Typography – working with grids

- I'm Ina Saltz, and I'd like to welcome you to Foundations of Typography: Working with Grids. - There
are a number of lynda.com courses which show you how to create grids. This course is about why you
should use grids and how they can work for you to make your print and screen-based projects work
well. In this course, I'll show you plenty of examples and point out how and why typographic grids
are the designer's best friend. Grids are great! A good flexible grid will organize your visual thinking and
streamline your design process.
Grids give you a starting point, a structure to build upon. Grids are like a skeleton whose bones give your
project strength and which keep everything in its place. Most important, grids free you up from getting
disctracted by nitty gritty design decisions and let you focus on the big picture. I'll explain how and why
they work the way they do so that you can take that knowledge and apply it to your own projects. And I'll
also show you some great examples of breaking out of the grid. I'll explain how violating the grid
can work to make your projects more exciting and dynamic.
You're in good hands. I'm passionate about the deep and wonderful world of typography. I'm excited to
share with you Foundations of Typography: Working with Grids. So lets get started.

1. Creating basic typographic grids

Creating a manuscript or “book” grid

Why are typographic grids so important to designers and readers? The role of grids is to
serve as a container for text. Grids frame and define content. From the earliest handwritten
and printed books, grids have played a starring role in presenting content and
information. Just to give you a quick bit of history and background on how grids have
evolved, here's a look at one of the oldest known manuscripts, the Dead Sea Scrolls, written
using a simple grid format of columns.
This ancient Coptic Manuscript page is arranged in two columns, with hanging initial caps
setting within its margins. For many hundreds of years, religious texts were the dominant
form of written manuscripts. Breviaries and Bibles were typically lettered in a two-column
format or grid. And the first printed book, Johannes Gutenberg's 42-line Bible, replicated the
two-column format to imitate a hand-written manuscript.Our modern Bibles almost all
conform to the two-column grid.
In early printed books, we see many examples of a single column on a page. Most of the
text-heavy books that we read today, both fiction and non-fiction, have a single column on a
page. The simplest grid is a single column width with a fixed depth and fixed margins. These
are typical for books and scholarly journals, for example. The margins of a classical book
page create a clean border around a justified solid block of text. Even a one-column grid
needs to be carefully considered.
It determines the appearance and type area of the page, and also where page numbers and
chapter headings will sit. A good proportion for books will depend, first of all, on the page
size. There are no hard and fast rules, but a good book design grid will always have four
important measurements. First, the inner margins will be generous enough so that when the
book is held open, based on its number of pages, the text will not be curving into the
middle. Readers need to see the text on a flat surface. Second, the top margin should be
more than the inner margin of a single page.
Third, the outer margins should be slightly larger than the top margin, because that is where
we place our thumbs when we are holding a book open. Fourth, the bottom margins should
be largest of all. This is because our eyes need to see the largest or heaviest space at the
bottom. It provides a kind of visual anchor. The size and proportions of margins in relation to
the text block are important. They frame the text and give the reader's eye a needed breath
of air within the visual space they provide.
There's a feeling of comfort when margins are generous, and there's a feeling of discomfort
when they are skimpy. This holds true for both print-based design and screen-based
design. It's just as important to have some space around your text on screen. And extra
letting is important to increase legibility for body copy on screen-based projects, because
light-emitting surfaces are a bit harder on the eyes than reflective surfaces. Readers need
and expect the orderliness of a simple grid to help them read and absorb lengthy passages of
text.
That's why there's a grand tradition of basic manuscript grids in arranging texts for
books. Take advantage of the established conventions of the book or manuscript grid when
you are considering what will work best for your project.

