Without a clear, balanced layout, even the most interesting information is likely to be ignored. But balance doesn’t have to mean boring, as cutting-edge designers are showing with exciting new deconstructionist looks.

Making and Breaking the Grid is both a practical workshop in traditional layout design and a bold and inspirational guide to breaking the rules. In the first part of the book, designers learn the basics of working with layout grids for all types of projects, including advertisements, books, posters, and invitations. Once they’ve mastered that process, the fun begins—and the second part of the book shows how to deconstruct the grid to create edgier, more interesting work.

Bringing the common yet critical element of layout to new levels of innovation, this much-needed book gives designers the license and the means to break away from convention and create work that is unique and fresh—yet effective and user-friendly.

Timothy Samara is a graphic designer living and working in New York City, where he is a principal of SamaraLee Communication Design. He teaches typography and visual communication at the School of Visual Arts, in New York City.