A Smile in the Mind: Witty Thinking in Graphic Design

A fantastic book packed with illustration and ideas. It's not really something that you would pick up and read cover to cover, it's more something that you would dip into now and then to draw inspiration from. And there's TONS of it in here, past and present. The large pages really help immerse you in the content.If you pick this book up and can't find something to fire your creative juices up, I think it's probably time you got round to doing that engineering degree.

My brother asked me to order this book as it was recommended by his course Lecturer. (He's doing a graphics course)It arrived really quickly and well packaged as always.Full of bright clear images, as well as easily comprehended text. He is very pleased with it and feels it is value for money.

excellent

Really good read if you are into witty imagery and ways of thinking. I am using this to help with my dissertation... Also if you like this check out creative advertising by Mario Pricken too for witty thinking!

I mean, if the Art of looking Sideways is already on your bookshelf, and this isn't? then it be your next purchase. When it says 'witty' you should read hilarious, a good book for inspiration and also for generally cheering one self up!

Bigger than i thought but a really good quality and inspiring book any designer should have it on there shelves.

If you're a designer it simply does what it says on the cover.Thank you very, very much Beryl Mc Alhone

apparently every designer should have this book, so buy it

A classic from the early 90's for ad designers, and it holds true right up until this very moment. Picture concept after concept, delivered in small images, some with microscopic type - but concepts that can put you over in any visual field. A Smile in the Mind is a crazy wonderland of ideas for doing faster and maybe better what we already do as artists: synthesizing ideas from the raw material of basic conceptual matter. It's a great book to pore over for hours, and also to keep handy for those times when deadlines loom and you're feeling stuck.So bring your most up-to-date eyeglasses and/or a magnifying tool of some kind and hunker down for a slightly gruelling schooling that will help you be the one ruling the next time you're duelling. No fooling!

Even though this book is now 20 years old, the designs work just as well today. Some are brilliant. I also love the designer's thoughts on what he/she was trying to convey--very insightful. This book should be in every designer's hands!

Great product and fast delivery

I bought this on recommendation from a peer who thought it would help me push through a stagnate creative period I was having. It was a great insight into what is the missing link in some of today's advertising. Wit. It certainly made me reassess my designs, define what they lacked, and understand why they missed the mark. I'm really looking forward to utilising the new found knowledge - which is old school knowledge.

Great design book

Nice book full of examples. It gives you a deep understanding of intention behind graphic design. When it was used to inspire, awe and provoke.

This is the book you read in order to think like a designer. A MUST HAVE.

A nice design book. But what the authors describe as wit is simply design with a message in it. I mean, they classify the Shell logo as visual wit!The best genuine wit is on page 56; the front cover of "Designer" magazine's Money Issue. A bank manager, pictured behind his desk with Thurberesque simplicity of line, tells a pen-and-copperplate-engraved image of a designer that he's "ridiculously overdrawn".If you're interested in visual wit look at advertising, not design. Get a British D&AD annual from the 80's or 90's.

Great book.If you're into graphic design, this book is a must.The book showcases some of the best designers out there, although it's not up to date, it's still great.Analysing and not only showcasing good design is always good.

It's a great book with plenty of good examples for each witty style od design. It's super easy to read through and understand for class, as well.

I read the reviews, I like wit. I like deisign. thought that this wiuld be a good book for me to get. WRONG. The book is filled with lackluster designs using wit from the 80's and 70's. WIT is not an excuse for poor design. There are some good pieces, but most of them are out dated. Get this book if you want a history lesson about 80's design. The only good thing about the book are the interviews at the end and that is not worth the price of admission. Phaidon has done me wrong again. Will, no, can they put out a good book?