Creating grids with columns

Grids are especially helpful with multi-designer projects such as magazines and websites,
where the format needs to remain consistent over multiple issues or time spans. Grids
composed of multiple columns work in print-based projects including books, magazines, and
newspapers, and on websites, tablets, and mobile devices. Columns are text
containers. They do the heavy lifting in conveying the content in all of your projects. Even a
two-column page of text can be made more lively by breaking through the grid with a call-out
or a bit of illustration.
Or, it can provide some entry points with inset drop caps, color, or subheads. This text-
dominant three-column grid has outlines around eachragged right text column, which helps
give columns a crisp edge. And there are several entry points provided including color
panels,headlines and subheads, and inset drop caps. It looks very structured which is
appropriate for the serious subject matter. Here's a slightly less structured spread with a
three-column grid on the left-hand page.
It has a smaller column to the left which is used for the bold, call-out text, that helps give
some airiness to the page. Facing it is another text-heavy page set in two justified
columns, with a column of space to the left. This time the space is used for the diagonal
stroke of the giant slab serif initial A, which reads into the bold headline. I want to point out
that there is no imagery on this page, the design only uses type, yet it is dynamic and inviting.
The dramatic typographic scale and the typographic variety are a wonderful example of how
type can serve as both content and image.Here's another page of all text which is
handsomely designed and more importantly, which operates as efficiently as a Venus flytrap
to entice the reader in. Grid starts out with a full-page width single column for the headline
and deck, a two-column wide intro paragraph, and the continuation of the text in three
columns.
Notice how the point size of the texts starts large and gets smaller as the reader moves
through the text. Check out the bold caps lead-in sentence in the intro paragraph, which also
helps to pull the reader in. This six-column sidebar sits on top of a three-column story
continuation. Different widths of column grids on a page can help vary the reader's
experience by enlivening the content. In another example of a three-column format used
across a spread, the first column on the second page continues the three-column grid.
And the fourth and fifth column areas are split into a narrow column of marginalia relating to
the main story, plus a sidebar. Notice another grid at the top of the sidebar. It has five images
with captions, so a grid can be a container for continuous text, as well as a container forother
grid structures nesting within the primary grid. Try some of these columnar grid structures
out. Once you get going using columns, you will see your grids can be divvied up in any
number of ways.
Grids need not be limiting at all. In fact, they can open the door to your creativity.

Creating modular grids

Another type of grid system, besides a column-based grid system, is a modular grid
system. In a modular grid system, in addition to the vertical divisions of space, there is a
horizontal division of space. Let's look at some examples of modular grids to see how they
work. The Lynda.com app is built on a modular grid. You can see, it is four modules wide,
and every module has the same depth. Because of the screen ratio for the videos, all
modules are horizontal.
Featured courses occupy four module units, so they keep the same horizontal
proportions. Modular grids work particularly well to organize content for websites. In the
website for Yellowstone Park you see how the modules are all equal and all equally spaced,
connected modules for text and images. This is a fun food site called mouth.com, that is built
on equal modules. There are many different products, all different shapes and sizes, so
organizing them in a grid makes it manageable for the viewer to take it in without feeling
overwhelmed.
The column at the left has links to articles about vendors, social media. And a secondary
level of modules called Mouthstagram, which links to Instagram. It all feels very
organized. Here's a great poster infographic, designed by one of my students, showing the
steps he followed in building his own PC. It's a grid of four units across and four units
down. The computer in the center occupies four modules. I gave him an A, by the
way. Modules can be very useful in organizing infographics.
This page looks exciting, yet organized, because it makes playful use of the modules,
combining them both vertically and horizontally. These bite-sized pieces invite the reader into
the content because they offer a quick and easy hit of information in each modular
component. A modular grid provides a structure for the steps in this yoga instruction
chart. There is a set of modules for the icons, and the descriptions of the poses. Each
module within the set has the identical horizontal and vertical dimensions, even though the
number of words in each module is different.
They have been sized to accommodate the longest and shortest descriptions with a
comfortable margin of space. One last example. Here's a fine use of modules, combining
images and text from the documentary app, Spies of Mississippi. There are four equal
vertical modules, and four horizontal modules. The text boxes are all the same
proportion. Think about whether a grid, composed of modules, can work well to organize
and give structure and rhythm to your project. As always, your content should be the starting
point when you are considering how grids can work best for you

