Software Design Decoded
66 Ways Experts Think: A review.

I love this book.
 It's the opposite to everything I normally expect from an academic work. If I'd stumbled across this title by accident I'd probably not have given it a second thought. I'd have assumed, wrongly, that it was a text-heavy, dry, and dense piece of academia, something this here dyslexic couldn't even contemplate reading. But... I love this book. Two reasons initially: One, It has the name Yen Quach on the cover. Two, it has a beautiful and compact design by Molly Seamans.

I have to declare vested interest here: I know Yen Quach. We have become good friends over the two years that she has been working as my assistant, studio partner, and now collaborator. I know her comic art, and I know her sketch reporting work. Her illustrations here combine skills from both disciplines. Still I wasn't sure what to expect, as this is quite different from what I was used to seeing, and I only got a few tantalising glimpses of roughs, as she was working on this project.

 What I do know about Yen as an artist and illustrator, from the time we have been working together is this: She is at once wildly imaginative, and intellectually rigerous in her working process. She has the discipline to discard what doesn't work, even if she likes it, to know when to reign in her imagination, and when to unleash it. She is also really, really funny. All of which make her the perfect person to illustrate this book. I love this book, I may have mentioned that already.

The book is written by Marian Petre: A Professor of Computing in the Open University in the UK, and Andre Van Der Hoek, a professor of Infomatics at the University of California
Software Design Decoded: 66 Ways Experts Think. Is around thirty years worth of research
condensed into a neat, accessible, 14cm x 16cm package. 66 paragraphs, one per page, and a little  over 66 full page illustrations. 

 It's an exercise in discipline and clear concise communication, as you can see from the examples here.

What surprised and delighted me, as a comic artist and designer who knows absolutely nothing about software design, is just how applicable the ideas contained in this book are to any design work. If you work in the creative industries and your job involves design, problem solving and the need for disciplined, 'outside-the-box' thinking, then you will find this work of great interest.

As someone with dyslexia, I find this a joy, the text is set in a clear font, 'milo', and printed on quality, matt, off-white stock, making it much easier to read.

This is an invaluable tool, one to keep with you, for inspiration, assitance if you are feeling stuck, or just a timely reminder of what great design can achieve. I love this book.

Software Design Decoded: 66 Ways Experts Think

by Marian Petre, André van der Hoek, Yen Quach (Illustrations)

"This is the book I wish I'd had around throughout my journey as a software architect. It's charming, approachable, and full of wisdom -- you'll learn things you'll come back to again and again." -- Grady Booch, IBM Fellow and Chief Scientist, IBM

Hardcover, 184 pages

Published October 6th 2016 by Mit Press

ISBN

0262035189 (ISBN13: 9780262035187)