Without a clear, balanced layout, even the most interesting information is likely to be ignored. But balance doesn’t have to mean boring, as cutting-edge designers are showing with exciting new deconstructionist looks. Making and Breaking the Grid is both a practical workshop in traditional layout design and a bold and inspirational guide to breaking the rules. In the first part of the book, designers learn the basics of working with layout grids for all types of projects, including advertisements, books, posters, and invitations. Once they’ve mastered that process, the fun begins—and the second part of the book shows how to deconstruct the grid to create edgier, more interesting work. Bringing the common yet critical element of layout to new levels of innovation, this much-needed book gives designers the license and the means to break away from convention and create work that is unique and fresh—yet effective and user-friendly. Timothy Samara is a graphic designer living and working in New York City, where he is a principal of SamaraLee Communication Design. He teaches typography and visual communication at the School of Visual Arts, in New York City. For designers working in every medium, layout is arguable the most basic, and most important, element. Effective layout is essential to communication and enables the end user to not only be drawn in with an innovative design but to digest information easily. Making and Breaking the Grid is a comprehensive layout design workshop that assumes that in order to effectively break the rules of grid-based design, one must first understand those rules and see them applies to real-world projects. Text reveals top designers' work in process and rationale. Projects with similar characteristics are linked through a simple notational system that encourages exploration and comparison of structure ideas. Also included are historical overviews that summarize the development of layout concepts, both grid-based and non-grid based, in modern design practice For designers working in every medium, layout is arguably the most basic, and most important, element. Effective layout is essential to communication and enables the end user to not only be drawn in with an innovative design but to digest information easily. Making and Breaking the Grid is a comprehensive layout design workshop that assumes that in order to effectively break the rules of grid-based design, one must first understand those rules and see them applied to real-world projects. Text reveals top designers work in process and rationale. Projects with similar characteristics are linked through a simple notational system that encourages exploration and comparison of structure ideas. Also included are historical overviews that summarize the development of layout concepts, both grid-based and non-grid based, in modern design practice "The first section, Making the Grid, begins with an exposition of basic grid types, illustrating and defining the most common ones used in traditional design work. A selection of relevant projects shows how these grids organize information appropriate to each application and can provide a framework for composition." "The second part of the book, Breaking the Grid, focuses on designs that challenge grid-based notions of organization. A brief discussion addressing the breaking down of structure is followed by a second set of relevant projects - this time, showing the grid reworked or discarded in favor of alternative compositional approaches." "Working designers and students alike will find this book a valuable reference, as well as a source of inspiration for new approaches to laying out their projects."--Jacket The history of the grid's development is convoluted and complex.