Using grids to create hierarchy

As designers, we always need to provide a clear path for our viewers or readers. To attract
and command their attention, we need to make it easy for them to see where to start, what to
look at, and read first, second, third, and so on. This hierarchy, or levels of importance, can
be indicated using a number of typographic principles. If you've seen my lynda com course
Foundations of Typography: Hierarchy andNavigation, you already know some good ways
to indicate hierarchy in your projects.
Now, I'm going to show you how typographic grid structures can also help to create
hierarchy. In these three examples of a magazine format for department pages, there is a
clear indication of hierarchy for the reader. It starts with the super bold banner of numbers
stretching fully across the top, which is also a primary position. Because it occupies the full
width of the grid, it becomes a visual priority. Next, the bold black caps of the headline also
sit within a space that occupies the full width of the grid.
But the headline is secondary by both position and size. Third in visual importance are the
bold italic pull quotes which are significantlylarger than the body copy, occupying two-thirds
of the width of the grid. Even though they are at the bottom, they are higher up in the
hierarchy by the width of the grid space they occupy and their size and weight. Next, the
reader enters into each of these stories directly under the headlines where the deck is
lightweight, but still a larger point size than the body copy.
In the middle example, that deck goes across two-grid modules. And last but not least, the
body copy is contained within either a three orfour-column grid. Here's a more complex
example of how hierarchy can be indicated by using a grid. There's an unequal three-column
grid, and one element occupies two of the three columns. There is an extra sense of
structure with column rules and horizontal rules. There are grids within grids.
On the right, we see an infographic built of modules. These structures make visual sense out
of complex material. A strong flexible grid can guide the reader through a long project like a
book. Here's a great example of how a grid can indicate hierarchy in a book containing page
after page of complex material. This book from Sports Illustrated starts with a grid right on its
cover. The concept is to look at the numbers players wear from every team sport and to
decide who wore it best.
Throughout the entire book, the underline grid looks like this. Here are a couple of examples
of the variations of the grid used throughout the book. The text always starts under the big
number. And the winner of each number is always the largest image. That's how this grid's
hierarchy works. If every spread were the same format, it would be repetitive and boring. It's
the variations that make it visually exciting. The flexibility of the grid allows the designer to
create interesting pacing from beginning to end.
Grids can really be a great help to you and the reader. Whether on screen or in print,
depending on the size and position of these containers for your content, you can show the
reader how to understand the relative importance of the material visually before they've ever
read a single word.

Classic grids: the golden section rectangle and the Fleckhaus 12 column grid

Grids have a unique history in the world of design and typography. As a designer you should
be familiar with the design theory behind a few important classic grids and their evolution. So
let's have a look at some structures that inform many grid proportions. The golden ratio is
found throughout nature. We can see it in seashells, plant forms, and even the human
body. The Parthenon, many cathedrals and the Great Pyramid of Giza all refer to the golden
ratio.
It's also known as the golden section, the golden mean and the golden proportion. The
golden ratio is based on the ration between two segments where the smaller segment is
to the larger segment as the larger segment is to the sum of the two segments. Here's
another look at how that ratio is expressed. In the 1950s and 1960s, two important designers
wrote definitive tracts on grid proportions that stemmed from the golden ratio. The most well
known is Jan Tschichold, who based his proportions on medieval manuscripts interpretation.
He's 1953 reference work, The Art of The Book, is still considered a Seminole work. You can
see how his grid system for book design looks in this simplified diagram. Tricold's grid system
adapts to the shape of the page. Here is a contemporary example using his approach to
grids. The other name you should know is Josef Muller-Brockmann widely recognized as the
master of the Swiss grid system which was based on adaptable and flexible molecules. His
1961 book Grid Systems is as relevant today as it was when it was first published.
Here is a contemporary book design based on Mueller-Brockmann's approach to grids. Last,
but certainly not least, the 12 column grid used by Willy Fleckhaus at the German magazine
Twen starting in 1959 remains a classic that is still in wide use today. The 12 column grid can
divide into so many configurations. It can be seen in many print and screen based projects,
because it provides flexibility. 12 columns divide evenly into six columns, four columns, three
columns and two columns.
Or into numerous uneven combinations like seven and five. Or five, four and three. Here are
just a few examples of layouts using the twelve column Fleckhaus grid. You can see how the
12 column grid can support a wide variety of visual material. If you want to know more about
these grid systems and others I have included some additional resources in the exercise files
of this course. As a designer it's good to know how grids have evolved.
These grids can be a jumping off point for your own grids. A good grid is one that works for
your content and your specific project. You can start with one of these classic grid
systems, find grid systems online, recreate your favorites or start from scratch. It's up to
you. There are plenty of options.

