Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Typographic organization has always been a complex system in that there are so many elements at play, such as hierarchy, order of reading, legibility, and contrast. In Typographic Systems, Kim Elam, author of our bestselling books, Geometry of Design and Grid Systems, explores eight major structural systems beyond the traditional ordering systems of the grid – including random, radial, modular, and bilateral systems. By taking the reader through exercises, student work, and professional examples, Elam offers a broad range of design solutions.

Once essential visual organization systems are understood the designer can fluidly organize words or images within a structure, combination of structures, or a variation of a structure. With clarity and substance, each system – from the structured axis to the nonhierarchical radial array – is explained and explored so that the reader comes away with a better understanding of these intricate complex arrangements. Typographic Systems is the sixth title in our bestselling Design Briefs series, which has sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide.

Average Customer Rating:

Solid read for students/designers in search of layout ideas	Customer Rating:
This book is geared toward students, but is a valuable resource for the working designer. Elam's book is full of examples of each type system in use by both students and professionals. This is the only book of its kind that I've encountered, and is a welcomed edition to my design collection.

A visual book for a visual subject matter	Customer Rating:
There are many typography and design books out there - but this book is rare in that it actually SHOWS whats its talking about. After all we are in a visual field, how much sense does it make to not get a grasp on how this stuff actually looks. As a graphic design student, this is really the only book my teacher assigned that i actually care at all about.

Solid examples on breaking the grid...

Customer Rating:

This book examines interesting ideas about alternative type layout and design. It is missing an introductory chapter that examines the traditional grid system and offers guidelines about how to break the rules, but for experienced designers this book offers a solid argument on breaking the grid, backed up with good historical references on how the grid has been broken in the past. It would be nice if Elam had addressed the reasons behind why designers are looking for alternative ways to work with type. This is strictly a reference book, with little or no discussion on the conceptual ideas behind breaking the grid. Tons of interesting illustrations and historic layouts back up the samples, also a nice touch, the tissue overlays that "map" out the different strategies. Overall, a good book for your typographic library and an excellent student reference.