Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop - Timothy Samara (2005) [PDF] {CH}

Paperback, 208 pages
Published May 1st 2005 by Rockport Publishers (first published January 1st 2003)

Timothy Samara is a graphic designer and educator based in New York City where he teaches at the School of Visual Arts and Fashion Institute of Technology. He's also the author of The Typography Workbook (Rockport 2004). He lives in New York's Chelsea district.

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.