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after a couple of months of beta-testing now we are officially launching the Smashing Magazine Forum!
The main idea behind the forum is to provide our community with a place to discuss problems, developments, ideas and Smashing Magazine articles or just chat about nothing at all.The forum is still very young and (probably) has a number of bugs, but we are confident that the current board is something that we can all build an amazing board upon. And we want to create it together with you - therefore please feel free to share your ideas, suggestions (design, structure, missing categories etc.) and any problems you've encountered. And to celebrate the launch of SM forum we are giving away 11 web-design-related books to our forum members. The winners will be selected randomly among all commenters in this thread. The winners will be announced this Friday (13.02.2009).
How do I participate?
To participate, just
1. pick the number of the book you are interested in,
2. write it down in the reply to this post
3. and write an answer to the question "How can SM Forum help me in the future?" on the next line.
4. And you are done!
Books You Can Win
1. Universal Principles of Design
2. Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Growth of an International Style 1920-1965
3. Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
4. The Design of Everyday Things
5. Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design
6. The Art of Looking Sideways
7. The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
8. Hand Job: A Catalog of Type
9. Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook
10. CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions
11. The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks and Hacks
1. Universal Principles of Design
William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler, Hardcover
Universal Principles of Design is a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary encyclopedia of design. It pairs clear explanations of every design concept with visual examples of the concepts applied in practice. From the "80/20 rule to chunking, from baby-face bias to Ockham's razor, and from self-similarity to storytelling, every major design concept is defined and illustrated for readers to expand their knowledge. This reference is the standard for designers, engineers, architects, and students who seek to broaden and improve their design expertise.
2. Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Growth of an International Style 1920-1965
Richard Hollis, Paperback
Swiss graphic design and “the Swiss Style” are crucial elements in the history of modernism. During the 1920s and ’30s, skills traditionally associated with Swiss industry, particularly pharmaceuticals and mechanical engineering, were matched by those of the country’s graphic designers, who produced their advertising and technical literature. This book looks at the uniquely clear graphic language developed by such Swiss designers as Theo Ballmer, Max Bill, Adrian Frutiger, Karl Gerstner, Armin Hoffman, Ernst Keller, Herbert Matter, Josef Müller-Brockmann, and Jan Tschichold.
3. Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
by Steve Krug, Paperback
Describes a common sense approach to web usability and facts designers should keep in mind developing usable web-sites.
4. The Design of Everyday Things
Don Norman, Paperback
Published many years ago, this book is already a usability legend. Norman writes about the importance of the user-centered design and how this concept can be applied to design of everything. Memorable chapters include “Design for Error”, “Simplify the Structure of Tasks” and “When All Else Fails, Standardize”. Donald Norman is one of the founders of the well known Nielsen Norman Group, pioneers in usability and user-centered design.
5. Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design
Jenifer Tidwell, Paperback
Designing Interfaces delivers what a book from O’Reilly usually offers, good content and quality printing. This book has well-illustrated examples on web applications, desktop software and mobile devices organized according to user interface patterns, each containing practical advices. A kind of “read it from beginning to end”, this book provides solutions for each problem a user interface could have.
6. The Art of Looking Sideways
Alan Fletcher, Hardcover
This book is a "guide to visual awareness," a virtually concoction of anecdotes, quotes, images, and bizarre facts that offers a wonderfully twisted vision of the chaos of modern life. Loosely arranged in 72 chapters with titles like "Colour," "Noise," "Chance," "Camouflage," and "Handedness," Fletcher's book, which he describes as "a journey without a destination," is "a collection of shards" that captures the sensory overload of a world that simply contains too much information.
7. The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
Jason Beaird, Paperback
A simple guide with hundreds of full-color examples and illustrations, which will lead you through the process of creating beautiful and functional web designs from scratch.
8. Hand Job: A Catalog of Type
Michael Perr, Paperback
Hand Job collects work from fifty an international array of today’s most talented typographers who draw by hand. Michael Perry selects work representing the full spectrum of design methods and styles. Each hand-drawn work is entirely shaped by the artist’s unique process—every one a carefully executed composition enhanced by unplanned “accidents” of line, color, and craft.
9. Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook
Dan Cederholm, Paperback
This book contains questions and answers on markup and style topics for Web Standards. It will explore the multiple ways you can handle a situation when building with Web Standards — and the advantages and disadvantages of those methods. Additionally, each chapter goes a step further, with “extra credit” sections to give the reader extra tips and tricks based on the topic. The reader is empowered to make better decisions based on well-rounded information.
10. CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions
Andy Budd, Paperback
CSS Mastery assumes that you already know the basics and why you should be using CSS in your work; it is meant to support advanced CSS-developers and present professional techniques, approaches and solutions to CSS-based web design. Each chapter explains a particular aspect of CSS-based design, such as visual formatting model, styling lists, forms and data tables, layouts, hacks and filters, bugs and bux fixing. Case studies support the book giving an insight in CSS-development in practice.
11. The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks and Hacks
Rachel Andrew, Paperback
The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks is a compilation of best practice solutions to the most challenging CSS problems. The second edition of this best-selling book, now in full color, has been completely revised and updated to cover the latest techniques and newer browsers, including Firefox and Internet Explorer 7.
Cheers and good luck!
