ON THE DEARTH OF REAL GRID TEACHING

Yes, there are many articles and even portions of books that cover the "grid". But for the most part they are only looking at it superficially. The seminal works are long forgotten, Jay Hambridge on Dynamic Symmetry, and the book LAYOUT by Alan Hurlbut. In essence what is missing is what the dynamic is all about. It is NOT about columns, gutters and modules of space, (although those play into the final works). It is really about about proportion and the play of positive/negative space and dominance/subordinance in design (I believe it was Itten that boiled it all down to "contrast"). What the TRUE grid teaches is that there is a mathematical solution to these designs. These use the fibonacci series of numbers, or PHI, the Golden Mean.

In view of the fact that the web is a "flexible" medium, these numbers need to be expressed in terms of percentages. Roughly .614 (or 61.4%) using the final 38.6% for width or depth. Can it or will it ever find a place in designing for the web? (I hope so!) But until then I will need to LEARN more from the old "print masters" of the Swiss school of design and typography.