- Gridify Our Page
- This is the text for the deck for the magazine assignment.
Criteria for your pages
Your pages must:
- use the A4 page dimensions.
- have all elements aligned to column guides.
- either left-aligned or left-justified text.
- have all body copy aligned to the baseline.
- have adequate margins, inside, outside, top and bottom.
The Modular Grid
Our magazine dimensions are going to be A4 size, that’s 21cm x 29.7cm. Read more about ISO A page dimensions here. This is our canvas. The grid needs to allow for:
- Margins
- Top: Running Headers
- Outside: Thumb space
- Inside: Binding
- Bottom: Folios
- Columns
- Reasonable line length
- Gutters
- Breathing room between columns
Pinterest Board with page layouts on grids.
Your Grid
I suggest you use 6 columns on most of your pages. A few of them will work better with an 8 column grid. That way, you can mostly use them as a three or four columns, with halves built-in.
Bleeds
When you place text and artwork on the page, it either needs to be within the margins or reach out to the bleed line accurately. The bleed must be ⅛” or 0p9, which are equivalents.
Don’t leave any artwork beyond the bleed line.
Text Alignment
Your text can either be left-justified or left aligned. Choose one alignment for all your pages.
Baseline Grids
You must align your body copy to the baseline grid. The baseline grid is a set of guides on which can align body copy so text baselines align from column to column. It makes the pages look a lot cleaner—more orderly.
We can have text aligned to the baseline whether it’s left-aligned or left-justified. You do not need to align titles or any other text to the baseline grid.
Sketching Pages
You’ll need to sketch page layouts. I usually print pages with a grid on them to guide me in my sketching. It also helps that the proportions are the same as my final printed piece.