Understanding
Grids Layout
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INTRODUCTION An accumulation of layouts in various compositions to understand the principles and use of elements in Graphic Design. This was the original article from a magazine. Here are my variations of the layouts using a 6 column grid on a 6�x6� page, exploring type, colour, grey-scale, eye-movement and visual interest in the composition.
Original article
VARIATION 1
Use of San-Serif typeface only. In this layout, I have tried playing with the grids. I explored on the different variations to make the layout simple yet strong, conveying the message. Thus, differentiating the text with the use of paragraphs. This layout, I tried to enable navigation/movement while reading with the placements, onto which text sound be read first. The typeface used is Verdana, size- 8.5/10.2. I’ve learnt how to play with text, alignment and laying text into appropriate grids. Another realisation was that more white space on a page, its easier to read.
GRAFFITI & SOUL IN HARLEM The term Harlem Renaissance derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of New York’s crosscultural awakening.
Inflight magazine of Air India shubh-yatra.in | Aug 2016
Walk in the footsteps of jazz and soul greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, as you take in the imposing Neo-Classical foyer of the iconic Apollo Theatre in the heart of the Harlem district. Walk through the historic neighbourhood of Harlem, which is considered the undisputed music capital of New York City, and discover its history of hip hop, soul, jazz and gospel music dating back to the famous “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s and 1930s. While you’re exploring Harlem, it may be a good idea to ask the locals to direct you to some of the city’s best graffiti displays and street murals, which dot the neighbourhood. Not to be missed!
VARIATION 2
Use of Bold in the San-Serif typeface. In this layout, the Bold style is incorporated. I thought about which text I wanted to highlight and catch the readers attention. I used 8.5/11pt leading in the subtitle and the body text. More leading enables ease at reading and doesn’t cause much strain to the eyes. At the same time, there must be a balance as too much of it will make it look disconnected.
GRAFFITI & SOUL IN HARLEM
The term Harlem Renaissance derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of New York’s cross-cultural awakening.
Inflight magazine of Air India shubh-yatra.in | Aug 2016
Walk in the footsteps of jazz and soul greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, as you take in the imposing Neo-Classical foyer of the iconic Apollo Theatre in the heart of the Harlem district. Walk through the historic neighbourhood of Harlem, which is considered the undisputed music capital of New York City, and discover its history of hip hop, soul, jazz and gospel music dating back to the famous “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s and 1930s. While you’re exploring Harlem, it may be a good idea to ask the locals to direct you to some of the city’s best graffiti displays and street murals, which dot the neighbourhood. Not to be missed!
VARIATION 3
Use of more than one style. In this layout, I used various type styles such as Bold, Italics and Regular. Here, I learnt how to articulate the text and kept in mind what I wanted to communicate, and decide which style would say it the best. Text which I wanted to feature as vital or stand out, I put them in Bold. While on the under hand names of important people/ professors I put them in Italics to distinguish certain words from others within the text, or words written from another language in the body text.
Inflight magazine of Air India shubh-yatra.in Aug 2016 GRAFFITI & SOUL IN HARLEM The term Harlem Renaissance derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of New York’s cross-cultural awakening. Walk in the footsteps of jazz and soul greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, as you take in the imposing Neo-Classical foyer of the iconic Apollo Theatre in the heart of the Harlem district. Walk through the historic neighbourhood of Harlem, which is considered the undisputed music capital of New York
City, and discover its history of hip hop, soul, jazz and gospel music dating back to the famous “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s and 1930s. While you’re exploring Harlem, it may be a good idea to ask the locals to direct you to some of the city’s best graffiti displays and street murals, which dot the neighbourhood. Not to be missed!
VARIATION 4
Use of type size and no type style In this layout, the challenge in this layout was to communicate the message without using type styles i.e. Bold, Italics etc; only by managing the text size, to communicate on what’s to be read first and what’s more important. I have incorporated the principle of Design, Balance and contrast. Also, the alignment in this context too plays an important role to convey the message. Type size being 8/10pt.
GRAFFITI & SOUL IN HARLEM The term HARLEM RENAISSANCE derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of New York’s cross-cultural awakening
Inflight magazine of Air India shubh-yatra.in | Aug 2016
W
alk in the footsteps of jazz and soul greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, as you take in the imposing Neo-Classical foyer of the iconic Apollo Theatre in the heart of the Harlem district. Walk through the historic neighbourhood of Harlem, which is considered the undisputed music capital of New York City, and discover its history of hip hop, soul, jazz and gospel music dating back to the famous “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s and 1930s. While you’re exploring Harlem, it may be a good idea to ask the locals to direct you to some of the city’s best graffiti displays and street murals, which dot the neighbourhood. Not to be missed!
