Grid Systems 500 words

Golden Section

The golden section is a set of mathematical equation which formulates a grid or a page format. The golden section allows a grid in which agolden rectangle is made by making a shape which equates to 1.618. The golden section is also distinct from other grids as when you take square from the golden rectangle, another golden rectangle is created which enables this infinite spiral to be made. 

The golden section appears in nature and as well as art. For example, the golden can be seen on plant leaves and veins as explored by psychologist Adolf Zeising, as well as architecture and paintings; with it most noticeable in the Parthenon, where ratios and proportion of the prayer space and court plan were quite similar to the golden ratio. Da Vinci also created similar paintings which shows similar properties to the Golden Section and suggested the use of the Golden Section.

The Golden Section can be used in order to create a very pleasantly pleasing aesthetic which has precise proportions and dimension in relation to the layout of the design, book, poster etc. It also enables a focal point where viewer’s attention can instantly be drawn into, for example, with Twitter’s old tweet display where the tweet was the focal point of the design in relation to the homepage and the tweet replies. 

Overall, I think I need to explore and experiment with using the golden section grid more as I think I lack sufficient collage experiments which truly shows how the system works, however this may be due to my lack of knowledge of the grid, but I will definitely create more experiments which showcases the Golden Section in a more successful way.

Multicolumn Grid

The multicolumn grid is a grid which enables an effective hierarchy system of the different elements which makes up the whole entirety of a page or poster layout. The grid is also very flexible as it allows you to put elements of the page in different ways and scales, and the more you increase the amount of columns the more flexible your grid is going to be. You also have a choice of expanding an image or a text horizontally or vertically as well as not putting anything on a space. 

Multicolumn grids are very efficient as it can help you create very sophisticated and professional publications such as newspapers, however you can also create layouts which can be very dynamic and shows movement or the interruption of flow e.g. cropping images to overlay text on them. The grid gives the user a more diverse way of working as following the grid is quite easy but also playing around with it can create results which can be very interesting and playful.

Throughout my experiments, I enjoyed working with multicolumn grids the most as I felt that I was able to do more with the grid. I was able to create structured and quite basic layouts and collages, and on the other hand, I was also able to create layouts which were very fun and had a lot of layers to it. With text overlaying images and and vive versa. I will probably try and take my experiments further by playing with different sizes of images or text with the grid and playing with negative space even more to create a different atmosphere with the same grid.

Modular Grid

Modular grids have consistent horizontal divisions from top to bottom as well as vertical division from left to right. It’s quite similar to Multicolumn grids, however they often give a more rigid layout and placement of text and images within the page. The modular grid looks quite strict and meticulous it helps with exact placement of images and text on the page. This also gives the layout a very clean and professional look as all the text and images are perfectly aligned to one another, no matters if they are horizontal or vertical. This is shown by work design by modernist designers such as Josef Muller-Brockmann who used such grid in his poster designs which gave his designs a very clean and static layout (although he did create his own grid methods and layout which enabled him to create designs which are very dynamic and interprets movement and sound successfully). 

I think using the modular grid gave me results which were very structural and neat as I kept the pictures and text within the guidelines. However, I would also like to experiment with this grid further, incorporating rotated text more in order to see the distinct difference between movement of text around the page and how it can affect the mood of the page, and how changing the text from vertical to horizontal can make the layout quite static and rigid to a more relaxed and dynamic page layout. I also think this is a positive attribute to the modular grid as it can enable you to express a mood effectively just by changing positions within the grid.