Denise Bosler’s Creative Anarchy is a battle cry for creative minds to challenge themselves within the world of design. But you have to know the rules to break the rules, which is why the book itself bends expectations; it’s literally a 2-in-1 book that you must physically flip over to read both halves of Bosler’s argument.
The first half of Creative Anarchy is all about the rules of design. The balance between visual and verbal communication, principles of hierarchy, legibility and readability, and a deeper examination of how color, line, shape, texture, and type are used in design.
Professional designers may find Bosler’s outline a basic refresher of what they learned in school, but as a casual designer myself, I found it highly instructive. Bosler uses clear, concise language to review principles, each accompanied by striking visual examples. While I think professional designers would absolutely benefit by these chapters, even someone who considers themselves creative and has ever had to put together a PTA flyer, family newsletter, collage of photos or otherwise will be inspired.
Speaking of inspired, Bosler also give some great advice in these chapters on what to do if the creative mojo is lacking. She offers ideas for exercises in mind mapping, mood boards, and even searching design archives for inspiration. The suggestions are helpful for the professional and casual designer alike.
excerpt of the book from http://creativeanarchy.is/
Once Bosler establishes the rules of design, the reader is led to flip the book over for now taking – and breaking – the rules. I appreciate Bosler’s immediate words of caution, though – namely, that if you are designing for a client, they must be a “co-conspirator” in your rule-breaking approach. This is the delicate place where art and commerce meet. But if done with professionalism, honesty, and respect for the client, creative anarchy is entirely possible. Bosler suggests asking a lot of question of a client, moving slowly, not breaking rules gratuitously, but to serve a greater design, and above all, having integrity throughout the process. Anarchy is not a free-for-all in this context, but an innovation.
In guiding the reader to consider creative anarchy, Bosler examines each of the mediums for design, such as advertising, branding, publications, packaging, and more, and gives great visual examples of where rules have been pushed and broken. Beyond this gallery of examples, she then gives three or more specific exercises for the reader to try their hand at breaking the rules themselves. Some of the exercises involve just brainstorming with a paper and pencil, some exercises involve gathering materials to bring something new to life. If the first section of Creative Anarchy was educational, the second section is definitely hands-on.
It’s only fitting that Creative Anarchy as a book is beautiful. The visuals are compelling and the size and design are lovely. The content is clear and fast-paced, perfect for creative individuals looking for an opportunity to learn and be inspired. And breaking the book into two halves was very smart, as they function well independently, but make an even better whole. I enjoyed Creative Anarchy and know I’ll be referring back to it often.