OUGD404: Grids & Divine Proportions Part 3

by Roxxie Blackham on Tuesday 26 February 2013

Construction of Grids

Before you can apply a grid you must understand the requirement of the grid for the work to be produced. Typeface, text & illustrations, print method and paper quality must be confirmed beforehand.

Always start with small sketches. Thumbnail sketches will make your job of final layouts easier and productive. Thumbnail sizes should be proportionate to the final format to make your job of final layouts easier and productive.

Before drawing your sketches, consider the number of columns needed. For example:

  • 1 column only for text and illustrations gives little freedom of layout. Restriction of making illustrations small, medium or large. 
  • 2 columns, logically, gives you more scope (1 column for text and 1 for image) and they can be mixed together. 
  • 2 column division can be subdivided to create a 4 column page.
  • 3 columns gives opportunities for arranging and accommodating text and illustration in numerous sizes. You could also subdivide the three column grid into a 6 column grid arrangement.

Disadvantage of 6 column systems are:
Lines of text will be narrow.
Small typeface will have to be used.
But this solely rests on the function that is to be performed.

For statistics, figures, graphs and trend line publications:
Use 4 columns per page.
Remember 4 columns can be subdivided into 8, 16 + columns, convenient for representing stats.

The width of a column dictates the size of a typeface used.
The Rule:
"The narrower a column is, the smaller the typeface."

In A Nutshell....
Make a variety of thumbnails of layouts/designs.
Do not rely n just one set of thumbnails.
Enlarge a small selection of appropriate thumbnails by 1:1.
Compare them and select and repeat process until you are confident with the design.

Apply Type To Columns

The first line must fit flush to the top limit of the column grid. The last line must stand on the bottom limit. Keep calm, it is difficult to find the final solution the first time around. It could mean that your grid field is too high or too low.

For example:
10pt type, column length 15cm, roughly means use 15 point leading. At this length there must be 10 lines per field, meaning 30 lines per every 15cm. The depth of my fields ascertains how many 10pt type lines I have.

Font Heights

The Caption Text should be a proportion of the Header & Footer Text. For Example:
Caption Text - 4 point type, 6 point leading
Header & Footer Text - 7 point type, 10 point leading

Body Text - 10 point type, 13 point leading
Subheading - 20 point type
Heading - 40 point type

Type & Picture on an 8/20 field grid

A4 format, 8 & 20 field grids.
8 grid fields are used frequently for advertising material and brochures. If using 8 field grids, you can subdivide into 16 grid fields. 8 and 16 grid fields give you a range of possibilities.

8 grid fields allow various sizes of illustrations to be portrayed. You can use with or without text. You need to have a good perception of composition.

"The grid is only an instrument in which you, a designer, can make interesting and balanced design."

20 field grid has quite a large scope for possibilities. Calculated at 42 layout possibilities.

It is up to you to use the teachings to create and develop your design response.
...Are grids an aesthetic choice?

 Making Grids on InDesign:

Make a new document at whatever size you wish to work at and then go to: Layout - Margins and Columns...

Then click on the link button to unlock the margins, so that you can alter each margin to a different size. Then you can change the margin sizes according to how you want your layout to look like and click okay. If you have the preview box ticked, then you can see how the page layout looks as you change the margin sizes.



To make grids alongside the guides, go to: Layout - Create Guides...


Then you can alter the amount of rows and columns that you want on the page, and the gutter size works best at 5mm.



Another way of creating columns and grids would be by using the Rectangle Frame Tool.


By creating the square that you want, and holding down the mouse click whilst pressing the up arrow on your keyboard, you can create grids to work with. You can also press the right arrow to create more grids.


An easy way of making guides on the page and finding the centre point:

Grab the little square shape on the top left hand corner of the ruler of the page and drag it out till it is in line with the edge of your page layout...


Then drag and drop guides from the ruler to the top and bottom of the InDesign page...


If you drop another guide on top of the bottom guide, and change the location of the guide by using the values on the top left of the page, you can find the centre point.


Type /2 next to the unit of measurement on the Y height..


You now have the centre line represented by another guide. You can repeat this step along the page to find more and more centre lines between guides.


Another way of making guides would be by using the scripts enabled into the software. To find these, go to: Window - Utilities - Scripts...


