Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book on beginning design theory
Comment: While looking for books to inspire some more creativity in my design work, I came across a fairly thin book entitled "The Principals of Beautiful Web Design" and it just happened to be the book that I've been looking for. In the past I've read books that cover different components that can be used in design, but never how they should all come together or what makes colors work together; I finally picked up a resource that covers color theory! Not just colors, but layouts, the art of typography, using and creating texture, as well as some basic introductions into Photoshop techniques (though, as the author himself states, if you want a book on Photoshop, get a book on Photoshop).
While reading through this book, I found the author's humor throughout entertaining and lightening of what can easily become a very dense subject. The overall style of writing and the examples given make the book very engaging and, as I found out pretty quickly, hard to put down; surprising for a book about design theory. Speaking about the examples, many of them have now found their way to my web browser bookmarks, and I am sure that they will also grace yours as well.
The only thing bad that I would have to say about the book is that it is very short. Coming in at a fairly skinny 163 pages, I definitely questioned if a book as thin as this could justify the price tag. My fears were soon forgotten as I began to read what I found to be a very well rounded introduction to, well, the principals of beautiful web design. I still wish that the book was twice its size due to the fact that I went through it in less than a week in my leisure time coupled with how much I truly enjoyed reading it. I have not yet looked to see if the author, Jason Beaird, has written any other books, but I for one would gladly pick up a more advanced or continuation version on the same topic by this author. I would also stress that if you are an already excellent designer or a person coming from a studio art or design background, this book will most likely be a refresher at best, but for me, someone coming from a more technical background starting with limited design skills, this book is an indispensible step towards making better design choices.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: web 2.0 design
Comment: Very nice overview of current web design trends. As Creative Director with over 40 years in the advertising game, I applaud the direction that web 2.0 design trends are taking. Web design is finally approaching a little maturity and slowly becoming the most powerful and cost-effective marketing medium we've ever seen. This book gives a good overview of how we got there and where we came from. It's strictly concerned with design. Don't expect any info on contemporary programming trends. But there are plenty of good books available for that too.
Customer Rating:
Summary: MUST book for web designers
Comment: This is a book that I should have bought earlier when I started a web design company. It is very well designed to make reading easy. It explains all the things you need to know, starting from meetings with your customers and going on to typography, CSS, colors and a lot more details that can make a website correct and beautiful. I would certainly recommend this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Comment: I'm a regular visitor to sitepoint. I do enjoy Jason Beard's writings. However, after finishing this book I find myself not one whit smarter and actually feel dumber for having spent the $ on it. Seriously, anything this elementary should be billed as so. I learned nothing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A suprisingly informative book
Comment: I was concerned that this might be a coffee table picture book of pretty website, but it could not be further than that! The wide range of topics covered include how colors work together and what they symbolize, how to determine pleasing proportions, image file formats, typography, back ground textures... just a huge range subjects you won't find much of in books that teach or reference the code aspects of web development. Now, those who have a formal education in design may not find this book any more than a refresher, but for the rest of us... it could be a real eye opener!
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