Freeform grids

Free-form grids and diagonal composition

6

The previous five tutorials discuss how to create grids around a carefully structured hierarchy of rows, columns, and baselines. This is generally the approach one would take when designing a page from a book, magazine, or brochure, but what about one-off items such as posters or pieces of packaging?

It can be important to adopt a structured approach to projects of this type despite the fact that consistency across more than one page isn’t always an issue.

1 One of the simplest ways to divide areas visually is to first draw a range of boxes filled with a light tint to allow you to judge how the proportions of the available space will accommodate the items you need to include.

For this example take an A2 poster, that is 594 × 420mm (233⁄8 × 161⁄2in). The poster needs a headline, a side column for a listing on the left, a box with some details at the bottom, and a grid of images on the right. Before starting with any detailed styling, create boxes to represent each of theses areas, then position and size them to achieve the visual balance of material that you feel looks right.

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2 If you want to divide any of these areas into smaller modules, you may be able to utilize an available script or Xtension. For example, MakeGrid is a script supplied free with InDesign CS2, or as an installed component of InDesign CS3. It takes the math out of dividing a frame into modular components and is a great time-saver. Remember to save the file before you apply any settings using a script of this kind as the “undo” option isn’t always available.

This example divides the images area into 12 separate modules with one simple action. The dialog box generated by the script is shown below.

This grid is structured along the lines of a traditional page grid, but it doesn’t follow any of the rules that dictate consistent column measures that spilt evenly across a text area. Nor does it rigidly follow a vertically distributed system of modular divisions. It is based purely on observing the visual harmony between areas of text or images.

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Possibly the most interesting aspect of free-form grids comes from taking groups of modular elements and rotating or distorting them to create visually dynamic layouts that adopt a diagonal structure. Hebert Bayer’s famous poster, designed in 1926 to publicise an exhibition of Kandinsky’s paintings to celebrate his 60th birthday, is an outstanding early example.

3 Group all the modules you’ve created and rotate them to create a dynamic visual grid like that used by Bayer for his poster.

This example uses an 8˚ rotation, which looks about right for the elements of our grid. The angle you choose will depend on how you’ve elected to distribute any material included in your own design, so experiment with different degrees of rotation. You could also try varying the amount of rotation for different modules to create two or more grids, but take care not to ruin the visual clarity of the design.

Clarity and structure are, after all, what grids are all about.

Copyright © RotoVision SA 2007