Craig Ward's new book punctures some of graphic design's most entrenched myths

It’s always good every now and then to take the time to question the things you take for granted on a daily basis, like “Is a quiff still right for a 28-year-old man in 2012?” (yes, definitely). Assumption is the mother of all fudge-ups as the saying goes and nowhere can the propensity to blindly follow certain truths be more misleading than in the creative world.

Designer and typographer Craig Ward has just published his first book, Popular Lies About Graphic Design which aims to “to debunk the various misconceptions, half truths and, in some cases, outright lies which permeate the industry of design.” But don’t just take Craig’s word for it, because with contributions from the likes of Milton Glaser, Stefan Sagmeister, Christoph Niemann and Ian Wright there’s plenty of wisdom to get your chops round.

Taking in everything from font myths – like the neutrality of Helvetica and Comic Sans being the worst typeface in the world – to education, the future of print, client relationships and pitch planning, this is a book which few designers will want to be without.

Of course it’s a great-looking thing as well, with its smart, stark, communicative monochrome offset by some neat typographic tricks. On quiffs though, we’ll have to take Craig’s silence as approval…