2. Creating complex typographic grids

Creating unequal modules within the grid

Grids are a great starting point for any project. But once you feel confident about working with
grids, you can begin to go beyond the grid. This handsome book jacket plays a strong
grid against the delicate botanical illustration. Each component of its text is
compartmentalized. Each piece of text has its place within the grid. At first glance, the design
appears centered. But at the bottom, the modules are unevenly divided in order to give
prominence to the author's name, and to accommodate the longer credit for the illustrators.
In all of your projects, the grid structure must always serve the content. Your content should
always be the starting point for developing the right grids for your projects. Unequal modules
within your grid can be a good solution to fit disparate amounts of text, while still retaining a
sense of organization. This playful infographic looks organized. Every component is clearly
contained in what appears to be a strict grid. But on closer inspection, there are six separate
panels which contain multiple elements.
There is no consistent underlying grid. It works because it appears organized. This app has a
brief intro paragraph, which segues to a short sidebar within the same grid space. Then, it
slides down to a diagram with heads and captions. These appear to be built on a grid,
but they are different widths to accommodate specific copy of different lengths. These
unequal modules, also had to be carefully positioned to work with the underlying illustration.
A flexible grid will allow variations in a multi-screen or multi-page document. Varying the
pacing and flow of text, images, and other text elements like sidebars, infographics, and other
graphics enrich the viewer's experience, and encourage the viewer to remain engaged. This
app for Kids Discover is a good example of how a variety of grids can vary the pacing and
flow of content throughout an entire project.There's a lively mix of full-screen images, two-
column grids, three-column grids, and four-column grids.
The entire project has consistent graphic elements, a consistent color palette, and one
typographic superfamily which binds it all together visually. One last example of unequal
modules within a grid is this spread from Fast Company. I love the way it mixes and matches
widths and lengths of its typographic modules, and still looks structured and easily accessible
for the reader. It does take quite a bit of typographic finesse to pull this off well. This is a good
moment for a reminder about what I call the typographic theory of relativity, that every
element exists in relation to every other element.
That means that there is a balance, an equation that governs the overall appearance of the
elements including size, weight, style, position, color, and spacing. When one changes, the
others may have to change in response in order to maintain a good visual balance. Working
with unequal modules within your grid might be a good solution for your specific project. As
long as you are starting off with a grid of some kind,you can divvy up your internal modules
within the grid with unequal dimensions, and still project a sense of structure and
organization for your readers or viewers.
Try starting out with a strict grid and see how far you can go.

