Bo Bergström. Essentials of visual communication, London: Lawrence King Publishing 2008. ISBN 978‐1‐85669‐577‐0, 240pp. I like a good introductory textbook but they are surprisingly hard to find – a book you can use with complete beginners that explains the basics, that doesn’t take risks, that illustrates everything it discusses. Bo Bergström’s Essentials of visual communication is just such a book, and if you accept that it is an introduction you will not be disappointed. As the author says in his foreword, it is ‘an aerial view over the whole communication process’. He believes in cooperation among communications professionals, and a close integration of strategy with creativity (if you’ve worked in a design agency where people in suits and people in t‐shirts sit in different rooms you will know what he means by this). His contribution is to explain at a very basic level, and in one book, how different communications specialists work – the way they work, their distinctive roles, how they work as teams, and how they develop ideas. Few basic books on design attempt this – most being content just to show good work and list visual techniques. So we have chapters on how projects are created, and managed, how messages are planned, cultural influences and effects, as well as design basics such as typography, colour, paper, imagery and copywriting. The book is copiously illustrated with relevant and engaging examples – not just to showcase great work, but to explain the ideas in the book. It’s well written, with the insight of experience, although let down by a rather flat design – little white space is allowed in and the layout gives away few structural clues to help the reader. Having said that this is an introductory book, readers of this journal should not expect it to introduce information design (as distinct from graphic design). The context is corporate communications, marketing and journalism, so the example images and documents are not so much to be used as to be seen and interpreted. Few truly interactive genres are represented – I did not spot any forms, timetables, catalogues, instructions or maps. Book review as submitted to Information Design Journal (Volume 17, Issue 3, 2009, page 281).