Baseline grids involve placing text flush to a very linear grid system. All layout elements run to a common rhythm, lining up with each other. The system is very rigid and formal due to the clinical synchronicity of the cropped pictures and blocks of text. To create a baseline grid you must start with a standardised modular set up that features angular shapes divided my horizontal and vertical lines. Then ensure that all text and and image conforms to the same structure with no negative space between text/images and the chosen, X or Y baseline. The system is common in publishing, specifically in a newspapers or books, due to its formality.
Modular grids differ slightly from this in that they don't have to be entirely linear. Text and images must correlate and use the same grid format, however they don't all have to be anchored to the same baseline. As with baseline modules are created via a series of standardised horizontal and vertical divisions. Images can be offset in relation to text or vice versa and negative space and come between components and their baseline axies. The effect is less clinical although still highly structured and is very popular in editorial design. Text can be used in varying sizes, styles and weights to give a hierarchy and break up the rigidity of the format, giving the system some limited versatility.
The systems were devised during the rise of Swiss international style in the 1950s and 60s. Credit for its discovery is given to Swiss designers such as Ruder, Muller-Brockmann and Gerstner. The reason for Switzerland's prominence in this field can be attributed to its neutrality during the second world war. This allowed for an influx of intellectual refugees such as Poland born Jan Tschichold and the lack of rationing on luxury items such as paper and ink. Furthermore publications had to be published in French, German and Italian, making a highly structured modular approach essential. Ruder and Muller-Brockman argued that "integral design" required structures that would unite all the elements in both 2-D and 3-D design: type, pictures, diagrams, and space itself.
The Golden
section describes a mathematical formulae derived from
observations of details in nature that can be used to form 'organic'
compositions. The formulae is a : b = b : (a+b) meaning the
smaller of two elements relates to the larger element in the same way that the
larger element relates to the two parts combined. Approximately equal to
a 1:1.61 ratio, the Golden Ratio can be illustrated using a Golden Rectangle: a
large rectangle consisting of a square and a smaller rectangle. If you
remove this square from the rectangle, you'll be left with another, smaller
Golden Rectangle. This could continue infinitely.
The golden section technique has been used for centuries with claims that it was used in Greek and even Egyptian architecture. It can be used in art, architecture and grids to give a sense of proportion and balance. The idea is that the layout is particularly satisfying to the human eye due to its inherent occurrence in nature. The classic example of this is in seashells that follow the golden ratio with the focal point providing a golden section.
A designer may use golden section as a subtly psychological ploy to engage the viewer, due to its relevance and occurrence in nature and everything we see.
Multicolumn grids provide flexibility and clear structure to publications that require a hierarchy between a complex network of text and image. Used in a similar but less structured way to a modular approach, vertical columns allow for clear divisions between different fields of content. The flexibility comes from the ability to allow text or images to span multiple columns and not just be confined to one area. The technique is popular amongst newspapers and other print publications that need a clear hierarchy to aid readability but also the freedom to use the available space appropriately and in conjunction with irregular images and illustrations.
Where multicolumn grids provide hierarchy through vertical linear forms, Hang lines can provide the opposite. This method of grid layouts features horizontal division of text and image. An example of this is the area across the top of a publication or document where images and headings or captions 'hang' from a common gridline, occasionally the baseline. This principle is also used in architecture where a horizontal reference point is known as a datum. Body text can also be alined hanging from a common line and spreading across multiple columns horizontally. They can easily be used just by laying out a simple grid and alining elements along the top line, similar at times to baseline grids but in a less structured sense.
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