Images are used everywhere, from cinema posters to perfume packaging, they have the power to elicit a response and impart information. Images can, quite literally, 'paint a thousand words', but understanding what they mean, when to use them and how to control them is becoming ever more crucial. The ability to alter images is made far easier through technological advances. Importantly though, what we're altering needs to be understood and controlled. Basics Design: Image will look at two distinct areas: what images mean and how we can create them. A primer in basic semiotics, Basics Design: Image will unravel the often complicated terminology associated with image 'reading'. On a practical level, this volume will introduce some of the many ways images are created; from reportage photography to illustration, computer generation to iconography and computer and print manipulation. Basics Design: Image aims to equip the contemporary designer with a series of tools and ideas. Inspirational examples from design agencies help support the 'basic' sections discussed and allow the reader to see the relevance of fundamental principles in practice.

'...essential reading for design students...an excellent source book for established designers too: it's brimming with stimulating ideas.' Creative Review

Gavin Ambrose achieved his Masters in Communications at Central St Martins and is a tutor on both the Typographic and Information Design courses at the London College of Communication. He has written and designed several books on graphic design, branding and packaging. Paul Harris studied at the London College of Communication and has gone on to become a freelance writer and editor. His work has appeared extensively in magazines and journals on both sides of the Atlantic, including style bible Dazed & Confused.