Celebrating the grid

No matter what a graphic designer really thinks about grids, wether he loves them or hates them – no one can seriously deny that they are an elemental tool which affected and determined the history of graphic and typographic design. As a graphic design student in Basel the ideas of the 20th century's Swiss graphic design and its love for the grid inevitably became an influencing factor in my work. Even if you just try to get over it!

Nevertheless the grid deserves to be questioned, discussed and pushed to its limits (and hopefully beyond). And it deserves to be «celebrated». Astrid Stavro honors it her own way. A project she started with Birgit Pfisterer as their final project for the Master of Arts in Communication Art & Design at The Royal College of Art served as the basis for the «Grid-it! notepads». It is a collection of sheets with grid systems printed on it. These aren't any old grids. They were taken from carefully chosen books which mark important steps in the history of the usage of grid systems. To name a few examples: «Die neue Typografie» by Jan Tschichold (1928), «Rastersysteme» by Josef Müller-Brockmann (1981) or «The Bible» by Johannes Gutenberg (1455). So, what to do with these sheets? Stavro says:

Write your shopping lists, practice your layouts, and keep your books and magazines on the shelves of grids that changed the history of design.

Shelves? Yeah, right. She made the next step and developed bookshelves based on the grids mentioned above. Letting the grid play the lead can make arranging your collection of design literature (or whatever) in the rhythmic spaces become an enjoyable approach to train your way of dealing with grids in a more playful way. Or by creating new layouts for your to-do lists on the grid sheets? But have a look for yourself and learn more about «The Art Of The Grid»! (via Thinking for a Living™)

By the way: while I was writing this article I remembered a book a colleague of mine once bought: «Making and Breaking the Grid» by Timothy Samara. I think the title is self-explanatory. Apply the contents of this book to the shelves at your own risk.