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67 of 76 persons found the following review helpful.
The big book of clarity and chaos
By Robin Benson
What a strange publication. Divided into two subsections the primary explaining grid formatting with actual printed material and the second revealing how to design print without a grid.

There seems a contradiction here because the grid, employed intelligently, will concede a whole range of graphic choices to be staged with clarity. Some of the print examples reproduced in the original section do show this with perhaps the most utile item a grid thumbnail for each piece, unluckily I thought it was rather too little on each disseminate in spite of being the key to explaining each format. From past experience, designing magazines, I would get started work on a grid by concentrating on the text type size because it is the least flexible of all the elements on the page. This point in truth wasn't made sufficient of in the book's chapter: Grid Basics.

The reproductions show a reasonable range of design solutions, basically print altho there is an example of corporate signage. Missing are magazines (consumer or trade) timetables and the like. Without a grid this type of printed matter genuinely wouldn't exist.

The book's contradiction, to my mind, commence with the second section: 'Grid Deconstructions and Non-Grid-Based Design Projects'. The forty items shown seem to have a couple of mutual threads: their design is basically arbitrary which makes them look very messy and ofttimes their typography (display and text) is applied as a design element which makes the words unreadable. Their design is the opposite of grid stimulated creativity, in other words visual chaos.

Some of the examples are rather amazing. On page 180-181 twelve pages of a calendar are shown, exclusively useless as it is inconceivable to see the days and dates. Pages 188-189 show eight spreads from a design school diary showing irregular shaped blocks of text creating a sort of collage. I doubt any person made the effort to read any of it. What is interesting in regards to this second division material is that so much of it comes from instructional establishments. In the real world all this architect whimsy would be rejected by the client on sight of the firstborn dummy

'Making and Breaking the Grid' is well printed with 175dpi and the layout is adequate and for a book regarding grids you would have thought it is own grid would have been included but it is queerly missing. Overall I felt that because the contents present two opposite design ideals the book's editorial conception is rather flawed.

From my experience there is only one book that actually explains it all: Muller-Brockmann's Grid Systems in Graphic Design (go to the book's website to see a good deal of spreads I've uploaded) published in Switzerland and full of good solid, practical, hands-on information. This book's only aim is originative clarity.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' underneath the cover.

22 of 24 humans found the following review helpful.
A outstanding book on handling type and layout
By Don Eglinski
This is a formulated look at handling type and page (surface) layout in a simple-yet-abstract way. Using grids and ideas staged in this book (with some practise), the learning architect may begin to utilize parts once thought as simple and static in ways which add dynamism to your layouts.

For a architect such as myself, a fan of Swiss and Bauhaus, simplicity, directness, Making and Breaking the Grid is a book full of idea and potential. Although not radical per se, it is a concise look at one of the most powerful distinct features of communicating design out there, in my opinion. Definitely worth a look.

20 of 22 humans found the following review helpful.
Extremely helpful
By Andriy Konstantynov
My friend architect purchased this book couple of months ago. Suddenly I noticed that I can't aid myself looking into that book again and again. So, in spite of having it not far away, I decisive to buy another instance for myself.

The book covers the grid theory and usage almost perfectly. If you're engaged in brochure or booklet design, you'll find this book full of ideas and exceedingly helpful, no matter whether you just begin with it or you have been practicing brochure design for years.

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