This is a very cool book that takes a very friendly and helpful tone to introduce you to Design (with a capital 'D'). However, I want to get one thing out of the way before I write about the book. This book is about Design, as in typography and layout for printed material. This book is about helping you design compelling flyers, books, business cards, and other printed material. I bought this book assuming it would help me with web site Design, and that's not at all what this book does.
Robin Williams, the author of this book, is apparently a widely recognized expert in Design. I, myself, am new to this field, and do not know the movers and shakers, but I have heard of her reputation. Judging from this book, hers is a reputation well deserved.
I like books that take a casual and friendly approach to teaching the material. This is one of those books. The writing style is nice, easy going, open minded, but at the same time you're shown some Serious Stuff, deep quality teaching in the principles of Design. I learned a lot through this book.
The book guides you through four basic principles: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity.
She wanted to turn that into a nice acronym, but, well, she decided not to.
Two thumbs up