About the Grid
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above This simple grid comprises three vertical units
and one horizontal unit (a 3x1 grid). Each gray area is a
grid unit. The white spaces between the units are alleys;
the spaces surrounding the grid are the margins.
above This slightly more complex (3x3) grid has nine
units. Elements should fit neatly within the boundaries
of these units, even if they cross over the alleys.
Graphic Design That Works
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As a magazine reader, you never see a grid. It’s an in-
visible set of guides, usually printed on a paper tem-
plate or set in a template file with a designer’s layout
software. Quite simply, its purpose is to guide design-
ers in placing text and images.
The grid helps define the format of the magazine—its
overall look and feel. It can be responsible for how
sporadically or neatly elements are placed on a page,
how clean or crowded a page looks, and whether a
page is full of illustrations or text.
Invisible Frame
above
HOW
layouts exemplify manipulation of a 3x3
grid. Here, text occupies one column and an illustra-
tion the other two. The headline and byline form the
upper third of the page, the illustration and text the
bottom two-thirds.
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Grids often define vertical elements—columns—at
the very least, and usually also define horizontal
structure. The areas where these structures cross are
called grid units and are the places on the page where
type and images fit. The spaces between grid units are
called alleys.
When talking about a grid, designers refer to how
many vertical grid units are present versus the number
of horizontal units. A grid that contains two columns
and three rows is considered a six-unit, or 2x3, grid.
One that has three columns and four rows is a 12-unit,
or 3x4, grid.
Once the grid is established, columns of text and im-
ages can vary in width or length, taking up multiple
grid units, for instance, as long as they stay within the
confines of the unit borders. This allows designers to
be flexible while maintaining order.
Understanding the Grid
above Two
Fast Com-
pany
layouts show two
ways to interpret a three-
column grid. In the first,
the subject of the photo-
graph fills two columns
and a column of text
defines the third unit.
left In the second lay-
out, body text stretches
over two columns while
an action item (a small
sidebar) occupies the
third. The headline and
deck expand across all
three units at the top of
the page.
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Many magazines have different grids for different sec-
tions—departments may have a three-column grid
with lots of space for small pictures (a 3x6, perhaps),
while the feature well has a two-column grid that
needs guides only for larger images (a 2x3 grid).
Designers often rely on simple grids and work cre-
atively within them. As a magazine’s design becomes
more sophisticated, however, some designers build
complicated grids with many units—sometimes even
units that allow elements to overlap. The rule of thumb
is that text-dominated layouts require simpler grids; as
more illustrations are added, the grid may become
more complex.
From Simple to Complex
right In this
HOW
lay-
out, text is present in all
three columns, but one
illustration stretches
across the upper third of
the page and another
juts into two columns at
the bottom. Note how the
image borders coincide
with the text borders to
reveal the grid outline.
left This
A
layout is an
example of flexibility
within a simple two-
column grid.
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