Tuesday, 5 March 2013

OUGD404 - Design Principles - Type & Picture - the 8 field grid - Type, image and layout session 3

Type & Picture - the  8 field grid 
26th Feb - 5th March

8 and 20 field grids
8 grid fields are used regularly for advertising and brochure publications.
They allow various sizes of illustrations to be portrayed

The grid is only and instrument for you as a designer, not necessarily a rule for good aesthetics, as aesthetics are down to everyones personal opinion.

Before you apply a grid you must understand the requirement of the grid for the work to be produced.
Ideally, choice of typefaces, sketches/illustrations, print methods and paper stock must be confirmed beforehand.
Always start with small sketches. But even before drawing them, consider the number of columns needed.

The disadvantages of 6 column grids; lines of text will be narrow and a small typeface will have to be used (but that depends on what you're designing - take the rule of grid with a pinch of salt!).

For statistics, figures, graphs, and trend line publications use 4 columns per page. 4 columns can be divided into 8 or 16 column sections.

The width of the column dictates the size of the typeface.

When applying type to a column:
  • the first line should fit flush to top limit of a column grid.
  • Last line must stand on the bottom limit.
  • Divide your columns into 'fields'
  • You should have the same amount in each field.
Font heights:

Caption text:
  • 4pt type
  • 6pt leading
Header/ footer text:
  • 7pt type
  • 10pt leading
Body text:
  • 10pt type
  • 13pt leading
Subheading text:
  • 20pt type
Headline:
  • 40pt type


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