Lupton III: Grid (Starter Post)

In the last section of the Lupton's "Thinking With Type" she describes grids and their importance to all forms of graphic design, whether they be print or web based.

"For graphic designers, grids are carefully honed intellectual devices, infused with ideology and ambition, and they are the inescapable mesh that filters at some level of resolution, nearly every system of writing and reproduction." (113)

Grids certainly do guide design, whether it is in the making or breaking of the grid. Magazines and newspapers thrive on a grid system in order to create consistent environments that are functional and reproducible. Some have challenged this layout. We'll at a few slides from David Carson in a few weeks (click name to watch a video) and his design for "Raygun" magazine from the 1990's and you'll see how he broke the grid. But even in breaking the grid a system of order is created, that although not traditional in a linear sense, still can feel very natural and organized.

Lupton goes on to discuss the power of grids in magazine and print design and the evolution of the grid in web design through tables and Cascading Style Sheets and the more free form environment afforded by the use of Flash. Which leads us to your objective, should you choose to accept it...

Find an example of a grid system being used in print or on the web. You can select from magazines, web sites or newspapers. Discuss the grid system in place. How well do the designs work within the boundaries, or even by breaking boundaries of the grid? Our minds are trained to see and be comfortable with order. We organize the second we look at anything because of those Gestalt principles and our craving for the whole. How does the grid in your example aid the reader or user? Does it engage them with its structure or lack thereof? Does it cause tension, either positive or negative?

Attach screen shots, links or images in order to help illustrate your example.

Screen capture on a MAC:
Apple Key + Shift + 3

Screen capture on a PC:
Hit the "Print Screen" button (usually found on the top right of the keyboard).