Study Task - Grids

A grid is a system that is supposes to support a graphic designer in most of their layout work and to organise information on a page. Basic grid systems have been around since medieval times until a group of designers started to take grids more serious and developed them more from a typography point of views. Josef Muller-brockmann was one of the first people who presented a book (Grid Systems in Graphic Design) about grid systems which inspired and kicked off grid systems in general.

What is a grid?

"A grid subdivides a page vertically and horizontally into margins, columns, inter-column spaces, lines of type, and spaces between blocks of type and images. These subdivisions form the basis of a modular and systematic approach to the layout, particularly for multipage documents, making the design process quicker, and ensuring visual consistency between related pages.

At its most basic, the sizes of a grid’s component parts are determined by ease of reading and handling. From the sizes of type to the overall page or sheet size, decision-making is derived from physiology and the psychology of perception as much as by aesthetics. Type sizes are generally determined by hierarchy—captions smaller than body text and so on—column widths by optimum word counts of eight to ten words to the line, and overall layout by the need to group related items. This all sounds rather formulaic, and easy. But designers whose grids produce dynamic or very subtle results take these rules as a starting point only, developing flexible structures in which their sensibility can flourish."
-http://www.graphics.com/article-old/brief-history-grids

Grids come in a lot of shapes and sizes and are debated whether or not they are effective or not.

Some of these grids are...

Fibonacci & Golden Ration grid system which some designers have said this grid was responsible for famous paintings around like the Mona Lisa and The Great Wave off Kanagawa. However this is greatly debated

Van de Graaf grid system mainly used in books to divide a page in pleasing proportions.

Tschichold Golden canon. The grid replies on the 2:3 page ratio to give a type area height equal to page width as demonstrated by the circle, and result in margin proportions 2:3:4:6

Tschichold Octavo

Grids in nature

Grids in nature are one of the great wonders around. Below are some examples of grid systems used in nature from plants, rocks, and honeycombs to birds and insects.