Stacey Lee- Book Review

Making and Breaking the Grid by Timothy Samara

This book is consisted of two sections, ‘Making the Grid,’ and ‘Breaking the Grid.’ The first half of the book displays some prominent works that are highly based on the original structure of the grid. On the other hand, ‘Breaking the Grid’ shows works that abandon the ordinary way of using grid. These very two opposing examples of use of grid allowed me to compare the two easily. Works from the first section illustrate ‘simplicity, clarity, efficiency, economy, and continuity.’ There are four basic types of grid that are shown, which are manuscript, column, modular and hierarchical. Each type of grid is useful for different types of information. For instance, manuscript grid, which is also known as block grid is the simplest type of grid. This type of grid is useful when there is a long and continuous text. Column grid is useful when there is discontinuous information and therefore could be organized into several columns. Modular grid is useful when there are number of subordinate information, which can be put into columns and rows. Lastly, hierarchical grid is based on more creative and intuitive alignments and proportions.  On the second part of the book, grid is used as a tool for making creative and dynamic visual communication. The works are still based on basic types of grid, but designers distorted the original structure and proposed a more uncommon visual narrative. In my opinion, the second part of the book was much more intriguing. Even though works from the first part of the book seem easier to read and seem organized, works from the second part of the book treat typography as a part of visual narrative and incorporate text with images.