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Design! A Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists and Craftspeople

For today’s post, I thought I’d review Design! A Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists and Craftspeople by Steven Aimone (If you click on the title, it will take you to the listing for the hardback at Amazon; I notice that it is due out in April in paperback, but the cost difference –$4– is so little, go for the hardback!).

The thing I like most about this book is that Aimone goes beyond traditional art media (oils, acrylics, watercolors and sculpture) to look at design EVERYwhere: the endpapers have a photo of a stovetop! Items used to illustrate various design principles include: paintings, sculpture, masks, jewelry, hair, olive oil can, chairs and flowers, baskets, mud huts, quilts, advertisements, toiletries, architecture, the Apple iMac, photographs (including one of a decorated camel), even food!

I can’t decide if this is supposed to be a textbook or a coffee table book: the production values are so good that it is eye-candy as well as informative. I have long said good sewing is good sewing, whether you are making a garment, a quilt, or household items. Similarly, good design is just that: good design. It doesn’t matter if it is a painting, a quilt, a landscape, an interior, a building. The basic principles of design apply across all media.

The book covers:

  • Introduction
  • 1. The Purposes of Design
  • 2. The Design Process
  • 3. Visual Elements
  • 4. The Design Space
  • 5. Repetition of Motif
  • 6. Rhythm
  • 7. Symmetrical Arrangements
  • 8. Asymmetrical Arrangements
  • 9. Focal Emphasis
  • 10. Underlying Shapes
  • 11. Critique
  • Glossary of Design Terms
  • Artist Index
  • Index

Many quilters are intimidated by terminology from the art world, but (pet peeve / soapbox moment coming) it is just words! Just as we learned what Log Cabin, fat quarter, scant quarter inch and Baltimore Album mean, we can learn color vocabulary: complementary, analogous, tint/shade/tone, and we can learn art vocabulary: focal point, rhythm, harmony, line and more. It’s just words, we’re all smart, so we can learn to use the art terminology and better understand our own art form.

I loved Aimone’s straightforward description in the introduction: Simply put, design is the arrangement of visual elements in a space. (p. 10) And the illustrations for that page are a quilt and an oil painting by Piet Mondrian!

Unlike many traditional design books, Aimone also talks about texture: actual and imaginary, as pattern, as weight and emphasis, and as subject. Pages 54-55 are part of that discussion:

If you’re interested in learning more about why some designs work, some don’t, how to create better compositions, and how to troubleshoot your own pieces, this is a fantastic book that really gets you to thinking beyond the quilt world. And, it gives you exercises to try to help implement what you’ve just learned.

Highly recommended!

Publishing information:

Aimone, Steven. Design! A Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists and Craftspeople. 2004 Lark Books, New York. ISBN 1-57990-349-5 (hard cover).

5 Responses to “Design! A Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists and Craftspeople”

  1. LoieJ Says:

    This book looks really good and maybe $$$. I haven’t had any art classes and I feel like I’m in left field when it comes to the concepts of art. Some times I know something intuitively, but I don’t know the descriptive words. I am soaking in all I can learn.

  2. Caitlin Says:

    Thankyou – I’m buying this from amazon as my “Lost 10kg” reward. (Of course, I’ve only lost just under 5 so far – but if this doesn’t get me motivated, nothing will!)

    Thanks for the review -sounds like the very thing I need.

  3. Feeling Simply Quilty Says:

    Even if you are not a contemporary quilter, learning these terms and techniques are valuable in any quilt design. Great article/information.

  4. Karoda Says:

    This book is among the gazillion on my list…thanks for the review…design and colour are my on-going learning curves.

  5. Quiltmuse Says:

    You sold me, Sarah! I just ordered it through Amazon. It’s about time I learned what I am — or am not –doing right designwise!

    If nothing else I can absorb by osmosis from the illustrations…