Master the fundamental concepts and techniques of motion media design so you can apply–and occasionally break–the rules to achieve your communication goals. This authoritative guide presents all of the design essentials in an engaging and inspiring way. Each principle is explained with text, illustration and photography where necessary. An accompanying website will contain any necessary digital files for download, updates and links to other resources.
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33 reviews for Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist: A Practical Guide to Principles & Techniques
4.8out of 5
★★★★★
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★★★★★
James of the coast –
Get it if you consider yourself to have a much more technical skill set rather than graphical design skill. its improved my work a lot.
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★★★★★
bunnyrabbit4 –
Don’t confuse this, as I initially did, with a book dedicated to the fundamentals of motion graphics. Check out Tony White for that. This is a basic DESIGN text. It touches on color, typography and design principles while mentioning mostly Abode products like Photoshop and After Effects. It is a good academic text that will allow the student who wishes to go into web design or 3D animation to enjoy their first course in design. Many fist year students get frustrated with the lack of “program” related material available to them. This text peppers the basic information with references to storyboards, compositing and the work of avant garde artists. While it does not teach these things it should help the beginning student to stay focused by referencing motion graphics topics.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Michelle R. –
This book accomplishes exactly what Angie Taylor says she wants to achieve in the introduction, and then some. I’ve checked out books at my library on graphic design before, but many of them focus so much on the software side of design and they’re full of techie stuff. Now, don’t get me wrong, this book is very textbook in style, but the principles are not based on techie software. They are based on getting back to the real elements of design.
I love that Taylor begins the book with lessons on drawing. I think it’s her approach with beginning at the beginning that too many media artists miss. She’s clear that it begins with shape, form, color, light. This book is fabulous for college students who need to grasp the core principles of design before they begin clicking with a mouse. And Taylor sure delivers!
But the book is also great as a reference for people like me who do a little of this and a little of that. I draw, I paint, I play with Photoshop and experiment with green screen video for fun. With a reference book like this, the hobby media artist will find a priceless resource. Where I might have to invest heaps of cash in a class, this book offers a college course in core design for less than $30. She even has a chapter on fonts, which applies to so many aspects of design, even that outside of motion media.
Taylor was wise in creating a visually stunning book that cross markets to college students and the hobby artist. Sure, there are chapters that go over my head, but that’s okay. If it weren’t so, it wouldn’t make a very good college textbook.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Paul M. Provencher –
I live in the corporate world of information technology. For the most part, this existence for me is based in an engineering mindset – plan, design, build, test, deliver.
In my IT world, artists are thought to be undisciplined in these areas. Angie Taylor’s book makes it clear that successful artists clearly execute in much the same way as the best scientists. While they bring a creative streak that may not appear in engineering and science, they owe their success in business to their ability to plan, execute and deliver a satisfactory product on time, on budget.
The author takes the reader through a series of concepts, starting with sketching. At first I didn’t understand what this had to do with Motion Media. But it very quickly became obvious why this was important. The book gives a great primer and cites numerous references (including current online resources) that may be used to dig in deeper.
From there the book explores a number of concepts familiar to practicing artists – composition, story-boards, software packages (again with numerous references to some terrific resources), and all while developing the concepts in a way that follows the workflow of projects.
I am reading this book (and several others) to gain a better command of the concepts I hope to apply to the use of my HD-movie capability of my DSLR. I believe that making movies, even if they end up being glorified home movies of my family, will benefit from a basic understanding of what goes into good motion media.
This book has something to offer beginners like me as well as practicing professionals who need to update their understanding of motion media. I will probably read this book twice – the illustrations are wonderful, and perfectly on point, the explanations are very understandable, even for someone with little experience in this field (though I have been a photographer for a long time).
The many resources cited as places to dig deeper are all quality products and have clearly been vetted thoroughly by the author.
This is a solid book with much to offer. If you’re just getting into motion media like me, or perhaps you’d like to step into the latest tools and concepts, don’t hesitate to buy and read this book.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Denez McAdoo –
I’m a video production guy, who’s truly never studied graphic design (which, by the way, is what this book is about. No real emphasis on motion graphics, despite the title.) So I wanted a book that covered the basics, and that’s what this book does.
However, I was still largely disappointed. I couldn’t help but feel that I already knew much of this information already and the author’s presentation of if felt as though she had little more then a basic understanding as well. She several time admits that one topic or another is not an area of her expertise (video editing for example, strange in a book title for the Motion Media Artist.) This feeling was not helped by the fact that this is one of those books on design where the authors personal design examples are, frankly, not that great.
This book is also structured so that you are told what your going to learn, you learn it, and then recap what you just learned two pages ago. Also, many chapters end with and “inspirational” story from an artist. This all feels like fluff to me.