VARIATION 5
Use of type size and type style. In this layout, I have experimented with two elements of designs i.e.. style as well as type size. The aim of this was to understand how to add in the style along with size to transmit the right message of expression. Body text size- 8.5/10.5pt. I played with the type and used the principles to express the terms “Graffiti” and “Harlem” for the reader to have a feeling of what they’re about to read. This creates visual interest as well.
The term HARLEM RENAISSANCE derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of New York’s crosscultural awakening.
Walk in the footsteps of jazz and soul greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, as you take in the imposing Neo-Classical foyer of the iconic Apollo Theatre in the heart of the Harlem district. Walk through the historic neighbourhood of Harlem, which is considered the undisputed music capital of New York City, and discover its history of
hip hop, soul, jazz and gospel music dating back to the famous “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s and 1930s. While you’re exploring Harlem, it may be a good idea to ask the locals to direct you to some of the city’s best graffiti displays and street murals, which dot the neighbourhood. Not to be missed! Inflight magazine of Air India shubh-yatra.in | Aug 2016
VARIATION 6
Use of type size, style and Serif typeface In this layout, I have added a Serif typeface, Adobe Garamond Pro. I chose this typeface because I found it best suited for the title. In this layout I have changed the type styles as well as scale. The article chosen is mainly on the Harlem Renaissance and I chose that as my subject to be Bold in. The challenges faced were on which type of layout and grid would work best for the typeface. I have also increased the leading of the body text to 8/10.5pt.
Inflight magazine of Air India shubh-yatra.in Aug 2016
GRAFFITI
& SOUL IN
HARLEM
The term HARLEM RENAISSANCE derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of New York’s cross-cultural awakening.
Walk in the footsteps of jazz and soul greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, as you take in the imposing Neo-Classical foyer of the iconic Apollo Theatre in the heart of the Harlem district. Walk through the historic neighbourhood of Harlem, which is considered the undisputed music capital of New York
City, and discover its history of hip hop, soul, jazz and gospel music dating back to the famous “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s and 1930s. While you’re exploring Harlem, it may be a good idea to ask the locals to direct you to some of the city’s best graffiti displays and street murals, which dot the neighbourhood. Not to be missed!
VARIATION 7 Use of grey-scale
In this layout, I have included the greyscale to my text in order to create an interest and pass on the message smoothly. I used the opacity in Graffiti as two different shades of grey as in graffiti art, there are various tints and shades of the same colour of a word. I also put in a different shade of grey for “& soul in�(28/33pt) as its not as important as the words in black and wanted the word Harlem (50/60pt) to stand out.
GRAFFITI & SOUL IN HARLEM The term HARLEM RENAISSANCE derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of New York’s cross-cultural awakening.
Walk in the footsteps of jazz and soul greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, as you take in the imposing
Neo-Classical foyer of the iconic Apollo Theatre in the heart of the Harlem district. Walk through the historic neighbourhood of Harlem, which is considered the undisputed music capital of New York City, and discover its history of hip hop, soul, jazz and gospel music dating back to the famous “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s and 1930s.
Inflight magazine of Air India shubh-yatra.in Aug 2016
While you’re exploring Harlem, it may be a good idea to ask the locals to direct you to some of the city’s best graffiti displays and street murals, which dot the neighbourhood. Not to be missed!
VARIATION 8 No use of grid
In this layout, I have broken free from the grid I used in my previous layouts (6 column grid). The challenges I faced here were that I was abit apprehensive of breaking from the grid, as I followed a structure till now. Here, I aligned the text various manners. I used the principle of Hierarchy to show eye movement of the content.
