The Designer's Toolkit: 500 Grids and Style Sheets (Hardcover)

by Graham Davis (Author)
Key Phrases: lorem ipsum dolor, baseline grid, sit amet, Half Letter, Binding Half, Using Brochure (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Good graphic design relies on a simple, fundamental concept: the grid. With the invisible, unifying structure they provide, grids bring consistency and visual harmony to multi-page or multi-screen documents. The Designer's Toolkit is the first book to streamline the use of this critical tool, providing a fast-track way for both experienced and amateur designers to identify and employ the best grid for the job. A CD embedded in the book's cover includes 500 ready-to-use grid templates formatted for the most commonly used design programs. The templates can be used as-is or be easily customized to create professional-quality work. This unique book-plus-CD package provides the foundation for anyone to create effective, original, and sophisticated design.

About the Author
Graham Davis has worked as an art director at Time-Life International, the Illustrated London News, and Good Housekeeping magazine. He has been a design consultant for many magazines and has authored numerous books on design and technology.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (September 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811860515
• ISBN-13: 978-0811860512
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #243,621 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Useless. Not stylish. Non-professional., February 23, 2008

By	I. Danyushevskiy - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've recently bought this book and expected some nice illustrations, modern grids, stylish examples, but found nothing. Whether you are experienced graphic/web designer or inexperienced you will find it mostly useless. In comparison with other books about grids: Josef Muller-Brockmann "Grid Systems", Kimberly Elam "Grid Systems, Timothy Samara "Making and breaking the grid", etc. this book has very poor, not stylish examples and explanations. Expected so much more, moreover there are not so many books about Grids. Thanks for attention!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars If Only I'd Waited, March 6, 2008

By	Andrew Hoffman "Antibland" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I purchased this book, no reviews yet existed for it; I bought it solely based on the alluring title and cover. Next time I'll wait for another canary shopper to drop dead in this hazardous mine of a book.

The main problem with the book is in how little relevant content there actually is. The author cuts each section into 1-3 pages, and the examples look about a decade removed from the date of this review. With the examples bringing so little to the reader, there just isn't anything else to learn from.

I'm not sure who this book would benefit. Graphic design students will learn more in a half-semester than this book can teach. People like me who simply wish to learn about grids will certainly be disappointed. This is a book that only a mother could love.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars 200 of the exact same thing, April 9, 2008

By	David A. Turner "f0ru0l0rd" (FullSailUniversity, FL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I wish I would have had some kind of insight into this book before buying it. It seemed like they had a good break down of each, and what they had available. Not so. Even worse, a lot of the templates are very outdated. About 50% of the templates on here are webpage tempates, and they really aren't that good. If I could go back, I certainly wouldn't pay $15+s&h for this. It's just not that good at all...
As for information, don't bet on it. You get maybe 2 pieces of information. This book is decently organized, but that's about it.
Not recommended at all.