Bottom line, if you want just the basics, explained in a truly basic way, this book does that. But if you want any thing more then that, then this book spends too much time on basic subject and too little time on anything advanced.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Sheila Macd –
This book filled in many gaps for me in the workflow and sequence for producing a graphic. It is well laid out, on a good gradient that makes it easy to follow and also provides many helpful resources. I thoroughly recommend it.
James of the coast –
Get it if you consider yourself to have a much more technical skill set rather than graphical design skill. its improved my work a lot.
bunnyrabbit4 –
Don’t confuse this, as I initially did, with a book dedicated to the fundamentals of motion graphics. Check out Tony White for that. This is a basic DESIGN text. It touches on color, typography and design principles while mentioning mostly Abode products like Photoshop and After Effects. It is a good academic text that will allow the student who wishes to go into web design or 3D animation to enjoy their first course in design. Many fist year students get frustrated with the lack of “program” related material available to them. This text peppers the basic information with references to storyboards, compositing and the work of avant garde artists. While it does not teach these things it should help the beginning student to stay focused by referencing motion graphics topics.
Michelle R. –
This book accomplishes exactly what Angie Taylor says she wants to achieve in the introduction, and then some. I’ve checked out books at my library on graphic design before, but many of them focus so much on the software side of design and they’re full of techie stuff. Now, don’t get me wrong, this book is very textbook in style, but the principles are not based on techie software. They are based on getting back to the real elements of design.
I love that Taylor begins the book with lessons on drawing. I think it’s her approach with beginning at the beginning that too many media artists miss. She’s clear that it begins with shape, form, color, light. This book is fabulous for college students who need to grasp the core principles of design before they begin clicking with a mouse. And Taylor sure delivers!
But the book is also great as a reference for people like me who do a little of this and a little of that. I draw, I paint, I play with Photoshop and experiment with green screen video for fun. With a reference book like this, the hobby media artist will find a priceless resource. Where I might have to invest heaps of cash in a class, this book offers a college course in core design for less than $30. She even has a chapter on fonts, which applies to so many aspects of design, even that outside of motion media.
Taylor was wise in creating a visually stunning book that cross markets to college students and the hobby artist. Sure, there are chapters that go over my head, but that’s okay. If it weren’t so, it wouldn’t make a very good college textbook.
Paul M. Provencher –
I live in the corporate world of information technology. For the most part, this existence for me is based in an engineering mindset – plan, design, build, test, deliver.
In my IT world, artists are thought to be undisciplined in these areas. Angie Taylor’s book makes it clear that successful artists clearly execute in much the same way as the best scientists. While they bring a creative streak that may not appear in engineering and science, they owe their success in business to their ability to plan, execute and deliver a satisfactory product on time, on budget.
The author takes the reader through a series of concepts, starting with sketching. At first I didn’t understand what this had to do with Motion Media. But it very quickly became obvious why this was important. The book gives a great primer and cites numerous references (including current online resources) that may be used to dig in deeper.
From there the book explores a number of concepts familiar to practicing artists – composition, story-boards, software packages (again with numerous references to some terrific resources), and all while developing the concepts in a way that follows the workflow of projects.
I am reading this book (and several others) to gain a better command of the concepts I hope to apply to the use of my HD-movie capability of my DSLR. I believe that making movies, even if they end up being glorified home movies of my family, will benefit from a basic understanding of what goes into good motion media.
This book has something to offer beginners like me as well as practicing professionals who need to update their understanding of motion media. I will probably read this book twice – the illustrations are wonderful, and perfectly on point, the explanations are very understandable, even for someone with little experience in this field (though I have been a photographer for a long time).
The many resources cited as places to dig deeper are all quality products and have clearly been vetted thoroughly by the author.
This is a solid book with much to offer. If you’re just getting into motion media like me, or perhaps you’d like to step into the latest tools and concepts, don’t hesitate to buy and read this book.
Denez McAdoo –
I’m a video production guy, who’s truly never studied graphic design (which, by the way, is what this book is about. No real emphasis on motion graphics, despite the title.) So I wanted a book that covered the basics, and that’s what this book does.
However, I was still largely disappointed. I couldn’t help but feel that I already knew much of this information already and the author’s presentation of if felt as though she had little more then a basic understanding as well. She several time admits that one topic or another is not an area of her expertise (video editing for example, strange in a book title for the Motion Media Artist.) This feeling was not helped by the fact that this is one of those books on design where the authors personal design examples are, frankly, not that great.
This book is also structured so that you are told what your going to learn, you learn it, and then recap what you just learned two pages ago. Also, many chapters end with and “inspirational” story from an artist. This all feels like fluff to me.
Bottom line, if you want just the basics, explained in a truly basic way, this book does that. But if you want any thing more then that, then this book spends too much time on basic subject and too little time on anything advanced.
Sheila Macd –
This book filled in many gaps for me in the workflow and sequence for producing a graphic. It is well laid out, on a good gradient that makes it easy to follow and also provides many helpful resources. I thoroughly recommend it.