Ratios and equations are everywhere in grid system design, such as my example from the chapter on the Rule of Thirds. But as you read earlier in this part, ‘feeling right’ is an emotional reaction to construction, to mathematics. This can be quite tricky for designers who have been schooled in the ‘you'll know it's right when it feels right’ school of composition. We have to think about aesthetics and proportions as a result of considered construction. It was around this period that the grid system moved from the domain of art and into one of typography and commercial design.įirst of all when talking about grid systems we have to mentally separate form and function. Clear links can also be drawn between the Concrete–Geometrical art of the Zurich school in the 1930's and several notable artists of this movement made important contributions to typography through their fine art. The grid is a child of Constructivist art and came into being through the same thought processes that gave rise to that art movement.
In the context of graphic design, a grid is an instrument for ordering graphical elements of text and images. Designing for the Web Chapter 23 Grid Systems ¶Ī grid is an instrument for ordering graphical elements of text and images.īefore we even begin to tackle designing grid systems we need to have a basic understanding of what they are, why we use them and where they came from.