Comments on: Grid layout book recommendations

Question: Grid layout book recommendations

spyke23 — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 17:16:02 -0800

Any recommendations for books on grid layout systems for print?

By: Dean King

Dean King — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 17:40:28 -0800

Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type and tangentially, Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition, both by Kimberly Elan. The page proportion diagrams and tables in Bringhurst's Elements of Typographic Style are useful also.

By: Jeff Howard

Jeff Howard — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 18:53:46 -0800

Dean King pretty much nails it. All great books.

You might also consider The Design of Books by Adrian Wilson and (if you have a few hundred bucks to drop), Grid Systems in Graphic Design by Josef Muller-Brockman.

By: O9scar

O9scar — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 18:59:04 -0800

I second the Elam book. I also like Making and Breaking the Grid by Timothy Samara.

By: luriete

luriete — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 09:25:16 -0800

Ruari McLean's Thames & Hudson Manual of Typography has a lot of excellent guidelines, too, especially in terms of relating page grid to type, as does Robert Bringhurst's book, as recommended by Dean above. Ellen Lupton's very recent Thinking With Type: A Critical Guide also does this in a context perhaps easier for an amateur / nondesigner / student to understand. And of course the Allen Hurlburt book Layout is also good, but I don't think there's been a new edition in quite awhile.

By: Dean King

Dean King — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 09:54:38 -0800

Ah yes, Hurlburt. Grid: A Modular System for the Design and Production of Newpapers, Magazines, and Books is a good overview and history, although a little dated now (1978).