Design Basics Demystified: Guided Sketchbook Paperback – December 14, 2025

Everyone can make good design choices if they simply know what their choices are.A resource for both classroom and independent study, the Design Basics Demystified: Guided Sketchbook promotes hands-on exploration of the forty-three elements and strategies outlined in The Griffin Chart of Design Basics. Included in this 142-page sketchbook are The Griffin Chart, definitions and designated pages for each element and strategy, and lists of prompts, which provide creative challenges for exploration, further understanding, and idea development.Graphite, colored pencils, and collage are the recommended media for working directly in this sketchbook. Loose sheets of paper should be used when working with wet media, such as marker, ink, or paint. The work created outside of the sketchbook can be pasted into the pages, along with printed photographic and computer-generated images, and found examples of the concepts in application.The creator of this guided sketchbook, Annette Bauman, is a graphic designer and visual arts educator who is fascinated by the basics. In twenty years of teaching at the college level she has, with rare exception, exclusively taught the subject of design.She views design as puzzles to solve and, with the basics to guide her, is never at a loss for solutions. Read more