“The grid system is an aid, not a guarantee. It permits a number of possible uses and each designer can look for a solution appropriate to his personal style. But one must learn how to use the grid; it is an art that requires practice.”
– Josef Müller-Brockmann
There's been a resurgence in the popularity of the grid in recent times. This has come about as the web has matured into a more capable design platform, and web designers have created reusable CSS libraries and frameworks to simplify the process of deploying and leveraging grids to create balanced page layouts. For an entire generation of designers on the web, however, the grid is something of a mystery. There's much theory and rationalisation of the grid as a design tool that simply isn't covered by the typical blog posts and conference talks.
Class work, creating grids to articulate the hierarchy of the publication by creating zones for different kinds of content. A text or image can occupy a single column or it can span several. Not all the space has to be filled.
Multicolumn Grid
While single-column grids work well for simple documents, multicolumn grids provide flexible formats for publications that have a complex hierarchy or that integrate text and illustrations. The more columns you create, the more flexible your grid becomes. You can use the grid to articulate the hierarchy of the publication by creating zones for different kinds of content. A text or image can occupy a single column or it can span several. Not all the space has to be filled.
Designing with a Hang Line
In addition to creating vertical zones with the columns of the grid, you can also divide the page horizontally. For example, an area across the top can be reserved for images and captions, and body text can “hang” from a common line. Graphic designers call this a hang line. In architecture, a horizontal reference point like this is known as a datum.
Modular Grid
A modular grid has consistent horizontal divisions from top to bottom in addition to vertical divisions from left to right. These modules govern the placement and cropping of pictures as well as text. In the 1950s and 1960s, Swiss graphic designers including Gerstner, Ruder, and Müller-Brockmann devised modular grid systems like the one shown here.
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