Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free One-Day Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
43 used & new from £6.39
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type (Design Briefs)
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type (Design Briefs) (Paperback)

by Kimberly Elam (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
Price: £9.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £3.00 (23%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Wednesday, July 15? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
32 new from £6.39 11 used from £6.80

Frequently Bought Together

Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type (Design Briefs) + Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, and Students (Design Briefs) + Making and Breaking the Grid: A Layout Design Workshop
Price For All Three: £33.37

Show availability and shipping details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, and Students (Design Briefs)

Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, and Students (Design Briefs)

by Ellen Lupton
£11.49
Typographic Systems

Typographic Systems

by Kimberly Elam
£9.99
Making and Breaking the Grid: A Layout Design Workshop

Making and Breaking the Grid: A Layout Design Workshop

by Timothy Samara
3.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £11.89
Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition (Design Briefs)

Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition (Design Briefs)

by Kimberley Elam
5.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £8.44
The Art of Looking Sideways

The Art of Looking Sideways

by Alan Fletcher
4.7 out of 5 stars (40)  £17.47
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 112 pages
  • Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press (Oct 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1568984650
  • ISBN-13: 978-1568984650
  • Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 17.6 x 1.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 25,231 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #5 in  Books > Art, Architecture & Photography > Design Studies > Typography
    #14 in  Books > Art, Architecture & Photography > Architecture > Techniques & Tools > Drafting
    #24 in  Books > Art, Architecture & Photography > Design Studies > Graphic Design

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
System Design
   Autodesk.co.uk/Inventor    3D power and 2D design tools in one package. Try Before You Buy! 
High Availability Systems
   HardwarePT.co.uk/Computing    Ultra-Reliable Servers For Critical Real-Time Operations 
Underwear Design
   www.ciao.co.uk/Underwear    Top-quality, Elegant & Exclusive! Underwear - Men & Women. 
  
 

Product Description

Synopsis
A guide to typographic composition for designers, with plentiful 20th century examples. Each example is overlaid with a translucent sheet that exposes its visual organization. The volume explains typography as a system not just of verbal information but of lines of texture that create rectangles of tone on a page; in the placement of the rectangles

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
Check a corresponding box or enter your own tags in the field below
graphic design
grid systems
typography
grid
graphics
design
design book
layout
text design
semiology
reticula

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type (Design Briefs)
47% buy the item featured on this page:
Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type (Design Briefs) 3.3 out of 5 stars (3)
£9.99
Grid Systems in Graphic Design: A Handbook for Graphic Artists, Typographers, and Exhibition Designers
20% buy
Grid Systems in Graphic Design: A Handbook for Graphic Artists, Typographers, and Exhibition Designers 5.0 out of 5 stars (5)
Making and Breaking the Grid: A Layout Design Workshop
13% buy
Making and Breaking the Grid: A Layout Design Workshop 3.0 out of 5 stars (1)
£11.89
Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, and Students (Design Briefs)
12% buy
Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, and Students (Design Briefs)
£11.49
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Gridlock!, 20 Nov 2005
By Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
I became aware of how important grids are when I was at art college and came across the first issue of a new design magazine, 'New Graphic Design' in 1958. Published in Switzerland in English, German and French and containing dozens of pictures, without a strict grid all the issues of this stunning publication would look a mess. The grid, put simply is a framework which allows several elements (photos, graphics, text, display type etc) to be placed in a rectangle and all work towards one aim, clarity of presentation. Virtually all publications use a grid (in its simplest form it could be called the type area) check out the page number position in a magazine, always in the same place defined by the grid.

Having used grids for years I'm surprised that there is so much confusion but that was before I read through Kimberley Elam's book. The straightforward becomes the obscure despite the good intentions. The most useful parts are the pages that use a see-through overlay, revealing the essence of the grid and nicely some disasters, too. What could be simpler than the two examples shown on page thirty-eight and nine, Christof Gassner's 1960 redesign of one page of a theater program, from the dull and confusing to something so elegant and simple. What is really interesting about the page is that it is all done with type only. Page forty-five uses another overlay for the contents spread of a book (designed by Drenttel Doyle Partners in 1988) the see-through reveals a simple grid but the actual spread is a complete mess with type everywhere, even the three words 'Table of contents' is letterspaced in two typefaces, roman and sans.

The two examples of the grid I've mentioned perhaps sum up the problems that a reader of this book might have, most of the European grid examples shown use the grid to simplify the placing of all the elements on a page, especially the typography. The American examples show basic grid versions that are virtually ignored when it comes to placing the page elements. This becomes evident in the last pages of the book where thirty-four design thumbnails are shown, one would not know they conform to any grid at all as each example shows a mixture of display type, text setting and graphics in no coherent order, in fact the very opposite of what a grid is supposed to do with these same elements. Perhaps the key element in any publication grid is the size of the text and headline types, because these (especially the text size) remain the same on every page and other elements, photos and graphics, need to be positioned within the grid defined by the typography.

I think 'Grid Systems' is pretty hopeless in explaining the virtues of this essential design format and strangely there is a real dearth of titles about the subject, perhaps it's just a bit too narrow or technical for most graphic art publishers. The great Swiss designer Josef Muller-Brockmann explains it all in his excellent 'Grid Systems in Graphic Design' (ISBN 3721201450) though it's not mentioned in the bibliography of 'Grid Systems' but two of his other books are.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great design book.A must have!, 16 Jan 2007
I feel that this book would quite easily appeal to the experienced designer aswell as the more in experienced one, as the book clearly explores and shows the way in which the grid has been used thourgh out design. It explores how the grid played a huge part within constructivism and also looks at some much more modern layouts. The way that the book has the grid so you can overlap it with the image of the design, in the form of tracing paper, is a very innotive one that i really think works well. I think that this is a very important book to have on any designers book shelf.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars average, 28 Mar 2007
By C. Wells (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Nothing specail there are probarly better books out there, as well as worse. Has tracing paper over some examples which is nice empahising the use of the grid but would have liked lots more examples rather than the loads of square thumbnails of simple layouts
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]

   

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Feedback

Fun for Everyone

Christmas Gifts
Achieve over 15,000 RPM with our great range of Powerballs.

›Shop the Powerball store

  

More From Kimberly Elam

Geometry of Design...

Geometry of Design: Studies in...

This work takes a close look at a broad range of 20th-century examples... Read more
£10.95 £8.44

 

Up to 53% off Braun Series Shavers

Braun Series 3 390cc Clean & Renew System Rechargeable Foil Electric Shaver
Get in touch with your smooth side with Braun Series shavers, now with Gillette blade technology.

›Discover Braun Series at Amazon.co.uk

  

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

  
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
4.5 out of 5 stars (75)£3.86
 Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga)
Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga) by Stephenie Meyer
4.1 out of 5 stars (464)£6.49
 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
4.1 out of 5 stars (165)£3.99
 The Host
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
4.2 out of 5 stars (84)£3.86

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates