Chapter 5: The Typographic Grid
Connor Posey
The grid is the overall structure and framework that the
design is designed upon. The grid controls the constraint and complexity of the
piece. The result of the use of the grid is an overall visual harmony that
makes the design much more clear to its audience. It has roots going back to
3000 B.C. with hieroglyphic layouts on papyrus.
It serves overall as the underlying structure for modeling
the contributing factors onto the design. It was interesting that gravity had
such a big part in the design of grids. People, because of gravity, focus on
grounded forms, reading horizontally and sometimes vertically. But vertically
is used less because we are not as comfortable with this direction. “We are
afraid of both flying and falling.” The golden mean plays a role in the
proportions and “sweet spots” of the design. By dividing the pages of a spread
diagonally, any piece to the design lying on that line is described as more
visually pleasing. With single column text spreads, the most optically pleasing
ways are 1) to be symmetrical or 2) to place the next page’s text box in the
exact spot it was on the previous page of the spread. With multicolumn grids
there is much more visual leniency. When working with multicolumn grids, type size,
line length, and interline spacing must be balanced well. Because with so many
elements, it is not hard to make the look appear sloppy. Grid methods follow
the rule of continuation. If there are unconnected elements that line up on the
same axis, it helps the grid flow and clarity to arise. Typographical elements
are the main building blocks in the structure described as “improvisational
structure”. In this type of grid, instead of following a structural grid, the
pieces flow accordingly to the other corresponding elements. It can be much
more flexible than the other structured grids. Structured or not structured,
grids do provide an overall clarity to the viewer and it is essential to a
clear and concise layout.
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