“Grids don't make dull layouts – designers do.” - Timothy Samara

This past week we had what we call a Lunch ‘N Learn, a short lesson and discussion over lunch regarding best practices in design. It's a wonderful time for us creatives to geek out while we pig out. Topics have ranged from scintillating pre-press protocol to diplomatic ways of navigating client feedback. This past week we talked about grids. Which, for our more right-brained readership, are the proverbial "cells" in which you put the "numbers" which become the "spreadsheet" that is your brand identity. There are ways of achieving uniformity in deisgn and it's not just using the same layout, colors and typefaces. At the risk of putting some to sleep I'd like to share a quote from Tim Samara's book Making and Breaking the Grid which we used in our discussion. I found his perspective on creating order to be rather insightful.

“A grid is truly successful only if, after all of the literal problems have been solved, the designer rises above the uniformity implied by its structure and uses it to create a dynamic visual narrative of parts that will sustain interest page after page. The greatest danger in using a grid is to succumb to its regularity. It's important to remember that the grid is an invisible guide that exists on the "bottommost level" of the layout; the content happens on top of it, sometimes constrained and sometimes free to move. Grids don't make dull layouts – designers do.”

“By creating a rhythmic or sequential logic among the spread in the way they relate to the grid, each spread can have a distinct visual presentation but still work as part of the whole. The parts have unity imparted by the grid working underneath them.”

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