Connecting to Design
A highly visual introduction to the elements and principles of design.
The essential visual foundation for every designer.
Connecting to Design introduces students to the core elements and principles of two-dimensional design through a clear, easy-to-follow framework. It builds a shared visual vocabulary that applies across graphic design, interior design, industrial design, animation, fashion, film, game art, and more.
Highly Visual & Accessible
A bite-sized format and consistent illustration style make design concepts easier to understand, compare, and remember.
Clear Connections
The book’s “form and content” framework helps students connect what they see with what a design communicates.
Cross-Disciplinary Application
See how each concept appears across a wide range of creative fields, not limited to a single discipline.
Built for Learning
Designed for foundation-level courses, the book is flexible to support a variety of design programs, teaching approaches, and creative disciplines.
The companion website, Commentary on Design, extends the learning experience beyond the textbook by showing how each element and principle operates in real-world design. Students can explore examples from graphic design, interior design, industrial design, animation, fashion, film, game art, and related fields, helping them understand how the same core design concepts appear across multiple creative disciplines.
Connecting to Design is a stunning example of a contemporary textbook, and succeeds
in three vitally unique ways compared to other textbooks.
Goodman provides sophisticated, clear, and flexible examples any student or instructor can pick up and integrate into their work – regardless of the specific discipline. Her writing is clear and precise, but concise enough to be readily digestible. Most refreshingly though, Connecting to Design guides the readers to ask themselves how they see the elements and principles of design relating to their field/practice, as opposed to the seemingly ubiquitous vignettes on established practitioners as seen in other textbooks.
WALTER LEE, PROFESSOR OF FOUNDATION ART ART INSTITUTE OF PORTLAND
WHAT STUDENTS SAY
STUDENT,
ART INSTITUTE OF PORTLAND
By seeing the elements and principles in their simplest form, I am able to focus on and get a clearer idea of new concepts.
STUDENT,
ART INSTITUTE OF PORTLAND
The link in the book provides images as it relates to other areas of design, not unrelated works of art.
STUDENT,
ART INSTITUTE OF PORTLAND
Connecting to Design concretes the concepts in my mind better than traditional textbooks.
STUDENT,
ART INSTITUTE OF PORTLAND
The link in the book lets me see elements and principles in my own field; this makes the subject matter interesting and easier to understand.
STUDENT,
ART INSTITUTE OF PORTLAND
Connecting to Design's format makes it easy to recognize and understand new material...and apply it!