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a Ar ui so lk im e s u in ic po tha Ar l gr th th on s F m ea e hi e ic ing ra str ts fo nk o s ot w st Ha A n u m hic ori rle pol Neo lin g, ch ste m lo -C , di us h c a ps ja sc ic is ne d Th la as Ray s E o lla f th zz ov c ig ist e ss y of e an er api con hb ric atr ica ou Ch Fit jaz e t fa d it ta si ou t. e l t a zg z id xpl he mo go s h l o der rh Wa in foy ake rles er an a d e oo lk th er s ea or 1 u s is f in a ld, d e an om to ing 920 s “ pel tor Ne d t n o h ne d e o a H s H m y w the o ro he f th d f u a t e ig s f sk ar an ar us of Yo hb tr th t le d le ic h rk un H gh rt he h e d ar t of ou e e c e m 19 m d ip ity lo , i 30 R at h Cit isp lem he rh t oo m ’s ca t s en ing op y, ut , d. ura be ls ma . W ai b , s an ed N ls, st to y hi ss ac ou d ot g d b le a k l, to w ra ire e a yo nc to h In u e” be ic ffit ct fli h i d y go ’re gh o o m t is do isp u t d m ag se t la o az d! t ys in he sh e
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om fr al t es pi riv ca de lic E o C b . N m g A sy in S a en k IS s A a wa N d a E ve l R er ura M s ult LE em c R rl sA a s H t H cro a rm th k’s te t or e fac Y Th e ew th f N o
VARIATION 9
No grid & use of colour and graphic element In this layout, I have added the element of colour and shapes to create visual interest. I have chosen these colours as they symbolise the Graffiti art as well as the Harlem. Bold bright colours, to transmit the feeling of ‘graffiti’. I have placed them in this manner and played with the opacity as well as type. I have also used ligatures in the word Graffiti. Noticing the bold colours, the reader might tend to read and get attracted to the article.
The term Harlem Renaissance derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of New York’s cross-cultural awakening.
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Inflight magazine alk in the footsteps of jazz and of Air India shubh-yatra.in soul greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Aug 2016 Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, as you take in the imposing Neo-Classical foyer of the iconic Apollo Theatre in the heart of the Harlem district. Walk through the historic neighbourhood of Harlem, which is considered the undisputed music capital of New York City, and discover its history of hip hop, soul, jazz and gospel music dating back to the famous “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s and 1930s. While you’re exploring Harlem, it may be a good idea to ask the locals to direct you to some of the city’s best graffiti displays and street murals, which dot the neighbourhood. Not to be missed!
Soul In
VARIATION 10
Use of image and San-Serif typeface In this layout, I have combined text with image with its original size and type, converted the image into grey-scale. Here I placed the image in the centre and strictly followed the grids and left some white space to enable some breathing space and simple. The challenge here was placing the text which wasn’t all that important than the subject in a subtle manner which I feel I have achieved.
GRAFFITI & SOUL IN HARLEM The term Harlem Renaissance derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of New York’s crosscultural awakening.
Inflight magazine of Air India shubh-yatra.in Aug 2016 Walk in the footsteps of jazz and soul greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, as you take in the imposing Neo-Classical foyer of the iconic Apollo Theatre in the heart of the Harlem district. Walk through the historic neighbourhood of Harlem, which is considered the undisputed music capital of New York City, and discover
its history of hip hop, soul, jazz and gospel music dating back to the famous “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s and 1930s. While you’re exploring Harlem, it may be a good idea to ask the locals to direct you to some of the city’s best graffiti displays and street murals, which dot the neighbourhood. Not to be missed!
VARIATION 11
Use of image and text, single style In this layout, I have played with the image as well as the type to create this composition. I tried playing with type as well, as you can see- to create a visual interest, the ‘U’ in SOUL acts like a part of the image, being the nose of the image. Using a single style, and only playing with Hierarchy as to display what the reader should read first, eye movement was one keen interests and element concentrated on. Body text size 9/9.
GRAFFITI
Inflight magazine of Air India shubh-yatra.in Aug 2016
& SOUL IN
HARLEM
The term Harlem Renaissance derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of New York’s cross-cultural awakening.
Walk in the footsteps of jazz and soul greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, as you take in the imposing Neo-Classical foyer of the iconic Apollo Theatre in the heart of the Harlem district.
Walk through the historic neighbourhood of Harlem, which is considered the undisputed music capital of New York City, and discover its history of hip hop, soul, jazz and gospel music dating back to the famous “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s
and 1930s. While you’re exploring Harlem, it may be a good idea to ask the locals to direct you to some of the city’s best graffiti displays and street murals, which dot the neighbourhood. Not to be missed!
VARIATION 12
Image any shape, change type size, style In this layout, I have used the tints and shades of black and white to create an interest in the composition. Cropped the image into half and completed it using the type in an interesting manner. At first, it was very challenging on which side to place the text, the right tint and shade, whether to keep the ‘&’ full, or half. Use of negative space as grids in the right way was one of my key learnings.
