This book contains design rules and guidelines that cover all kinds of design concepts and disciplines. There is a lot of information in the book, but it organized clearly and the index makes it easy to find what you are looking for. No matter what your experience with design is, there will be something in here that will be helpful. There may even be things that are brand new to you, there were plenty that I had not seen before. Universal Principles of Design is a handy book to keep around if you do any kind of design work. It doesn’t even have to be at a professional level.

I received a free copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a comprehensive and well-organized encyclopedia of design principles. The book is richly illustrated and easy to navigate, making it a valuable resource for anyone who is interested in design. The new additions highlighted for the third edition seem relevant to the latest trends in design.

I thought this book would be about the visual arts aspects of design, but I was actually pleasantly surprised that it encompasses so much more! To me, this book is about the study of human behaviour and how we can use the knowledge to make decisions and choose methods to achieve the best results.

I liked that each principle is described on one side of each spread and then a real life example is given on the other side, always with relevant photographs. So interesting! I found some of the principles a bit harder to understand and will probably need to read up more about it from other sources.

Still a 5-star from me because it is so interesting and so well presented.

Universal Principles of Design is not what I expected. And that may be totally my fault. I expected a textbook on design. However, it reads like a dictionary with no connection between different ideas.

Universal Principles of Design may find a place in library reference sections but is really not easy, or useful, to read cover-to-cover. The text is dry, but it may help a designer with a project outside their comfort zone. 3 stars.

Thanks to Rockport Publishing and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

The Universal Principles of Design is a book that anyone in business and marketing should read. There are a lot of great tips in this book. The chapters are short and to the point. There is a lot to think over within each chapter as well. Lots of great examples to bring home the principle being discussed. It's a book you will want to mark up and take notes on. I will be referencing this book for years to come.

Crisp, concise, and engaging. This is a fascinating tour of the matter of design that touches on numerous and varied related and parallel topics. There is something of interest on every page, with relevance well beyond what you might think the topic of just "design" encompasses. Our authors are witty and engaging guides who never condescend and are always clear and direct with their descriptions and explanations. A real treat.

Universal Principles of design is a well researched, wonderfully presented encyclopaedia of design principles - touching on how human psychology influences design. I work in graphic design and I found this really interesting. Each principle is kept to one page, with the right hand page being an interesting real world example. Highly recommend for anyone interested in design.

I’m going to assume that the first thing you thought when you saw the cover of “Universal Principles of Design” by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler, was “Ah, they used a yellow-banded poison dart frog as an example of aposematism, how clever.” And if you thought that, you’re smarter than I am, because I was mystified by the cover until reaching Aposematism some 25 pages in. It still seems like an odd cover choice for a book on design.

You don’t have to be a designer to enjoy and learn from this book, I’m a writer but found each topic to be clearly defined, well illustrated and included fascinating examples. I thought a few of the examples seemed like the authors were stretching a cherished issue to fit a topic. For instance, using global warming as an example of a death spiral (meaning that the burning of fossil fuels will lead to the destruction of the human race) is alarmist and not backed up with a cited source.

The authors did a fine job of organizing the topics alphabetically and by category (engineers, architects, graphic designers, etc.), but I wish they’d also included the subheadings in at least one of the listings (for example, obscure topics like "Saint-Venant’s Principle” become infinitely clearer when the subheading "Local effects of loads on structures have negligible global effects” is added).

Highly recommended.