the-grid-brief.pdf

Grid Design 1

Brief – August 13 & 16, 2007

You should all be familiar with the concept of a grid but may be stuck as where to

start when creating one. This class will help clarify this process and hopefully give

you more conidence and creativity when designing grids.

We are going to start with a simple, one page grid.

STEP 1: Fold an A4 piece of paper in half vertically and then horizontally so that the

page has 4 rectangles.

STEP 2: Now fold the paper into four even columns vertically. Do this by folding the

top and the bottom of the page into the centre fold.

STEP 3: Use another piece of paper to create a sizing guide equal to the size of one of

the four rectangles (shown in ig. 3).

STEP 4: Rotate this rectangle 90 degrees and centre as shown in ig. 4.

STEP 5: Use the edges of this rectangle to create four more folds.

STEP 6: Now, recreate this grid in an Indesign ile. At the end of step 5, add margins,

the size of these margins is up to you.

STEP 7: Using the grid you have just set up, draw the irst letter of your irst name

using coloured boxes. You should try to vary the width and length of the boxes you

draw and do not overlap any boxes.

STEP 8: Remove all but three of the boxes. You should leave three boxes which are

the most different in size. So for example, choose a very wide and long one, a small

thin one and a square one.

STEP 9: You now need to use these boxes as your grid for setting the article you have

brought in to class. Place the headline, the body and the picture in the three boxes

you have, adding them to a separate layer to the boxes you’ve drawn. Choose only

one font for all elements. Use your common sense to decide which of the boxes you

will use for each element.

STEP 10: Size each element to it the box to which you have assigned it. Consider the

vertical alignment of your text, would it be better if it was aligned to the bottom or

the top of the box? Which alignment horizontally is best for your design? Left, right,

centred or justiied.

STEP 11: Now, hide the layer with your boxes and print out your page.

Further reading

Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop

Timothy Samara

The Typographic Grid

Hans Rudolf Bosshard

Grid Systems in Graphic Design: A Visual Communication Manual

Josef Müvller-Brockmann

Grid: A Modular System for the Design and Production of Newpapers,

Magazines, and Books

Allen Hurlburt

Other Grids

A 5 cOlumn GriD

You can make a grid from anything, you just need to make sure that it is lexible

enough for the style of content you have. Allow for some thin columns for little bits

of info like quotes and facts, and some wider ones for long copy.

A B B

Try setting up an Indesign document with a grid of 5 columns. Use the outside

column for the little bits (A) and the remaining 4 for your long copy (B) by

stretching each text box over 2 columns.

A GOlDEn SEcTiOn GriD

This is a more formal grid based on the Golden Section.

You should be all familiar with the

Golden Section (or Golden Mean, Divine

Proportion, Golden Number). If you are

not, then please do some more reading

on it after this class.

The Golden Section is found throughout

nature and it is thought that this is

why we respond to the proportions so

positively. Keeping this in mind, you can

understand why a grid based on it will be

successful.

STEP 1: Draw the grid at right into an

A4 Indesign page. Use the black lines

to show where you should place the margins. When you have inished drawing it

you should create master pages matching the dimensions of the margins in the

MARGINS AND COLUMNS menu.

This grid has very generous margins which are good for books and long pieces of

text. The inside column could be divided into more columns for more lexibility.

A SwiSS mODErn GriD

This style of grid is a very lexible

grid used by Swiss modernist designers

such as Josef Müller-Brockman. It is

made from a 3 column grid, which

have then be divided vertically into

5 columns.

You don’t have to use all of the modules

at once, but you should use them

consistently ie. if you use one width of

column for body text on one page, you

must use the same measure throughout your document. This will help your reader

navigate through your document more easily. It’s all about familiarity.

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