MTIV expands on that. Here he shares his respect and excitement for new media, gives a blueprint for design challenges of all types, taps into the myriad visual and literary inspirations that fuel his imagination, and shows readers how to get past their own moments of "designer’s block."

Curtis is a fine storyteller. He takes anecdotes of coffee breaks, book tour lectures, work, life, and art, and weaves them around design maxims. For every morsel of advice, there are three or four personal stories that illustrate how he arrived at it and puts it to use. He shows how books, movies, print ads--just about anything--can be used in the search for creative solutions.

The seven steps in "Process" compose the bulk of the book. These are the exact steps Curtis’s design team applies to each project. Without giving too much away, they are Listen, Unite, Theme, Concept, Filter, Justify, and Eat the Audience. (Well, you’ll just have to get the book to find out about that last one.)

In "Inspiration," we learn that Curtis draws from Hemingway, Mies van der Rohe, Sidney Lumet, David Mamet, Leonard Cohen, Mark Rothko, and Joseph Müller-Brockman, among others. And the book finishes with a bang in the third chapter, "Practice," a collection of helpful tips in typography, color theory, XML, grids, and much more, from experts like Joseph Lowery (author of the Dreamweaver Bible) and usability authority Steve Krug.

MTIV is not just an easy read, it’s fun, warm, encouraging, and, yes, inspiring. A self-taught artist, Curtis has made MTIV the perfect Boy Scout manual for those who have stumbled on design as a new career or just languished through too many uninspired afternoons in front of the computer. --Angelynn Grant