Review by Jason Beaird for Fresher Styles for Web Designers: More Eye Candy from the Underground
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In many ways, Curt Cloninger’s newest book is the antithesis of my own. He states this clearly just a few pages into the first chapter: “There are two basic ways to teach design. The first is to teach general fundamental principles, follow them step-by-step, and let the specific visual aesthetics arise from the principles. The second is to show samples and examples–to begin with a bunch of visual examples of work, and then work backward to distill the basic principles.”

Cloninger goes on to explain how his book takes the samples and examples approach but that both should be used in conjunction with each other. I whole-heartedly agree. The Web Designer’s Idea Book also takes the learning by example approach, but the difference is that Fresher Styles intentionally side steps mainstream design patterns to focus on the counterculture and design outliers of the web.

There are 8 distinct styles that Curt introduces and characterizes in the book: “No Style, Late(st) Modern Style, Psychedelic Minimalist Style, Dot Matrix Style, 1996 Dirt Style, Corkboard Sprawl Style, Fullscreen Fashion Style & Hand-Drawn Analog Style”. If you think this list sounds a bit absurd, you should know that he admittedly left out “1970s Dayglow Vector Style, Dusty Cowboy Style & Chrome Sheen”. The purpose of this distinctly idiosyncratic taxonomy isn’t to canonize the web; it’s simply a quirky, off-the-cuff lens through which new design ideas can be discussed and digested.

This combination of unusual design examples and curious categorization is certainly deliberate, as is the psychedelic design of the book’s cover. The intention is not to teach tried-and-true design technique, to make you a more efficient designer, or even to showcase the latest trends. Instead, Cloninger aims to invoke thought and avoid what he describes as inbreeding among web designers. The problem is that the circle of influence through which individuals become web professionals is a rather narrow one. We all learn by the same popular tutorials and we all align our work to the archetype designs of the industry. This book will force you to think outside this tiny box, simply by showing you that there is no box.

For a little more information about each of the styles, check out Curt Cloninger’s quirky promo site, which I would guess falls into the Psychedelic Minimalist Style: http://lab404.com/fresher/

Review by A. Goodman for Fresher Styles for Web Designers: More Eye Candy from the Underground
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Its inevitible for one to compare this book with its predecessor, Fresh Styles.

Fresher Styles is less visually oriented with fewer images and more indepth anaylsis of the background from which his currently identified web design styles arose. As a former student from his History of Graphic Design class, I nodded my head along when he mentioned various forefathers of modern web design. However, there were times when I skimmed the page in boredom wanting to get to the visuals and their explanations. Less talk, more action if you will.

I found this book less inspiring than the previous one in that many of the identified styles seem to be repetitive with little distinction between them (or worse yet, recycled from the previous edition) or almost ridiculous in any serious application of them such as 1996 Dirty Style. In this regards, I found only the second half of the volume to be informative but then again, the styles mentioned have been around for a few years already. I purchased this book with the hopes of having my eyes truly opened to new web designs but came away feeling that I could have simply browsed for a bit off Google and found the styles by myself.

The earlier edition inspired me at every turn and I continued to return to its dog-earred pages for consultation whenever I was uninspired. However I feel that this volume is going to remain on the shelf more often than not.

The book’s good points can be found in the personal quirks of Cloninger’s writing with his dedication and use of “off-the-chain” and his rant on Comic Sans in the Endnotes. I recommend this book as more of a place where a future browser could flip through to see a snapshot of web design at this particular point but not for the one looking for serious inspiration at this time. I hope the next edition involves more images and a greater variety of websites displaying true fresher styles.

Review by Design student for Fresher Styles for Web Designers: More Eye Candy from the Underground
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If you’re looking for a resource to help the creative process, this book is an excellent tool to check out a collection of design styles and their significance to the art. Cloninger provides a sharp and savvy perspective on why various techniques are appealing and how they relate to different demographics. His writing style is clear and informative in a relaxed and quirky manner. Cloninger is smart and funny, and this book definitely helps readers develop their own unique style.

Great choice especially for budding designers.

Review by Albert Dewey for Fresher Styles for Web Designers: More Eye Candy from the Underground
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I have been a webmaster for 12 years now and have designed my fair share of websites. Since I have been successful all these years and am still in business, busier than ever (I am NOT one of those graduates of a six week course in the art of using frontpage who calls myself a webmaster, thank you) I do consider myself something of an expert in the field.

Put simply, I found this book a complete waste of time. From the description and the title, I was expecting a nice sampling of different web styles showing a variety of techniques to effectively make your website stand out from the crowd. Hey, I am always willing to learn something new. Boy, was I disappointed!

Inside the book are a few scattered full color pictures, none of which would I even dream of implementing in a serious website. Even worse, most of the pictures inside weren’t even screenshots of webpages at all. Instead they were illustrations that might pass for modern art in the late 1800’s, nothing more. What few screenshots of webpages there were depicted ones that are completely useless and unoriginal with no creativity on menu handling or how content should be laid out. In fact, the page layouts, in my opinion, were really quite disorganized and would be quite confusing to potential site visitors.

In short, if you are looking for inspiration to help you design your next site, look elsewhere. If you are an art major looking for worn out inspiration for your next masterpiece, then perhaps this book is for you. Because of this, I find the title of the book to be completely misleading and should perhaps be called “Stale Styles for Art Students” as it really has no reality in designing websites in today’s world at all.

This one went straight into my trash can. You can fish it out if you get here before trash day!