Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:  
Summary: Black cover for grey book.
Comment: I'd been waiting for this book to be published and was prepared to be wowed by all of the great techniques for producing advertising using flash. I was distinctly underwhelmed when I received the book.
First the good points. The book has lots of great information about producing advertising using flash. I've done quite a few adverts already using flash but this book goes way beyond my knowledge of the genre and industry - it's clear that the author knows his stuff. The book is packed with information about the use of flash advertising/mini sites in the industry. It also goes into some basic flash techniques and use of the authoring environment. If you're not sure about flash advertising, this is the book to turn to. Sounds good doesn't it?
Now for the bad. As soon as I opened the book I was really disappointed by the presentation inside. For a subject that is intended to capture the attention of the viewer, we are given a book that contains no colour whatsoever and is typeset in a bland style. I was expecting to be wowed when I opened the book, but was met by a mass of text interspersed with grey dull blockwork and illustrations. The presentation lets this book down badly. For example, the author discusses image compression and provides three examples of different compression. The example with the worst compression actually doesn't look that bad compared with the others on first glance, but I'm sure would have looked really awful in colour.
The book is 231 pages long. It has been set with a larger typeface and line spacing to give the book that length. Despite the grey illustrations, the overall impression you get with the book is that it's a mass of text.
The author provides a lot of great information that is hard to come by. He also provides a lot of information that most people will know. The problem is that the people that need to know the basic flash information that is presented in the book aren't given enough basic flash techniques to get them going - this book won't teach you about flash.
The biggest let down for me was there's no "wow!" factor anywhere here. I had expected a full dissection of some flash adverts, a walkthrough of putting together a flash advert to follow a client brief, a complete run-through of asset preparation and different approaches to realise a brief. I was expecting to be enthused about the genre, to be shown some great techniques from start to finish (I was certainly expecting a discussion on the Penner equations and their use). I was expecting to have a CD/download with several complete examples of flash adverts/mini sites I could open and pick apart. I was expecting lavish colour illustration and well laid out pages. This is where I was disappointed. The advertising examples occupy 12 pages.
I think the publishers have gone awry with this book - it could have been so much more. The same publisher has done a superb job on another flash book "How to cheat in Adobe Flash CS3" and the contrast in production values between these books is quite amazing.
Should you buy this book if you want to learn about flash advertising? Well the answer is "yes" because it contains a lot of great information that you won't find anywhere else. Don't expect to be taught Flash and don't expect to be wowed, or to have complete walk-throughs. Be prepared for a sea of grey.
I wonder if the publisher cut corners because they think it's a niche subject? I'd have preferred to pay 50% more to get the book I was expecting, but I'm glad this is available. I'm keeping the book, but every time I open it, I think of the book it could (and should) have been.
Hands-on? Yes, for the author, not for us
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Book You've Been Waiting For
Comment: This book is is a must have if you are a Flash developer and interested in learning the requirements for Flash advertising. Jason does a great job at discussing the various forms of Flash advertising including Banner Ads, Microsites, and Mobile Devices as well as how to use, and when to use, Rich-Media Technology and Companies. Jason also covers an overview of the entire process of Flash advertising from working with the creative team, planning, quality control, ad placement, testing and launching flash advertising. This book has numerous links and sample code to get you started. I would highly recommend this book to any student or professional interested in doing Flash advertising.
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