Customer Reviews

Typographic Systems of Design

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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the rules, but for experienced designers this book offers a solid argument on breaking the grid, backed up with good historical references on how the grid has been broken in the past.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.

On one hand, this book offers great examples of different methods for laying out type on a page. On the other hand however, this book reads similarly to a classroom textbook and beyond the sample images with tracing paper overlays (Very nice touch).

This book is a quick read and you may come away from it with something, then again, maybe not. I would suggest this book more-so to intro design students looking for good pictorial examples of methods for laying type on a page than I would to more advanced designers, But then again, I have referenced back to this book once or twice in search of some inspiration.

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.

I purchased this book as required text for my Typography II class and it has been an invaluable tool on becoming a better designer for a base platform of design layouts. The categories are broken down into basic forms that work well.

I love this book...I even paid full price for it at the bookstore. Given the emphasis on "grid" systems these days, this is a fresh look at type that is not bound by grid. There are so many other ways to organize type. The book includes discussion and examples of Axial, Radial, Dilatational, Random, Grid, Modular, Transitional, and Bilateral systems. Thank god I don't have to look at another paradigm of the strictly grid-laden. If you are doing work that is not solely text, this is a great book to add to your arsenal. Consider how we might lay out posters, identity, web-graphics, etc. There's so much more possibility beyond the grid.

The samples in the text are interesting and enlightening...and thank heavens there're more graphics than text. This is a very well conceived book written obviously by a talented educator who's interested in ideas beyond current fads. It's published by Princeton Architectural Press for a reasonable price. Great book! Good value!

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.

Having met Kim Elam during several conferences I honestly admit I am not impressed. To my knowledge she is head of Ringling College of Art and Design Departments graphic design department. However, she has a completely skewed misunderstanding of what successful design is. For example her books are poorly written and include outdated design strategies. Thus meaning she is well pass due to be head of a department of what is considered a respected university. This is not to say, that at one point in her life she did not have a strong handle on what design is, this is to say that her credibility is put into question. Looking into the reviews of her books you will see that many of the accounts are attached to recent hires at the university. Can you say brown nosing. Anyways, the woman should be removed from figure head positions and forced into restructuring her understanding of what today's design expectations are. In other words,this woman needs to quit paraphrasing Ellen Lupton and classifying and creating strategies of her own. Or if so required, retire before someone in a high positions calls you out on ignorance.

This book teach us how can design better, based in some systems, like, grids, axial, radial, etc.
Is a good tool for learning.