Book Design - Grids

                 

Grids -

A visual guide to the usage and function of grid systems in graphic design.

for my first smaller publication I decided to produce a visual aid for the rules and usage of grids. 

Grids are one of the most important tools in design, especially when it comes to publication design. 

Grids allow for each spread to have consistency throughout, resulting in a publication that flows and makes for an easier read.

The most obvious examples of grids are found in newspapers. Full of columns and rows, these spreads are clearly mapped out using grid systems. The grid system often helps give the body of text more importance and severity.

Examples of Grids..

Column Grid

Hierarchal Grid

Manuscript Grid

Modular Grid

My Publication design

The reason I chose to write about grid systems, as well as it's major importance in the discipline, is because when brainstorming ideas I came up with the idea to use each grid I was talking about to lay out the information.

The publication consists of 5 double page spreads, each spread will be laid out using a different grid. The grid used on each spread will then be shown somewhere on the page.

The Golden Ratio

Another ratio I will be mentioning is the golden ratio. This is a famous spiral-shaped grid that can be translated onto a number of images including nature and portraits.

Colour Scheme

For the colour scheme, I have used a combination light blue and pink. This idea came from the colours found on Adobe InDesign.

When I first started to play around with the design, I used the grid mode on InDesign, the grid came up in a nice light blue colour. There were also other lines in the pink I have used. This gave me the idea to use these colours throughout the publication as they're a clear contrasts as well as being quite playful and interesting. 

The front and back cover is inspired by the covers of the famous Vignelli Canon. At first, the grids on the cover spilled over the edges, however when I came across the Vignelli cover, I noticed that it worked better to give it a blank border around the outside.

I have then set the text within the grid system. 

The two languages is also inspired by the Vignelli Canon as it is also written in two languages throughout.

Page Layouts

For each spread, I have used a different grid system to set the text. below are a couple examples of this...

When printed out, the spreads will not include the actual grid, but at the bottom it is written in large.

Stock

for the stock, I used a medium thickness Gloss paper at 180 GSM. I used gloss so that the content jumped off the page a bit more and so that the images and text were of a higher quality, almost photographic.

The page size is A5 landscape. I chose to design it landscape to make it a bit different from a lot of other portrait publications.

Final Resolution

I took some high quality photos of the publication to upload onto my Behance profile. 

As well as this, I uploaded it onto a website called Issuu. This allowed my publication to be viewed as intended digitally. The result is included at the top of this blog.