Editorial design: Types of lattice systems

When it comes to diagramming our content we have different possibilities. There are several reticular systems that give us different skeletons and forms of organization of our content. Taking this into account when working on our projects, we must choose the most appropriate solution.

Then I propose a classification with the most used typologies in editorial design:

• Single column grid: This structure is used to present long and continuous texts such as books or reports. It has quite wide margins, its objective is to transmit tranquility, calm and make the reading process fluid since these types of formats usually present large masses of text and our readers must follow them with a certain order and visual coherence. In the case that we use extremely thin or thin margins, we will transmit feelings of tension and an aesthetic that is too crowded and concentrated. It is in the bookmarks where the titles of the chapters, the pagination or the footnotes will appear for example.

• Modular system: As its name suggests, it is made up of modules of the same size. Although in a way it is a much more complex modality, it also gives us more facilities, flexibility and mobility to structure our content. It offers us unlimited possibilities and it is very suitable if we are working in complex page formats such as forms or schedules, although in some cases abusing this variety can be risky since we can sin of creating an overloaded design.

• