From an outside perspective, hierarchical grids appear chaotic and don't obey the rules of standard grids. However, those grids rely on agreements inside a design team that dictate the alignment of various elements. For example, designers can agree that the format is divided into sections based on the proportioning of the golden section. They may also decide that the position of a page title may go slightly up or down on different pages to accommodate the background image. Simply put, you create the rules.

A bit of this helter-skelter approach can help create something genuinely phenomenal and non-traditional.