Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Loewy
United Kingdom
Column Logic and Rhythm on a Grid
The way in which columns of text interact with negative space is an important aspect
of how a grid is articulated. The spaces above and below columns play an active part
in giving the columns a rhythm as they relate to each other across pages and spreads.
The options available to a designer are endless but can be described as fitting into three
basic categories: columns that justify top and bottom; columns that align vertically at
top or bottom and rag at the other end; and columns that rag top and bottom. Each kind
of logic has a dramatic impact on the overall rhythm of the pages within a publication,
ranging from austere and geometric to wildly organic in feeling—all the while ordered
by the underlying grid. Changing the column logic from section to section provides
yet another method of differentiating informational areas. The designer, however, must
carefully consider the rhythm of that change.
TEXT COLUMNS IN THIS
sequence of brochure spreads are allowed to move up and down and
be different depths as needed to create rhythmic interplay with the photographs. Note the simil-
arity in hangline drop between the columns in the first spread (A), the hangline of the rightmost
column, as well as the space between paragraphs in spread (B). The columns appear to hang from
the tops of modules. This assumption is further supported in the last spread (C) by the alignment
of the numeral 6 with the numeral 2 in (A) and the location of the numeral 8 relative to the end of
the first column in spread (B).
Frost Design
Australia
Visual Logic
Structuring the Page
Intuitive Arrangement
Integrating Type and Image
