The use of visual hierarchy and the grid as a system in
creating good typographic design have adapted to modern graphic design, whilst
maintaining the principles that are present as early as letterpress.
This is evident because these elements have had a great influence
on how we as an audience read and interpret text today. For example, the direction
in which our eye reads columns of text and what we interpret to be the headline.
This means just some elements of visual hierarchy and grids will always have to
remain the same.
However, the emergence of digital technologies promotes an
environment where “breaking the rules” is possible and can occur without much disruption
to the flow of a grid layout. This was not a technique that was often employed
with the constraints, and traditions prevalent in letterpress.
Yen magazine is a visually focused publication that often
needs to adapt its grid layout to accommodate its images. It will always use the same column widths
when doing this to keep the changes uniform with the other grid layouts. Rather than altering the image, it will
alter the grid slightly to maintain the integrity and power of image. The publication
uses the grid system to maintain visual heirachy, where the important information
is at the top of the column.
This creates similar outcomes many newspapers up to the 1970s.
However, in these earlier publications, the grid was almost always the prevailing
aspect, and images and type were set to adhere to their guidelines. This can be
seen in the Granite City Press Record.
Tschichold, J. (1995) The New
Typography (R. McLean, Trans). Berekley: University of California Press.
(Original work published 1928)
http://hotmeatloaf.homestead.com/Local/GCPR1960-1.html
No comments:
Post a Comment