You can then look in the Application and Samples folders to find the scripts to use.


Add a box, using the Rectangular Frame Tool and select it. 


Then double-click on "AddGuides.applescript". Then click OK.


Then if you look through the different scripts again and click on "MakeGrid


Then you can alter the amount of rows, columns and gutter sizes to how you feel and press OK...


 It should result in something along the lines of this...


You can then use this as a set of guides to follow when designing.

OUGD406: Communication Is A Virus Research

by Roxxie Blackham on Saturday 23 February 2013

Our group theme: 10,000 steps

I was a bit unsure on our given theme, and where we could go with the research so I decided to just type the theme into google and look at the first website that popped up. It was an NHS health advice site giving information on how many steps a day is healthy and how you can keep track on how many steps you're taking each day.

The average person's stride length is approximately 2.5 feet long. That means it takes just over 2,000 steps to walk one mile, and 10,000 steps is close to 5 miles.

Link to NHS 10,000 steps page

"Research shows that walking 10,000 steps a day will significantly improve your health. Putting one foot in front of the other can build stamina, burn excess calories and give you a healthier heart."


I then came across a walking charity in Britain called 'Ramblers'.

Link to Ramblers website

The Ramblers maintain footpaths and campaign for more access for walking to encourage more people to take up walking across England, Scotland and Wales. They aim to get all ages and sizes of people to get walking and get healthier, and have delivered various walking programmes that encourage those who are inactive to walk a little bit each day, steadily walking more and more to get healthier and more active, whether they are walking in the countryside or in the cities.

The Ramblers have also collected an online library of high quality walking routes, to give walkers freedom to walk at their own leisure along safe, inspiring and interesting trails. The fact the routes are interesting will encourage people to follow them and look online for more exciting trails to take part in.

Using the Route Finder on the website, I typed in my postcode to see what walks the Ramblers had collected in my area.


I found the options of routes within 10 miles of me to be quite disappointing, as my search only came up with the one route within Leeds City Center, and the Ramblers hadn't managed to come across any safe or interesting walks outside of the city.

Another thing I noticed about this website is that you had to pay a fee to become a member of the Ramblers, which meant that you could go on all the 'members-only' trails. I think that this kind of defeats the point of encouraging people to walk, as walking is a free form of transport that everyone should be able to enjoy without having to pay for it. However, when I looked into the price and found out that it was only £2 a month, with all the money going to charity, it seemed pretty reasonable.

I also typed in my home postcode in the Cotswolds, as I knew living in such a remote area surrounded by countryside would mean plenty of interesting and leisurely trails to follow. This returned plenty of results in and around nearby villages and towns that I have visited time and time again.



I think this website works best depending on the area in which you are wishing to walk in. The website itself is extremely easy to navigate around and understand, and they make sure that the routes you are following are both clear on the map, as well as in the description underneath the map.

If I were to visit my family during this week, I would go on one of these walks to document it, however it's too far to travel for me, so instead I thought I'd look at some photographs of previous trails I have followed in the past. Me and my dad are quite keen walkers, and I have walked all around the fields near me, and trails in Forest of Dean and the Lake District, and find walking extremely relaxing and enjoyable.




















I adore natural history and wildlife photography, it's one of my biggest passions outside of Graphic Design, so I tend to always take a camera with me on walks to document interesting and beautiful wildlife.

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Packaging Research
We came up with one idea of packaging nutria-grain bars that we could place in the 10,000 steps kit, along with water bottles, wristbands, sweatbands, etc. We wanted something that was both simple, yet effective, and something that was aesthetically pleasing as most nutria-grain bars are really horrible to look at and don't make the food look appealing or tasty.


After researching into lots of already produced packaging for different types of bars, we found that there were all sorts of possibilities and variations on the packaging that we could go for. We were really intrigued by the packaging that was very plain and to the point, yet uses interesting and different paper stock/material to the usual stuff you see with commercially sold cereal bars.

However, after talking through this idea in the presentation with Amber and Simon, we soon realised that we couldn't produce our 10,000 steps kit as it would cost a lot of money to actually create a few of these to send out to the general public, so we had to change our idea.

