Grid and Layout

A designer can’t even make a simple sticker without using a grid – it is the setting stone of the designer and it makes for a much better result. For example, a magazine has to be designed from scratch.

First, the format is set (height and width), then the grid and the layout. In a journal, each fold has the same grid. The same grid is used, but everytime the layout of the various elements in each fold is different.

The grid remains the same, the layout changes the composition of the elements. The grid makes life much easier in many cases.

 

Grid 1

The crop marks don’t go all the way because of the deviations in printing press. The Italian press is the best one in the world and it has no deviations (so they say…).

As a result, to prevent deviations and dirt in the corners, we leave a small margin on the crop marks.

1. First we set the margins. There are no rules for that.
Once the margins are defined, we must stick to them.

Grid 2

Minimum margins – 2 centimeters. If we use smaller margins, elements would go out of the format.

Grid 3

When the margins change – the most interesting setting.

Grid 4

The height and width of the margins varies.

 

2. We set the width of the columns in the abovementioned magazine.

The spacing between each column must be 0.5 centimeters at least – that is the default setting.

There are also elements such as page numbers and sections, whose location is permanent – regardless of the subject and the contents of the fold – the page numbers and sections are always in the same location.

We must place the sections as well as page numbers in the margins, so that it’s easier for the reader to locate the page number and the section while reading.

 

Conventional Signs

Grid 5

Flowing text is marked with straight lines, where the thicker the line is, the bolder the font is; also, it shows the leading (spacing between lines), as well as the column width, column depth, and font weight.

Grid 6

A visual (an illustration or a photo)

 

Possible layout on the existing grid

 

Grid 7

Another layout on the same grid

 

Grid 8

One must be very careful, as if the fold is dedicated to one subject, in this way the visual is disconnected with the second page. That’s why one must overflow to the second page as in the first layout to link between both pages.

One should only place the headline at the bottom of the page provided that the font is sans serif and bold, with an overflow.

In flowing text one must never make the column too wide, as by the time the reader’s eye reaches the end of the line, s/he could drop dead and their eye would get lost in the way.

In subtitles, one can use three columns as it’s aesthetical and beautiful and the text is not as dense as in flowing text.

One should always prefer a visual with no background to a visual with a background which doesn’t contribute anything. When the text overflows on the visual, as the visual’s brightness is strong, it gives depth – a feeling of another level. When one makes an overflow with text on a visual, the text must be readable, whether the visual’s brightness is adjusted or its color.