A client once asked why our proposal looked like the identity we had made for them the year before. The answer is that both were set on the same grid, and the grid is the only thing we never change between jobs.
Twelve columns, one gutter
Every sheet we produce, from a business card to a signage program, is built on twelve columns with a 24 pixel gutter and an 8 pixel baseline. Twelve divides into two, three, four and six, which covers every composition a working identity needs. A wider grid invites cleverness, and cleverness is what in-house teams cannot repeat.
Why it survives the handover
An identity is finished on the day the client's own team produces something we would have produced. That only happens when the rule is small enough to remember. Twelve columns, one gutter and five type sizes fit on a single page of the guidelines, and a designer who has read that page can set the forty-first cover without calling us.
What we refuse
- A second grid for the website. The site is the same twelve columns at a different width.
- Exceptions for the annual report. The report is the test of the system, not the exception to it.
- Decorative margins. The margin is a column, and it does its job by being empty.
The grid you are reading this on is the same one. Count the ticks on the rule under the header.