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Thinking About Colour
Our initial thoughts were to work with pastel colours, in particular blue, green and brown as these three colours are very earthy and relate to nature and walking. We also thought about the fact that we're limited to two colours plus stock, so decided to use a stock that was an earthy colour, or something similar to brown, as this would give us more of a range of colour to work with. 

Colour Schemes:


I think that this website has been really useful for us when finding a colour scheme to work with. The brief that we've been set only allows us to use 2 colours plus stock, so it has been difficult trying to choose a few colours that we could work with, especially as we've been thinking about using photographs in our final publication.

We have decided to go for a green or a blue, plus black and stock. This means that our photographs that we use can be printed in black and white (or black and the stock colour), and we can add a little hint of another colour, for example green. I think this will make the final publication really simple, yet classy and will help to achieve the overall feel that we want to show with our brand identity.

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Inspirational Quotes

We have decided to make a publication to motivate the general public to walk 10,000 steps to keep healthy and happy. In our publication, we decided to place an inspirational quote on every other page. We want quotes that are to the point and relevant, and that could look nice when written in a certain typeface on a page alone.

I had a look online for some different quotes, and these are the ones that I found:

Strive for progress, not perfection - Maya Angelou

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will - Mahatma Ghandi

Energy and persistence conquer all things - Benjamin Franklin

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going - Jim Ryan

The finish line is just the beginning of a whole new race


Run like you're on fire

If you stop when you get tired, you never really finish at all

I can and I will

It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great - A League of Their Own

Complaining won't burn calories

Stop competing with others and start competing with yourself

Pain is temporary. Quitting is forever


Quit slackin' and make shit happen!

You have no reason to stop

Don't find the time to exercise, make the time to exercise

Be in it for the long run

You've got what it takes, but it will take everything you've got

Turn off your computer and go get some exercise you fat, lazy son of a bitch

Repeat after me "I can do this"

Obsessed is a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated

No one ever drowned in sweat

Sweat like a pig to look like a fox

Of course it burns, but complaining won't make you look good naked

Remember why you started

Running is a pain in the ass, but it sure gives you a nice one!

Exercising can't be replaced with a wii

I do 5 sit ups every morning. May not sound like much, but there's only so many times you can hit the snooze button.

If it wasn't for the fact that the TV set and the refrigerator are so far apart, some of us wouldn't get any exercise at all - Joey Adams

If fitness came in a bottle, everybody would have a great body - Cher

Skinny girls look good in clothes. Fit girls look good naked

Just do it. Even if you suck at it - Nike

No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody on the couch

If not now, when?

Your stomach shouldn't be a waste basket

Be stronger than your excuses

You can throw in the towel or you can use it to wipe the sweat off your face

There is no one giant step that does it, it's a lot of little steps - Peter A. Cohen

Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity - John F. Kennedy

It is health that is real life, not pieces of gold and silver - Mahatma Ghandi

The world wasn't formed in a day, and neither will we - Lee Haney

Attention to health is life's greatest hindrance - Plato

A vigorous five mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult then all the medicine and psychology in the world.

Time and health are two precious assets that we don't recognise and appreciate until they have been depleted - Denis Waitley

The human body is the best picture of the human soul - Ludwig Wittgenstein

An Idea To Make It More Viral

Another idea I thought of on how we could make the inspirational quotes more viral and available to a larger and wider audience, would be if we were to print the fliers out at a smaller size and attach them to helium filled balloons. We could then set the balloons off and when they land, someone would find the printed fliers and follow the instructions on the reverse side to go onto our website or twitter and send us something inspirational or something along those lines...

At college last year, some students on the HND course put together something similar and made a website called "you had me at balloon", as as form of guerrilla advertising. This was my main inspiration for our idea.

You Had Me At Balloon


I really love their ideas and ways of getting people engaged with their work. I think the idea of leaving their website url so that the person, who has received the note or balloon etc, can go onto the website created and report back about how well the installations worked for them or how they feel now is a really good concept as it helps the designers to understand whether their installations are working, and gives them a way of knowing how many people reacted to them.

An issue that we've encountered with this idea, is the fact that we need to order balloons and helium so that we can attach our fliers and send them out. Most websites only deliver within 7 days, unless you pay about £10 postage costs, so we're going to have to all chip in to help pay about £25 for the balloons to work.