GR AFFITI The term HARLEM RENAISSANCE derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of New York’s cross-cultural awakening.
SOUL IN
HARLEM W
alk in the footsteps of jazz and soul greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, as you take in the imposing NeoClassical foyer of the iconic Apollo Theatre in the heart of the Harlem district. Walk through the historic neighbourhood of Harlem, which is considered the undisputed music capital of New York City, and discover
its history of hip hop, soul, jazz and gospel music dating back to the famous “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s and 1930s. While you’re exploring Harlem, it may be a good idea to ask the locals to direct you to some of the city’s best graffiti displays and street murals, which dot the neighbourhood. Not to be missed!
Inflight magazine of Air India shubh-yatra.in Aug 2016
VARIATION 13
Use of graphic element and no grid. In this layout, I have used the Principles of graphic design with type. Joining the G and H to make a composition is one of the things I enjoyed doing! Placing the image in the background and placing it in a manner which it doesn’t only look like an image, but also completes the counter in R with the eye element of the image. Thus making it interesting. I have used the principle of colour interaction as well. The grey in ‘Graffiti and Harlem’ is the same. ‘Harlem’ looks different only due to the background. The placement of text off grid yet making it visually attractive was a challenge yet fun!
GH
RAFFITI Soul In
The term HARLEM RENAISSANCE derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of New York’s cross-cultural awakening
&
Inflight magazine of Air India shubh-yatra.in Aug 2016
ARLEM
Walk in the footsteps of jazz and soul greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, as you take in the imposing Neo-Classical foyer of the iconic Apollo Theatre in the heart of the Harlem district. Walk through the historic neighbourhood of Harlem, which is considered the undisputed music capital of New York City, and discover its history of hip hop, soul, jazz and gospel music dating back to the famous “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s and 1930s. While you’re exploring Harlem, it may be a good idea to ask the locals to direct you to some of the city’s best graffiti displays and street murals, which dot the neighbourhood. Not to be missed!
VARIATION 14
Use of colour and no grid In this layout, I tried making the text complete the image. Fragmented the original image into various parts and put them in order accordingly. In this layout the challenge was getting the text right without use of justified text and creating rags. I achieved this by controlling the tracking, leading and kerning of the text. The title in this composition, too I have changed the colour of ‘& Soul in’ to imply the word Soul. Being a no-grid composition it was abit tough creating the layout to look visually appealing.
GRAFFITI The term HARLEM RENAISSANCE derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of New York’s crosscultural awakening.
& SOUL IN
HARLEM
Walk in the footsteps of jazz and soul greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, as you take in the imposing Neo-Classical foyer of the iconic Apollo Theatre in the heart of the Harlem district. Walk through thehistoric neighbourhood of Harlem, which is considered the undisputed music capital of New York City, and discover its history of hip hop, soul, jazz and gospel music dating back to the famous “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s and 1930s. While you’re exploring Harlem, it may be a good idea to ask the locals to direct you to some of the city’s best graffiti displays and street murals, which dot the neighbourhood. Not to be missed!
Inflight magazine of Air India shubh-yatra.in Aug 2016
VARIATION 15
Changing the meaning of the composition In this layout, I used the words of the paragraph to change the title and meaning of the composition by just using text. I played with the type as well to create visual interest in the composition. This composition was initially really tough as it had less limitations to work on. The choice of layout and creating a mirror image of the left and right side. Another challenge I faced was once again, correcting the rags along. I have tried to avoid justified text as much as possible. Have tried to create a feeling of missed footsteps in my type composition.
S
S
M I SS E D S
S
F OO T S T E P S
Walk in the footsteps of jazz and soul greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Aretha Fra.nklin, as you take in the imposing Neo-Classical foyer of the iconic Apollo Theatre in the heart of the Harlem district. Walk through the historic neighbourhood of Harlem, which is considered the undisputed music capital of New York City, and discover its history of hip hop, soul, jazz and gospel music dating back to the famous “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s and 1930s. While you’re exploring Harlem, it may be a good idea to ask the locals to direct you to some of the city’s best graffiti displays and street murals, which dot the neighbourhood. Not to be missed! The term HARLEM RENAISSANCE derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of New York’s cross-cultural awakening.
Inflight magazine of Air India shubh-yatra.in Aug 2016
Visual Tools Assignment 5 Aug 2016 Nadine Gracias