What Is A Grid

1. In design, a grid is a set of rectangles or squares of equal size that break up the work space. Grids give the designer an easy way of visualizes and placing each element, such as pictures or blocks of text, on the page.

2. Designers use a grid because it is an easy way of visualizing a design. Rather than approaching a blank sheet of paper or a blank computer screen, the grid lets the designer space out each element of the composition quickly and in an orderly fashion.  This is beneficial to the designer because he or she will be guaranteed to have some consistency in spacing, rather than having crooked pictures or type.

3. A modular grid is a grid that is broken down into rectangles (modules), rather than just lines like on graph paper.  These modules are helpful to designers because they often deal with rectangle-shaped elements, such as photographs or blocks of text.

4. Parts of the grid....

Margins: the border or white space around the grid. Text and images generally don't bleed into the border.

Columns: The lines running vertically that separate the grid into modules.

Grid Modules:  The rectangle shapes inside the grid. These modules can be fill with pictures and text, or left as white space.

Flowlines: The horizontal lines in the grid.

Gutter: The empty space between modules.

5. A hierarchy is any ranking of importance. In type, designers use varying sizes, spacing, color, and placement of type to achieve a hierarchy.  This way, the most important information in the composition will be the most prominent.

6. A designer can achieve a type hierarchy by using contrast.  The most important thing on the page, such as a title or a headline, will most likely be larger, bolder, or in a more prominent color than the other text.  This way, if someone only walks by and briefly glances at the image, they will see the most important information first.

7. Each font comes in a variety of widths and weights. For example, a font might come in a regular, condensed, bold, and italic version.  These styles will often also be mixed and matched.  The collection of styles a font is available in is called the font family.