An interesting book though I'm not quite sure who it's aimed at.The back cover says '...the perfect book for the ever-growing group of non-designers who want some graphic design guidance', yet so much of the contents is very specific and technical to the graphic design profession. On the other hand the sort of breezy way the book is laid out suggests it's aimed at those just starting out on a graphic design career. The 365 rules in the book do provide a ton of information in these chapters: Type and typography; Layout and design; Colour; Imagery and graphics; Production and print; The practice of design. Rule 338 sort of sums it up: Thou shall learn the rules before you break them.
I expect most professionals will argue about some of these rules, I certainly would. Rule 74: 'Thou shall not hyphenate text that is ragged right', mostly correct but for a more even column of ragged type it's is worth hyphenating, especially if the copy relates to a technical subject with lots of long words. Rule 61: 'Thou shall not use negative letter spacing', just tell that to Herb Lubalin (during his lifetime one of the world's greatest graphic designers). I would add a rule or two, put a .05 keyline box on all squared up photos, it gives a crisp edge and avoids white areas in the photo merging into the whiteness of the paper or screen. Avoid using an ampersand if there is room for 'and', the book's cover uses one for no good reason. Consider deleting punctuation in non-narrative copy, use weights of type instead. Avoid using initial caps for each word in a title if it's in u/lc (it mostly applies to book titles)
The book is certainly worth a read (and usefully there is an index) if you have recently started a graphic design career.
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