Creating grids for tabular matter

Managing data is one of the trickiest jobs for a designer. Using grids will help you present
tabular matter in a format which makes itaccessible and understandable to your reader,
which is always our goal. Let's look at some good examples of tabular grids. This list of 500
companies has three statistics, a ranking, the company name, and a percentage representing
a three-year growth rate. The factors to be considered when establishing the grid were the
number of pages allocated for this list, the number of entries, which was 500, the length of
the longest company name, and legibility factors including point sizes, type styles, and
sufficient space between entries to have clear separation.
That calculation resulted in a four-column grid. Notice the light tint bars across every other
line. These help readers with separation. This grid addresses the process behind the NBA
lottery for draft picks. Each of the 14 teams is ranked by its chances at getting top picks. The
team name and ranking has the widest space allocation. The depth of all of the modules is
determined by the lines of text under the names. This resulted in tall modules for the
numbers, and they are nicely filled by using super thin and super condensed numbers.
I love the contrast between the lively imagery and the rich density of the tabular grid in this
spread from ESPN. And it has a couple of extra infographics thrown in for good
measure. The table lists the 50 top paid athletes in the world, their salaries in the red bars,
and their league and team affiliations. Again, to determine the shape and size of the grid, its
content first had to be considered. What was the longest name, and the longest team
affiliation? That would determine its horizontal dimensions.
How to fit all 50 athletes, vertically? And in this case, the limitations of the magazine spread
had to be respected. Live matter had to steer clear of the gutter. And there is a nice
alignment of a columnar grid here, too. The final column in the three-column grid contains the
two infographics, which depict the top paid female athletes in the world and the best paying
teams in the world. This is one page from a multi-page document. The modular grid lists
company names, locations and descriptions, and numerical data including revenue, growth,
employees and years founded.
The color bars allow readers to scan vertically to compare like figures or data, and the
horizontal rules enforce separation between entries.Remember that when you are
establishing grid formats for your projects, you need to have good legibility, clear separation,
and ease of navigation. Tabular material can be made much less intimidating by using good
grid construction.

Breacking out of the grid: creating movement and dynamism

As a kid, I was crazy about comic books. Maybe you have fond memories of comics,
too. Remember how the narrative advanced on page after page full of boxes? Those boxes
inside the frame of the page are my first memory of a grid structure. In comics, almost every
box seemed to have something bursting out of it. I love grids, but there are times when we
just need to break out of the grid! Breaking out of the grid can help create a sense of
movement and dynamism in your layouts.
Let's look at some great examples of punching through the grid or violating the
grid. Sometimes a simple move can have a big effect. Just pushing through the stem of the
big capital T creates movement and dynamism. And notice on the photo caption at the right
how the little piece of the T carries out the motif. Another way to break out of the grid is to
bleed elements off of the screen or page. Popping the giant initial J off to the right adds
movement, and it also mirrors the way the image on the facing page bleeds off to the top, left,
and bottom.
Bleeding off of the edges has two benefits, it allows you to make elements larger and thus to
have more impact, and it creates visual excitement. The second spread creates visual activity
in a slightly quieter way by overlapping the initial cap L from the photo, and pushing it through
the boundaries of the text column. In this date fold, the illustrations are popping out of their
columns through the bar across the top.And at the far left, the small figure pops out into the
column of space between the rules. These seemingly small design choices can really add
liveliness to your designs. This could have been a boring layout. What makes it active and
exciting is the ways that it violates the grid.Even though all of its main elements are
rectangles and lines, they are poking into one another, bleeding off of the photo.
And the text blocks are uneven. The designer took his cue from the way the contrasting
woods slats in the photograph are budding up against one another. The image and the layout
reinforce and amplify one another. See if you can spot all of the places in this layout that are
violating the grid. I can see at least six instances. Most obvious, the large yellow tin area and
its contents. The small figure violating the photo and stepping through the horizontal bar at
the bottom left. The glossary box. And to the bottom right, the cyan arrow.
In the middle of the bottom area, the house violates the grid in two places. You could argue
that the partial car silhouette is another kind ofgrid violation. It's a very active page. So, you
have choices. You can see that you don't have to be a slave to all of the beautiful lines you've
created. Think about your content. Think about the rhythm and tenor of your project. Think
about the impression you want to make on your audience, and see if pushing through the grid
will amplify and enhance your concepts.

