For inspiration, a good search term is “Incunabula” - this term refers to books printed in the first few decades of the European printing press, before the printers developed the recognisable style that the modern book still follows. incunabula have quirky, imaginative layouts that reflect the old hand-written manuscript as much as they reflect the new medium.
If you print books and pamphlets under the banner of a particular printworks (eg. All my stuff is printed by the School of Epistemology), it’s a good idea to develop your own “house style”, rather than aim for “best practice” across the field, ensuring that our products are visibly different. Use of the guillotine can make a big difference here - I am tired of A5 books (and I’m as guilty as anyone else of producing them!).