This compact book is an invaluable primer for the novice graphic designer or for the experienced designer keen to reconnect with the fundamental principles of design. Master designer Massimo Vignelli draws on his much-awarded design career to offer sage advice on design and strong opinions on the woes that have befallen good design since the advent of desktop publishing. His aim is to give young designers the tools to advance their design skills and increase their creativity, hoping that the discovery of new principles excites and inspires, just as they inspired the young Vignelli. The book is divided into two sections the 'intangibles' and the 'tangibles'. In the former, he urges designers to research, to uncover complexities and to understand the nuances of the job at hand. He urges discipline, adherence to the rules of design, relevance and appropriateness, and the search for what he calls an intellectual elegance, the essence of design. The 'tangibles' section covers many of the visible aspects of design that are essential parts of the designer's tool kit, such as standardized paper sizes, grids, margins, basic typefaces, type size relationships, scale, texture, color, binding and more. Generous illustrations and examples accompany each topic. With this succinct volume, Vignelli has succeeded in sifting through the often ego-driven and subjective field of graphic design to present solid, basic, invaluable advice that aspiring designers will return to again and again.

馬西莫·維涅裏（Massimo Vignelli，1931—2014）是意大利國寶級設計師，現代主義設計的開拓中堅，二十世紀下半葉視覺傳達發展進程中具有深遠影響的人物之一。他的設計領域涵蓋瞭包裝、産品、傢具、展示設計到公共標識。

1966年，維涅裏同其他設計師共同創辦瞭“益茂國際”（Unimark International），這傢設計所很快便成為瞭世界上最大的設計公司之一，並為眾多世界知名企業設計瞭身份標識，如美國航空、美國布魯明代爾百貨公司、福特、IBM等。這一時期，維涅裏最著名的設計作品是紐約地鐵綫路圖。1971年，維涅裏離開益茂國際，與妻子萊拉一起在紐約創辦瞭維涅裏設計事務所，被視為設計界的全能常青樹。