Emphasizing creative chaos over order

Creative chaos can be a good thing. And sometimes it can yield amazing results. It's true that
grids are necessary and useful for most of our projects. But for special occasions, ignoring
your grid a little or a lot and allowing some disorder to reign can be exhilarating
and liberating, and it can make your projects more exciting. There's no grid to be seen
here. The bright colors and overlapping letter forms the bouncing baseline along with a
bouncing ball, all combine to convey the fun message at a glance.
For this layout the usual conventions of orientation hae been whisked away. Pun
intended. And, again the typographic layout breaks all the rules, as it perfectly conveys the
activity of one of my favorite kitchen tools. Just a reminder, if you are breaking the rules, you
should have a good reason. And, in this case, it's a great reason. Here's a delightful example
of totally random alignment in stacking-up type on this feature opener. I especially love the
use of several arrows to direct the reader's gaze through this unorthodox arrangement of text.
This unexpected approach works beautifully in tandem with the arm reaching across the
space pressing into the wall. The mixed weights and widths of text adds to the visual
excitement in this layout. Don't try looking for a grid here because there isn't one. Instead the
image dictates the placement of the text. Notice that in some places, the image overlaps the
text or other visual elements and in some cases the text overlaps the image. This technique
adds a feeling of dimensionality and activity overall.
The same principle is at work here. The infographic illustration is central and the text has to
work around it. So the illustration dominates and the text blocks must follow. These last two
examples offer another good reason to depart from a grid structure, to work around an
image.This cover violates the grid and goes against conventional wisdom by separating the
words in the book's title The Art of Doing, with giant spaces. True, there are dotted lines and
arrows to connect the words.
And, our eyes also connect, because of their dominate size and color. The misaligned
scattering of talk balloons draws readers in. There is no grid. It was a deliberate choice,
because the design echoes the irreverent and unconventional content. So take some
chances. Let go of the grid if the time and the project seem to be right. You can always go
back to a grid system if you need to. You don't have anything to lose by taking a flyer and
breaking the rules. I promise that once you experience the freedom of violating the grid, it will
become a regular part of your design repertoire.

3. Creative challenge

Creative challenge: design a poster or webpage

Now that we've covered various types of grids and why to use them, it's time to put your
knowledge to the test. This is a quick 20-minute challenge to see what you remember
about using the typographic grid to organize and make sense of information. In this creative
challenge, you have a choice of designing a poster or a web page. The purpose is to inform
the general public about good nutrition, specifically the value of eating fruits and vegetables.
In the exercise files for this movie, you'll find a folder with more than 30 images of fruits and
vegetables that you can choose from. You can use as many or as few images as you wish,
and you may crop or resize them. You'll also find a Word document with the text for this
creative challenge. You must use all of the text in the Word document. Use whatever
software you are most comfortable with. You can also choose whatever typefaces you feel
would be appropriate for this project. I suggest that you keep your type choices
simple, maybe even stick with one type family.
If you choose to design a poster, keep it vertical and make it a tabloid size, that is 11 by 17
inches. If you choose to design a web page, you can choose any standard, accepted
dimension, such as 1,024 pixels by 768 pixels. If you are a screen-based designer, you know
that these dimensions are in flux and the subject of debate, but let's just use the dimensions
for the purpose of this challenge. Your web design can scroll down as needed. The main goal
for this challenge is to create a grid of elements and text that makes sense for the content.
Your grid should be logical. It should make the content easy for the reader or viewer to
understand. Use your space well. See what you can get done in 20 minutes. Remember the
many examples of grids that we've covered in this chapter. And keep in mind that there's no
single right way to make this work. There are many possible, successful solutions to this
creative challenge. I hope you will check out the next video, where I'll show you my solution
for this 20-minute challenge.

