#2' TEE GRID TYPES HOW TO#

Look across the page and you can clearly see each column. This newspaper uses a distinct six-column grid in its daily design that has become part of its brand identity.

One of the most recognizable uses of the vertical grid in print design today is employed by The Wall Street Journal. Publications that sell ad space to fit a modular grid offer increments of eighth, quarter, half and whole pages. Column widths may vary from element to element on the page, but all elements will stack to form rectangular spaces. Modular GridĪ modular grid uses less of a vertical column format and allows designers to package text and images in rectangles. Rails were common newspaper design tools in the 1990s and early part of this century but have fallen out of fashion in recent years. This column, which is off the page’s grid, is often called a rail. In some grid structures, a skinny column that is about half the width of columns in the standard grid, occupies the space from the top to bottom of the page on the far left- or right-hand side of the page. Text can jump from one column to the next on the same page, or can jump across multiple pages. When items flow from one column to the next, it is called a jump. The number of words that fit in a column inch varies by font and the grid a publication uses. One column inch is one inch of vertical space by one column wide. When measuring news or advertising space in newspapers and magazines, editors will often refer to column inches. (A pica is a unit of measure that is equal to 0.1667 inches.) Column Inch Commonly, in print design, the space between each column is one to two picas. In typical grid design, columns and gutters have consistent widths. Paperback books often only have one column of text per page but wider formats, such as coffee table books, may have two columns (or more) columns per page. While multiple column grids are less common than one or two column structures, they are often used in books that contain images or text with lots of formatting (such as cookbooks). They use a set of distinct columns from top to bottom of each column, with all photos set within the columns.īook publishers also use vertical grids to keep text easy to read. The grid is maintained but used in a different way.Īdvertisements, such as classifieds, still commonly run in the same old news design format. Designers began to cross items over the gutters of the grid so that a photo would occupy the space above four columns of type. Photos sat inside the columns as well so each page contained a perfect set of vertical lines. Text flowed from the top to bottom of each column and then over to the next column. Historically, news design was based on a distinct grid that was unchanged from day to day and page to page.

#2' TEE GRID TYPES HOW TO#

The grid is used as a guide for how to place text, photos and advertisements on the page. Grids, which create structure and organization, are used in print publications and to develop advertisements. The grid-based design structure has been used in print for as long as presses have been running.

2' tee grid types