damaged this past year or two is more than I've every experienced in the previous 15. WTF Amazon. Where is your quality control on your own process - and where is quality control on the third party vendors you accept. You're becoming the online equivalent of a poorly run Big Lots.

Uma introdução aos fundamentos do Design Gráfico direcionado a crianças a partir de 10 anos... Com certeza agradará aos "grandinhos" iniciantes na área também. Chip Kidd é especialista em design de capas de livros e as utiliza aqui para ilustrar os princípios básicos da concepção de um projeto gráfico: Forma, Tipografia, Conteúdo, Conceito e 10 exercícios/projetos práticos. Recomendo!

Loved this book. Chip Kidd is just an amazing story teller and a Great Designer. Every page is fantastic. I read this to clear my mind, it's that good. A must have if you are graphic designer.

I saw this book reviewed on Brain Picker and thought it sounded like fun. It's a fascinating and fun book, which helps you notice how much design has gone into things around you. It's made me look at things in a different way. Physically, it's a thing of beauty. Books like these are the reason print books will never disappear. It's a tactile experience as well as a visual and cerebral one.

Questo libro è un oggetto editoriale squisito, fatto per colpire l'occhio del lettore e per portare in neofita a comprendere quanto le scelte di design condizionino la nostra vita. Chip Kidd spiega le basi del cover design col suo stile originale e coinvolgente. Lo consiglio, e amazon come sempre impeccabile.

This is really written for children.