Robin Williams introduced design and typographic principles to legions of readers with her best-selling Non-Designer's book series. Now she and designer and co-author John Tollett take you to the next level of creative design with practical advice and lessons in composition, visual impact and design challenges.

Presented in Robin's and John's signature style — writing that is so crystal clear, it's accessible to absolutely anyone — and illustrated with hundreds of full-color design examples, the ideas in this book tackle design theory, visual puns, and layout and graphics strategies for real-world projects. Developing designers will appreciate the authors' imaginative approach and well-chosen examples.

• Discover practical and effective design principles and concepts — and how to apply them to virtually any project.
• Learn why some designs are attention getting and others are not.
• Learn how to choose just the right look — corporate or casual, classic or trendy — for specific types of projects, such as business cards, letterhead and envelopes, newsletters and brochures, logos, advertising and more.
• Test your design acumen by comparing before-and-after examples.
• Find a wealth of inspiration for your own design projects.

Gain insight into the design process by studying the works of guest designers, who offer their personal commentary and insights.

Robin Williams is a fourth-generation Californian on both sides, born in Berkeley and raised in the Bay Area. She lived in Sonoma County for 15 years, and then in 1993, she packed up her kids, the dog and two cats and moved to New Mexico.

John Tollett's graphics background includes working as a designer, art director and illustrator at advertising agencies and as a freelancer. The majority of this experience was gained in Dallas, but the lure of adobe houses and snow-covered mountains brought him to Santa Fe. There he continued designing, art directing and illustrating and, of course, started using a Macintosh. Now there's one factor present that wasn't there before: Now it's fun. Now he can experiment. He can change his mind. He can play.

John once read that all creativity is a form of play. He didn't believe it at the time. Being creative was work. But now, as he looks out the window at the fresh snow on the mountains, he wonders: Should he go skiing or should he boot up the Mac?