I haven't finished the book yet, but I feel it is packed with lots of good info, like others have said, ESPECIALLY helpful for beginners and students. Not as much about just layout as I expected, lots on typography and design in general, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Lots of tips and info I found valuable as a junior graphic design student.

If are a good designer don't reed this. BUT... if you are a beginner, a student, or just an insecure designer, then salvation may lie in these pages. No this is not a "bible" of graphic design, but rather a great way to decode those esoteric and metaphoric lectures that you never understood while in college about some of the most simple things

When I first got this book, I thought it was going to be more in the layout like a textbook that has a lot of words and few pictures. When I opened it up and read through it, it was quite the opposite. It shows everything visually and minimizes type wherever it can. It really goes into good detail about the design process and the best way to brainstorm and come up with ways to stop artist-block. It shows good solid design across multiple different styles. It mostly focuses on print pieces, but the messaging and intent can be carried across to web design as well. Great examples at the end and helps to break out of the normal art concepts that I come up with. For me, it is more of an inspiration book than a "learn design" book.

This was the first book that I bought in Rockport's series of graphic design books. It provides great information for designing layouts and even shows examples from real publications. The only gripe I have is the small font was a bit hard to read in a dimly lit room (but most trendy publications are that way now). But despite that, the book is still readable in good lighting and provides extremely helpful design tips. With its glossy pages and a sophisticated design style, even if you don't actually read the book (although you should!), the style of the book itself provides inspiration for creating a modern, clean and dynamic look.

This book is part of a TERRIFIC series of graphic design books by Rockport. (The series also visually looks great together since the publishers shrewdly designed all the bindings to match and line up together on the shelf.)
So far there are only 5 (including Layout Workbook), but hopefully they will add more books to the very useful series:
Logo Design Workbook: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Logos

Typography Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Using Type in Graphic Design

Publication Design Workbook

Color Design Workbook: A Real World Guide to Using Color in Graphic Design

You will learn something if you are a novice, but if you have already taken a layout course this book doesn't offer you much.

I have only just started to read this book and already its got my imagination running with new ideas. I would highly recommend this book for anyone; getting a basic understanding of layouts and how they effect the interpretation of a design is key point in graphic design. This book demonstrates this perfectly I believe.

I highly recommend this book to my Graphics Students all the time. If you are interested in creating professional, yet creative layouts this book is a great creative resource.

My teacher first lent me a copy of this, and I found it so useful I went looking for my own copy, when you are stuck for an idea it shows you new ways of thinking about layout.. very good!

Ok, so what does the word "workbook" mean to you? To me it means there will be exercises in the book for the reader to complete which aid in learning. Not in "The Layout Workbook" there aren't. I realize that a topic as subjective as graphic design isn't the easiest to do that for without an instructor actually looking at what you do, but I'm disappointed that there isn't something more hands-on than sidebars with factors to consider in a design. Designers who've been to art school probably already know everything in this book and have no need for it but those of us flying by the seat of our pants could use all the help they can get. And holy smokes, NO INDEX!! That said, the information in the book is extremely useful, but it is a mostly narrative-based presentation of information with example pieces telling "what works" (not even any examples of "what doesn't work"), but it isn't a "workbook".

This is a great book and is a must if you are new to graphic design and page layouts. Really nice to read and well designed.. highly recommended

This book was a great refresher after having graduated with my design degree almost a year ago. I was searching for a little inspiration before putting myself on the market again for a better graphic design job. This book was everything I was looking for and more. It is inspiring, educational and provides great insight into the process of creating purposeful design. Wonderful guide for students as well as graduates. Great buy, especially for the price! My two thumbs up!