The elements that are needed to describe a deformation structure-grains, grains boundaries, macroscale banding within crystals, cell blocks, geometrically necessary boundaries and incidental dislocation boundaries (cell boundaries)-are presented and described for fcc metals and alloys of medium to high stacking fault energy. Pertinent to this quantitative description are the local orientations, structural morphology, different boundary misorientations and spacings as a function of strain and deformation conditions. Three specific examples are given in which particular aspects of the deformation structure are shown to direct the recrystallization behavior.