Grid Nomenclature
To help make creating and using grids as layout structure, it is a ggod thing to become familiar with the parts of a grid, and what those are called. Thus, more nomenclature. The illustrations and summaries are adapted from A type primer, by John Kane (ISBN 0-13-099071-X), which is a required text for my Graphic Design I courses.
- Text page (Text area)
- The area on the page where text appears, and that contains the grid. The text page is exclusive of margins.
- Margin(s)
- Space around the text page, from the outside of the text page to the edges of the page.
- Field
- One unit or module of the grid. A field’s height is calculated as a multiple of the text type’s leading, and its width is the line length. The upper left corner of a field is usually considered the active corner, and the lower right the passive corner.
- Vertical/horizontal gutter
- Space separating fields, vertically or horizontally. The gutter, like the field height, is based on the leading of the text type. A gutter’s minimum width or height is an em, but should be larger, in order to distinguish the columns of text.
- Folio
- The page number, which is usually placed in a margin area, but should relate to the text page.
- Running head(er)/foot(er)
- A guide, usually at the top (headers) or bottom (footers) of a page, which indicates the position in the manuscript. These may be title, chapter, section, author, etc.
