DEKSTOP PUBLISHING

2.0 THE GRID BASICS: STRUCTURAL LAYOUT DESIGN

BASIC PART OF PAGEa. Clarity

b. Efficiency

c. Economy

d. Continuity

TYPE OF GRIDS

1. Manuscript Grid

Mainly used for publication such as books and essays which have smaller format sizes.

Best suited to continuous blocks of text and large images that full out all of the live area or while page bleed

Also called Single Column Grids or Block Grids

GRIDS: an imaginary pattern of crossed lines which serves as a guide for placing items in relation to one another

TYPE OF GRIDS

2. Column Grid

Series of columns

Used in magazines, newspapers, book or any publication where the text isn’t continuous or in situations where you have a number of different elements working together at once.

They are particularly useful for layout that need to be flexible, as the more columns you have the more flexible the structure becomes.

TYPE OF GRIDS

3. Modular Grid

Used for more complex layout to contend with, for larger formats or when you need to fit in large amounts of information.

The page is divided both vertically and horizontally to create rows and columns, which in turn create modules.

Group of modules together create spatial zones that determine the placement of text and positioning of images

TYPE OF GRIDS

4. Hierarchical Grid

Mostly used for Web design or electronic media which have an active navigation.

The page is arranged based on the importance of the information, and the information can be emphasized through sizes and placement or arrangement.

Colors also allow the reader to identify the importance of each section

THE ANATOMY OF GRID a. Columns

b. Modules

c. Margins

d. Flow lines

e. Spatial Zones

f. Markers

ColumnsVertical divisions of space used to align visual

elements

Single, multiple columns can be used or interchanged

The quantity and complexity of information determines columns

Gutter Width: Column Intervals, negative spacesthat separate one column from the next and prevent text and images from clashing

Modules

MarginsDefine the active area of a page and direct the

viewer toward the visual elementsMargins may vary in size depending on format

as well as contentFolios and footers may be placed in the marginsMargins are not intended to trap content,

theyare instead used to activate the positive spacesin a layout

For layouts with large amounts of text (books),large margins are ideal as they provide breathing space

Flow lines Support for vertical columns by dividing the

page into horizontal intervals to provide additional alignment points across a grid.

Wonderful tools to achieve consistency in a layout

– Dictate the horizontal positions of a visual elements and how they rise or fall along columns

Spatial Zones

Markers