The Form Book: Creating Forms for Printed and Online Use

Dear friends, this is one of the rare books recently published on graphic design which, in my view, with all due respect to other design authors, truly deals with the essence of graphic design--instead of just pushing us lots of that silly-typography hype down the throat. Its content is very much to the point, technical, and rigorous in a number of ways. For example, it addresses the contrast ratio between various color combinations of text and its background (and how this affects legibility and readability). As mentioned, I find it somewhat rare to come across a recently published design author who deals, as I see it, with the essence of design. In addition, the subject itself of designing printed and electronic forms is extremely critical and central to the craft of design. According to my impressions, very few people even know about this subject and discuss it. The designing of forms is, however, one of the most pervasive and noble manifestations of graphic design. I recommend this book to designers who humbly strive for excellence, who strive for a critical, technical, rigorous, and well-informed graphic design practice. This may not be the kind of book suited to superficially-minded newcomers who worship "impact" and do not even aspire to possess proper understanding of the specific nature of the design activity. This book, in my judgment, presents instead design as design should be, as design in fact used to be, as design is no longer understood and revered! Good design, friends, is, however, still possible--and needed! Peace and very best regards to all from Brazil! Claudio

As a UX designer looking for resources on creating physical forms i turned to this physical book and really struck the jackpot. It's written very well, and i got through it within 2 days of heavy browsing. it answered many of my questions but also just brought a lot of light to the subject that i sometimes intuited but never considered concrete.

Almost everything a person would need to develop a deep appreciation and love of forms. A beautiful publication. I highly recommend this work of 'form love'.

Great info!

I bought this book because my design professor advised me to do so.I do not regret buying it... it has been very helpful when I try to designusing a lot of copy... LOVE IT!!

We returned this book. We expected a book on creating forms. This book was useless even though it got a rave review in the Wall Street Journal.

Good book, good quality.

The media could not be loaded.  This is the bible of form design. It's 324 pages thick and they even use form paper material for the first feel pages, eh, to get you into the mood.It is comprehensive, covering not just the design but also on how to phrase questions to get the required response. There are tips on structure, style, typography, user friendliness and much more. Included are plenty of examples from real life, from the dreaded tax forms to popular lottery forms.Here are the different types of forms covered:- Application forms- Registration forms- Declarations- Orders and contracts- Invoices, bills and receipts- Notices and statements- Questionaires- Certificates and passes- Tickets, cheques and shares- Records and checklists- Direct mailThe part on digital forms is just like printed forms, with the focus on collecting data -- huge amount of data. So you won't see examples of online user registration forms. Instead, it talks about the different ways printed forms can be translated for online use.This book is a great resource on designing forms.(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

This book is all it says it is.....wonderful and informative...although it is a bit repetitive in the beginning, but well worth the read if you want to learn all about forms.

Garantiert eins der besten Bücher, welche man über das Erstellen der Formulare - von A-Z - lesen kann. TOP!

This book is an amazing resource. Advice is provided for all sorts of forms (both paper and online) in a wide variety of industries and contexts. I’ve used several of the examples to influence my work in the exciting world of database front-end development as well as for my own personal business paperwork (invoices, etc.)My only beef is that the online section suffers somewhat from being a decade old, so you’re looking at examples from the pre-Bootstrap world, but the underlying ideas are sound.

this book is amazing. i thought i was the only design geek obsessed with forms. this is the first comprehensive book on form design that i have seen in english. i have got a few dutch ones that are very good too.i haven't had the chance to read through it completely (it is quite big and heavy- so not easy to just carry around with me in a bag) but i am sure i will.

The book is a really good resource.The price of the book dropped right after placing an order.... feeling kind of cheated.