Meggs' History of Graphic Design

I needed this for a class, so I didn't have a choice to buy this or not. This was not for leisure reading.However, I will definitely not be selling this to another student! I like the way everything is written; it's very down to earth and easy to understand. If you're looking for a specific person or time period, it's very easy to locate that. This is the first history book I've found that made sense when divided into chapters; everything else I've read (for school or leisure) was disorganized and confusing. I'll be keeping this for future reference.There are a lot of pictures of the artifacts they are talking about, and lots of good information.The book came in excellent condition with no bends, rips, or fraying. The cover is actually a dust jacket, the actual book is white.

I haven’t read this entire tome yet, as I’ve only made time to study some of the chapters for class. But it is a fascinating read, discovering key figures and art movements in the graphic design history, especially when you see how they evolved over time. For example, you might read about how Jan Tschichold changed his mind about the rules he presents in his "New Typography" book after being imprisoned by the Nazi Gestapo for six weeks before escaping to Switzerland. He goes back to championing classic typography and also matching style to content instead of strictly applying his New Typography to everything. “Meggs' History” is full of that kind of information. They try to maintain an objective tone in the writing.There are also loads of images with informative captions, which alone are going to help you loads over simply approaching the history of graphic design knowing very little, such as I did.A used 4th edition would still serve the purpose, if you're on a tight budget.

My design school has set this textbook for their design history courses for well over a decade. It's an excellent overview of the subject and well worth the price even in this age of Wikipedia. For a serious design professional consider getting a dead-tree copy of Meggs for the high print quality illustrations and the eBook version for its "in your pocket" portability.This particular edition is much more rounded and has good flavour changes from the third and fourth editions.

Bought for an art history course (History of Graphic Art) and this is really informative. I'm only up to Chapter 9 at the point of this review, but I'm really enjoying reading it. I like it a lot so I give it 4.5 stars.Though the text is small and densely packed, the illustrations and examples break up the pages into readable portions that should be easy for most people to get through.I highly recommend this text for anyone who wishes to know more about typography, graphic communications, and multimedia history. Even those who are instructional and curriculum designers for online courses will learn a great deal from this text.

It is okay. I think there is a lot of personal bias in it, but it does contain a lot of information.

Wow, fascinating information! Within the first chapter I was hooked and didn't want to stop reading more about the history of pictographic communications. There is a ton of useful information for designers to reflect on to enhance their understanding of the field. Moreover, the author does a great job at writing the material and presenting new information in an interesting way. For a history book it was not a bore in the slightest.

Amazing book! Coming from VCUarts, I can honestly say this book is considered the bible there.. and for good reason. Philip Meggs received a masters at VCUarts and went on to teach there. This book does such a great job of outlining everything you need to know not only as a design student, but also as a professional in the design world. You will use it long after your school days are over.. guaranteed.

I have a love hate relationship with this book I think it was my favorite textbook this semester. But I do have some issues with the way it's laid out and with the way some of the info is muddled and confusing. I will say that the illustrations in the book are wonderful and it really made me love the subject. It's a beautiful book and one that I'll keep around - probably on the coffee table.

So glad to have gotten this book. Needed it for my college course and it came right on time too

Meggs' History of Graphic Design, Good reference book. Great for students the items arrived very quickly thanks.

Perfect condition.

Really great reference book, well structured, clear and a surprisingly enjoyable read. Not very technical or theoretic as most graphic design books.

Beware also however this is old school eurocentric based canon so use it with other more decolonised/representational texts for global south etc or you will get a skewed perspective.