During my time in college I learned a ton of useful tips for designing and one of my most valuable tools I took with me was the use of grids. By using this tool you’ll be able to achieve balance every time.
Many people will look at a beautiful designed room, painting, car, or building think that the artist, architect, interior designer, or graphic artist simply pulled the idea from a hat. However, that is never the case. In fact, most designs prior to 1960 relied heavily on grids, calculations, and agreeable proportions. With the introduction on plastic and other man-made materials, artists and builders alike were able to break out of their conventional grids, which I’m sure can be very liberating for a person that has designed using grids during the entirety of their lifetime. For anyone that is beginning to learn about the Adobe Creative Suite, grids are a great tool for following the elements of design.
The Basic Concept
Without going too far back into time, I want to convey one of the simplest applications for the use of grids relating to design. Although you can go a little crazy with the use of grids for order, organization, or balance, there is one main grid use that I regularly revisit when putting together any and all of my materials.
The Golden Rectangle
The golden rectangle is a mathematical proportion that, when used, will make your design aesthetically pleasing and balanced. Referred to as the Fibonacci Sequence, this ratio can be found in nature and when used correctly creates a great grid for all types of designs.
If you haven’t heard of the golden rectangle, you’ve totally seen it at work, for instance: the Apple logo, the Twitter logo, the Mona Lisa, the famous Pyramids in Egypt, Greek architecture, and even your face all possess this ratio. To create this ratio yourself, follow the steps depicted in the graphic below.
Don’t think of this ratio as a static horizontal and vertical ratio either. If you want to create drama, you can tilt the design at an angle and introduce a dynamic effect. How you decide to layer or add to the layout is up to you, but this is a great tool to add to your collection of useful tips.
To learn how to create this grid in Illustrator check out this video.