Grid systems in graphic design, book review

Grids are everywhere

As a young graphic designer, I always wanted to read two books that are considered essential for my field, Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton and Grid Systems in Graphic Design by Josef Muller-Brockmann.

However, they were too pricey for me and unavailable in my library, so I gave up on them.

Then one day, a friend of mine told me how he uses Facebook Marketplace to find and buy used books.

I decided to try it out and posted a request on a graphic design group and to my delight, someone had both books and sold them to me at a reasonable price.

I read Grid Systems in Graphic Design about a month ago and it was good, but not perfect.

At first let’s talk about positives

• It has a beginner-friendly approach and a large library of examples.
• Grid examples in the book are very informative.
• The book looks and feels quality, it could be a perfect coffee table decoration.

I really liked the topic about grid usage in 3D environments and in everyday life. It gave me a whole new perspective on how some things are designed.

For example many American towns are based on a grids or even some of the paintings that follow the golden ratio, which, surprise surprise, are based on proportions and grids.

The most valuable lesson that this book taught me was the significance of the grid. I know it is a common topic, but this book emphasizes that any design without a grid is less aesthetically pleasing.

Since I read this book, I haven’t made a project without including some sort of a grid.

To me, grids are like a cheat sheet for design. You could literally be a junior graphic designer, but if you incorporate grids into your design, it will look good or at least passable.

Here are some negatives

• Some grid examples become repetitive.
• It is written in two languages, half of it is English and half of it is German.
• Strongly oriented towards the Swiss style design and print.
• Outdated information.

Well the book was publishes in 1981, so you won’t find any trend bending examples, it’s based on Swiss style design (international design) so it looks very clean and pleasing, but it lacks expressiveness.

While it’s great that it includes two languages, but that creates a weird dynamics where you have to flip back and forth pages to cross-reference text with given examples.

So what did I learned from the book?

After reading it a month ago and putting that knowledge to the test I can say that I am pleased with the results of my new work. It looks more appealing and has better balance overall.

Grid is an essential tool for your designer’s toolkit, combined with excellent typography skills, it gives you a solid grasp of graphic design fundamentals.

You can learn those typography skills with the second book, Thinking with Type that I mentioned earlier, which I will cover in the future.

To who would I recommend this book?

This book is a great introduction for novice designers, but it may not offer much new insight for senior ones.

However, if you work in print design field, then you should definitely read it, because this books contains a good portion of information about book layouts, text sizes, margins and more.

And lastly I will give a quote from the books writer Josef Müller-Brockmann.

“The grid system is an aid, not a guarantee. It permits a number of possible uses and each designer can look for a solution appropriate to his personal style. But one must learn how to use the grid; it is an art that requires practice.”

Written by Konstantinas Ladauskas