OUGD403 - Studio Brief 02 - Study Task 02 - Grids and layout

Before starting my own grid in response to my chosen typeface and designs created from that, i carried out some research on various books, magazines and websites to find out how grids are used on a daily basis both in design work and natural life. 

I first began to re create the grids using pages from typography books I used from the college library, i found some interesting pages mixed with images, annotations and text and began creating a grid for them in my own image. i ended up with a few complex and simple grid designs which i then compared. i then looked at different social media websites such as facebook, twitter and instagram, just to see how the the different elements of the page were laid out, the grids for these websites turned out to be very basic, maybe this is because social media websites are created for 'ease of use' therefore the grid designs for the layout would not have been complex.

I also looked at how grids have been used over time and the idea of grids fitting into the natural world, how they are used in everyday life without us being aware of it. 

http://www.graphics.com/article-old/brief-history-grids

http://webdevstudios.com/2014/09/26/why-grids-matter-a-review-from-chaos-to-order/

Grid systems are used in so many things from 'bee hives' to our own 'face', they are used to bring order to chaos both in the design world and the natural world. 

When looking back in time to see the earlier and more famous designs of grids I came over a few famous grid designs:

The Golden ratio has thought to have been used for at around 4000 years in art and design, but is believed it may have been used longer before that time, based on the idea of Egyptians using the golden ratio to build pyramids,

The golden ratio can be seen in in all types of art and design, it is believed that the golden ratio sets the idea of beauty and the more that something is closer to the use of the golden ratio the more beautiful that 'something' is supposed to be, whether it be a human face or a piece of art work.
Below is the idea that the golden ratio had been used to paint the 'Mona Lisa'.




The Van de Graaf 'secret canon', is another type of grid that is used in book design so a page can be divided into pleasing proportions and sections, in a way that is also pleasing to the eye. The 'secret canon has been used for a long time, it was used in the creationj of medieval manuscripts and incunabula. 
below in an image of the grid and a link to a video on how the draw the grid by hand.



http://www.realmagick.com/van-de-graaf-canon/ 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRUR52oTAP8


The Rule of Thirds is used in creating images it is supposed to set the basis for well balanced images by laying all elements out in proportion.

http://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds/


After my research I felt I had enough knowledge to go ahead and begin to create a grid for my 26 letter forms of the alphabet, in the typeface Helvetica, I used an original font, once I had created by complex grid I could then use that grid to manipulate the Helvetica font to relate to my word 'charisma' and the idea of 'spirituality'.