Hello my designer friends, I have been learning about the grid systems lately, wondering if I could employ the principles to make something like a social media poster for any product (such as shoes sales ad banner) but the problem I am facing is - the design in becoming too rigid, I mean, the content is less and the product image is huge so arranging the both as per the grid seems wierd and tough to me. May be just because I am new with the grid system, or is it just that the grid system is only for designs with huge amount of textual content. Can you guys please suggest some examples of which uses grid systems for their product ads. I have seen books, magazines, and some posters (with lots of content) which are using grid systems, but not finding good designs on product sale ads having less content.
My understanding is a grid system is a guide that can be used for any type of design so yes you’re welcome to use it for social media banners, etc.
It sounds like you might be restricting yourself to the grid too aggressively. Keep in mind:
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There are many variations of grid layouts. If you google ‘graphic design grid layouts’ you’ll see many options. Maybe one will better suit your need.
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Someone may disagree with me on this but… to me the grid is a guide, not a required tool. Maybe try putting together your design without a grid. Then lay a semi-transparent grid over your design so it is easy to tweak your layout according to the grid.
Au contraire – “If everything has a grid, then nothing has a grid.”
Learn the rules, then disregard them.
If you need consistency a grid is a good idea. For example, if you are going to be producing a series of posters and they all need to look as though they come ‘out of the same stable’, ie, work as part of an existing brand communication style, then a grid a very good thing. I use them all the time for designing books, where you have to have consistency from page to page. Even if the design of each spread is different, you then get to keep consistent elements (caption width, horizon height, caption placement, etc, etc). If you didn’t work with a grid, the design would be all over the place.
Even if the design doesn’t require consistency and it is a one-off stand-alone, you need to understand grids to be able to not use them. In much the same way a composer needs to understand the underlying structure of they key and time signature they are writing a piece of music to, in order to be able to break the rules and make dissonant compositions. If they don’t, they end up with a cacophony.
Hope this helps.