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Grid Systems in Graphic Design: A Visual Communication Manual for Graphic Designers, Typographers and Three Dimensional Designers

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Overlaying elements, skewing items into irregular positions and unique shapes can break up the monotony of these grids, without devolving a layout into a free-form disaster. This allows you to adapt the information for one page into a more suitable layout without compromising the consistent look and feel a great design requires.

The below images show a series of 3 rows and columns which are fitted to my default margin, with the other fitting to the page. Simple column grids can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, where they serve to organize text into readable blocks within a long, rolled-up document. Creating a grid system for the virtual page is a little more complex than for the physical page – browsers handle information differently, and screens vary in size. In the 1950s and 1960s, Swiss graphic designers including Gerstner, Ruder and Müller-Brockmann devised modular grid systems like the one shown here. In historical perspective, this reflects how abstract grid systems emerged from the writing and printing of text; for Müller-Brockmann, grids and text were inseparable.

It can be tempting to view having to work within the constraints of grid systems as a negative thing—particularly when it comes to creativity. The intersecting rows and columns create “modules” that can then be used to govern layout decisions. When you look at magazines to newspapers – grids are commonly used to ensure consistency throughout.

Müller-Brockmann even explored the application of grid systems to 3D spaces, and grid systems have had a significant impact on the design of exhibition spaces, and on corporate interior design. Using the Golden Ratio or a group of Golden Rectangles in your designs will follow the ancient composition of nature. Grids work a kind of geometric magic, guiding visual elements to adhere to vertical and horizontal lines. Newspapers and magazines were quick torealize just how helpful grids were and, naturally, equally quick tointroduce them into their own work.Notice how we arrange the rows equally within the page layout, and how we insert gutter space between each row. It’s likely that the oldest grid system was something resembling the baseline grid: guidelines—or “helper lines”—drawn onto ancient manuscripts that aided the scribe in creating text that was straight and evenly spaced. Then he divides the page from top to bottom into a certain number of rows (four, six, eight, or more) according to the size and need.

However, if you want your gutters to sit on your typographic baseline (and you should), your gutters should be the width and height of the baseline. In visual design, a grid system helps you align screen elements based on sequenced columns and rows.In the West, movable metal type would emerge around 1450, and the release of the Gutenberg Bible around 1455 would be one of the first massive milestones in publishing. With the arrival of desktop publishing, these technical and formal constraints—which had both informed and reflected the use of grids in graphic design—were removed. Though their essence of being a framework of vertical and horizontal lines remains unchanged, they can be used in a multitude of ways. One of Müller-Brockmann’s most important insights is that the success of a grid depends not just on how elements are placed within it, but also on how the grid itself is positioned in relation to its container. David Carson is one of the most famous designers of the Punk/New Wave era, and his designs are highly experimental.

Grid systems can help you add structure to your design, organize information and create a consistent user experience. A multi page document will follow the same measurements of the manuscript grid but will have different grids for different parts of the formats. Mondrian’s paintings are known for their grids of straight lines and squares of color, which are uncomplicated yet almost mysteriously engaging. Finally, margins are spaces that add padding between the page’s contents and the edges of the viewport.

In the “ Build Your Portfolio Project: Redesign,” you’ll find a series of fun exercises that build upon one another and cover the visual design topics discussed.

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