February 4th, 2005
The do’s and dont’s of Guide Book design
I thought it would be good to conduct a bit of research for an upcoming article i’m writing. Guidebooks are a kind of book I just can’t do without when going to a different country or, especially, on a city break.
On a city break, if you’re doing the whole cultural thing, you generally need overviews on what’s available, but then more information if you want it. You also need maps, and good ones.
For someone who had relied on Guide Books pretty heavily travelling throughout South East Asia, Europe and Australasia i’ve become very attuned to the design of guide books and specifically how a badly designed book can have a seriously detrimental effect on your travel experience. Like I said, I was thinking about this the other day whilst researching this article i’m writing and was thinking about a couple of things — 1. The design, 2. The access structure and 3. The information architure.
Sound familiar? A lot of the user/reader requirements mirror website requirements. A guide book, like most reference material, is constructed in a non linear fashion, categorised by location and meets the users task.
An author who understood this is Richard Saul Wurman, the father of Information Architecture, and his Access guidebook series.
I’ve seen a few of these books, but have yet to own or use one in the way it was intended (note to self, buy Access guides). I know the design and access structure of these books is by and large incredibly well considered, from maps and clever ways of orienting yourself, to well structured typography.
If like me you’ve had the unfortunate experience of going to a city with a bad guide book, you’ll relate to what i’m about to say.
A few years ago I took my girlfriend (now wife) to Barcelona for a surprise birthday trip. I borrowed a Time Out guide to Barcelona to make sure we made the best time of the couple of days we had there. As my father is an Architect I should have known all about Gaudi and his beautiful buildings. However, if you’ve grown up with a father as an architect you learn not to listen at an early age when he rambles on about crumbling buildings all over the world. Therefore I didn’t know anything about Gaudi. The guide book should have informed though. It didn’t, and we missed it.
I think the Time Out guides are great if you plan to spend more than a few days in a place, or you live there, but for a trip of a day or so I really don’t think they cut it.
So, back to the reason for this now rambling post.
What do you look for in a guide book? Does design inform your decision? Are loyal to a particular brand of book, eg Lonely Planet?
It’d be interesting to see some of your thoughts.
Books like Timeout and Lonely Planet are ok for what they, commercially intended publications selling advertising space and content.
The question is, do they give you a true insight to a city? The sort of questions I would want asking is Who’s that bloke that makes Tarzan noises on Great Portland Street in London? Where’s the best place to get a late beer without being fleeced? You know that sort of thing.
Unfortunately guidebooks to date are far more concerned in the advertising space they can sell than give you the ‘real’ information you would find useful.
However that is changing with the emergence of books like London By London. The Insiders’ Guide
http://www.firebox.com/index.html?dir=firebox&action=product&pid=996
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/asin/0954831802/026–2262187-1556464
At last a book packed full of the collected knowledge of hundreds of people living and working in London, and covers all the things that really matter.
Go buy it now and find out information which you won’t find in any other so called guidebook.
Lovely design too I may add :)
I’ve always found the Rough Guide series very good at giving local insight to places, where do the locals like to eat, where are the non-touristy treasures hidden, etc. Especially good if you’re travelling on a budget — which usually I was! Unfortunately the design aspect of the book is seriously lacking.
Graham — You really should work in Sales. Are you on commission by any chance?
You did make some interesting points though regarding what i’d consider as trivia, such as Tarzan noises and late night beers, rather than a book designed to be carried around to aid a visitor as opposed to a quick read on the plane.
Nigel — The rough guides are good to give local insights and especially traditions and local culture. I used a Rough Guide to Fiji whilst travelling there a few years ago, it was both useful as a “where the hell am I know” kind of book and also it was a pretty good read. But, like you say, the design isn’t that great.
This site is great.
Richard Saul Wurman access guides makes information useful…ie. instead of asking what’s in this town to do, that presupposes you know where you are in relation to the place(s) of interest, not alway’s easy when you are traveling in “foreign areas”.
The better question answered in the access guides (after you determine your location) are what choices of food/resturants$$, entertainment, site seeing, etc are close by that I can walk to from my immediate location.
Thanks Kenn. That was my understanding of the success of the Access Guides as well. They provide contextual information based on your current location. Not all guides do this quite so well.