Creative challenge: solutions

Your challenge was to design a tabloid sized vertical poster or a webpage using all of the text
that was provided and you could use any of the images included in the exercise files. This
was a 20 minute challenge. Your main goal for this challenge was to create a grid of
elements and text that organized the content and made sense of it. You were tasked with
creating a logical grid structure which would make the content easy for the reader or viewer
to understand.
So, how did you do? Did you read the text and understand the content? Do your grids, your
images, your type and color choices all work together? Did you separate the elements that
need to be separated and group the elements that need to be grouped? Let me share my 20
minute solution with you. Now, I have to confess that I spent way longer than 20 minutes on
my solution. Because I wanted to tidy it up and get it just so. Rather than showing you a
roughed out quick version of my idea.
I decided to choose the poster option. I considered the text and what made the most sense to
me was to divide the space into two columns.One for fruit and one for vegetables. This was
the key decision and everything else flowed from it. The text length was roughly parallel and I
knew with a bit of finessing such as tracking and turning a few lines that I could make them
appear equal. I created two tint panels to separate fruit and vegetables. I chose neutral
background tones for my panels, so the colorful images of the fruits and vegetables would
pop.
I chose two simple, basic typefaces that would work well together. Nexif for my slab serif, and
Myriad for my sans serif. They're both highly legible. I used the word why as large as possible
at the top of each column to reach out in a strong voice and pull the reader into the text. I
added color to the two why's, green for vegetables, and orange for fruit. I bolded the words
vegetables and fruit to differentiate the content.My overall plan for this poster was to make
both panels of text parallel and equal, but differentiated.
I decided to create mini grids of images, four for each category. To show a variety of
vegetables and a variety of fruit. I carefully alternated their colors. So, each would contrast
with its adjoining images. And so, they would be lively and vibrant as a group. To separate
out tha mini quizzes and also to add some extra structure to my poster. I created contrasting
tint boxes to match the width of the text columns. I overlap the titles, test your veggie IQ
and test your fruit IQ on the edges of the boxes to add a bit of dimensionality.
And to connect them with the body copy above the quiz boxes. Finally I pop the circles
containing images out of the boxes to add some visual activity to the bottom areas of the
poster. This approach was my first instinct based on the content. But remember I said that
there could be many successful solutions to this creative challenge. I could've tried a number
of other approaches. So take some more time if you'd like and explore some additional
ways to create a logical grid structure for the design of this project. The more approaches you
try out,the better your judgment will be the next time around.
Every new variation broadens your repiture as a designer. Go ahead, explore.

We take grids for granted, but they are hardworking agents, even though they night seem
invisible. I hope this course has broadened your understanding of how grids can work for
you. There are so many options to create grid structures, and good grids can make such a
difference for you and for your reader or viewer. Grids can provide consistency. They can
separate content or unite content. They can create a narrative flow, and they can organize
your work visually. I have a few suggestions for you, to take your use of grids to the next
level.
First, keep a swipe file of work that has an interesting or useful grid structure. Whether it's
print work that you keep in a folder or screenshots of digital work. Using your phone camera
is an easy way to document interesting grids. I see a lot of grid layouts in the New York City
subway system and I always have my phone with me, so it takes only a second to capture
those images. Later on I can store them in a more organized way. You may not have a
project whose content is a candidate for a specific structure right now, but as a designer you
never know what new projects may be coming your way.
This idea trove can really help you out. I also recommend checking out the archives and
annuals of professional design related organizations that have regular design
competitions. Looking at the winning entries is a great way to find inspiration. And there are a
number of magazines specific to the design industry that are great resources. I've included all
of these in the exercise files for this course. Finally just a reminder that one of the best ways
to improve your typographic eye is to think about all the grids you encounter everyday.
I always encourage you to examine what you see with a critical eye. Don't just accept it as it
is, imagine how you could make it better. After watching this course, I hope you will feel more
knowledgable about grids, and more confident about how to use them effectively and
successfully. I also hope you enjoyed this course. Thanks for watching and I hope you'll
check out my other Lynda.com courses on typography.