A Smile in the Mind – Book Review #1

Posted 03 Jul 2009 - 6 Gratefully received comments

I find great pleasure in the written word. Great books can become firm friends for the rest of your life. Just like your real lifelong friends, they can entertain you, teach you and at times comfort you.

Professionally speaking, there is also a small group of books that help me more than most. There are those fantastic books that inspire.

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My oldest friend is: A smile in the Mind: Witty thinking in Graphic Design, by Beryl McAlhone & David Stuart.

Blurb: A Smile in the Mind explores witty thinking – the most delightful area of graphic design.
So what is witty thinking? It is playfulness with ideas. Designers take the familiar and turn it into the surprising. Words play against images. Unexpected connections prompt new insights. It is clever thinking not funny drawing.

This is quite a light book it’s not all essays and written conjecture. The bigger part of the book is dedicated to samples of design that display a specific area of thinking. For example, there are sections showcasing business that use wit to present themselves. While there are more serious samples that show how wit can add force behind protests and charity appeals.

To counterbalance this and to ensure this is more than just an inspiration flip-book, there are a few articles exploring the nature of the ideas generation process. Any designer will probably take great pleasure in trying to explain where their ideas come from, for the most part they won’t be able to explain it clearly as it’s a very personal thing. Everyone has different approaches.
Reading about how others approach their way of generating ideas is extremely interesting as it might give you ways of thinking about your current brief in a completely new way.

I picked up this book while studying for my degree and it has stayed as a constant companion ever since. I always notice something new each time I pick it up. The thing that strikes me most about it is the overriding simplicity of the most successful design ideas. Visually they are simple, but they work because they make the viewers mind work. It makes the viewer think, make connections and eventually take satisfaction in realising the joke.

My main reason for loving this book so much is that it is a constant reminder that a designer is more than someone who can use a computer or draw well.
Designers are thinkers, and thinkers can change the world.

I hope to provide more of these reviews as time goes on, most will probably be established and very well known industry books, but I’m sure I’ll be able to throw a few curve balls in too. For example I have a great love of comic book art. I have also found some of my greatest inspiration from literary fiction that has been completely unrelated to design. So keep dropping by to see what else I might suggest for you and feel free to give me recommendations, maybe I’ll like them so much they’ll be recycled back here again.

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6 Comments

  • Claire Coullon says:
    July 3, 2009 at 10:55 pm

    Hi Ken,

    I was automatically drawn to your first sentence and I couldn’t agree with you more! I’ve not had the chance to properly look through A Smile in the Mind but from what I have seen in it and what you’ve written, it sounds really good. Witticms in design are a crucial I find, especially when they are simple and subtle. I really think this is a way to stand out amongst loud and crowded designs that ‘shout’ for attention, not to mention more memorable and have the “I wish I had thought of that” aspect to it. Put a bunch of great examples in book form, with articles, and it can’t get much better!

    [Reply]

  • Ken Reynolds says:
    July 4, 2009 at 9:15 am

    Thanks for dropping by and commenting.
    I think you raise a valid point about using wit as a different way of standing out. The samples in the book really do make you feel like you should have come up with the concept, because they are so simple, but that is the genius of the people that created them.
    I’ve had a quick look through some of your work samples, and it’s confirmed for me that you will love this book, the style in which you produce your logos is very congruent with the ethos of it. I especially like your Power logo.

    [Reply]

  • David Airey says:
    July 4, 2009 at 12:12 pm

    Hi Ken,

    This is one I’ve yet to buy, even though I’ve had it recommended in the past. Thanks for the timely reminder, and also for stopping by my blog recently.

    [Reply]

  • Ken Reynolds says:
    July 4, 2009 at 1:06 pm

    @ David.
    Thanks for dropping by. I find your blog very interesting and informative. It’s a pleasure to participate in the small community that you have built there.
    It is a cracking book, plus it’s a lot cheaper now than it used to be!

    [Reply]

  • Claire Coullon says:
    July 5, 2009 at 8:09 pm

    Ken,
    Thanks for that and looking at the website. I’ll definitely check out the book when I get the chance (unfortunately have to limit how often I buy a new book as it’s too easy to get carried away).

    Anyways, have you bookmarked so I’ll keep checking back!

    [Reply]

  • Ken Reynolds says:
    July 5, 2009 at 8:24 pm

    Thanks for bookmarking me!
    I know what you mean about limiting your book buying. I find it very difficult to walk out of a bookshop empty handed. Especially after seeing so many recommendations on various blogs.

    [Reply]

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Who's Ken?

Picture of Ken I'm a freelance graphic designer living and working in Suffolk. I've been using Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign & Quark Xpress since 1999 but I've been using pens, pencils, paper and most importantly my imagination for a lot longer. I'm always looking for new clients to work with and interesting projects to work on.

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