LAYOUT

MARBER GRID
Studying the Marber grid was really interesting as it was such an iconic and innovative design that went on to be used across hundreds of books. Romek Marber, its creator believed that the grid allowed Penguin's identity to be consistent across all genres of books. 
The grid allows the information to be clearly displayed along the top third of the cover, but leaves the bottom 2 thirds of the cover free for an illustration that reflects the story. The way the information is laid out was so successful due to its simplicity. However I decided to slightly alter the grid for my cover design. By aligning all text to the right of the cover and removing the lines that broke up the text the cover better utilises negative space in order for the illustration to make more of a visual impact. The text is more streamlined and easier to read. I think my alteration of the Marber grid is the best choice for my book covers as the overall design is more successful - the use of negative space makes both the illustration and text stand out and speak for themselves more.

MAKING AND BREAKING THE GRID
Looking at iconic designers such as Massimo Vignelli and David Carson was eye opening as they had such contrasting styles.
Vignelli says in his canon 'Nothing could be more useful to reach our intention than the Grid. The grid represents the basic structure of our graphic design, it helps to organise content, it provides consistency, it gives an orderly look and it projects a level of intellectual elegance that we like to express.' Vignelli is a known modernist and favours simple, clean and structured designs. 
On the other hand, David Carson, known for his experimental and in some eyes messy work casts aside the grid in order to make his own rules. His signature style is displayed through the many editions of Raygun magazine, which he was art director for. 

Exploring how 2 different designers can have such differing opinions and styles yet be so successful was great as it was made evident to me that even though some believe successful graphic design is created through following rules, that isn't always the case.

1. Manuscript grid

2. Column grid

3. Modular grid

4. Hierarchical grid

After creating my exhibition poster, I could see how I had used grids in my design.
The underlying columns were clear - and taken from the existing Tate poster layout. The photo element and title on the poster can be reduced into modules - making the overall grid a modular grid due to the combination of the elements.

Booklet layout

After looking at existing publications I was inspired to lay out my booklet in a minimalist fashion. I used the existing manuscript grid in InDesign to fit in text and images, leaving the booklet with a simple clean aesthetic.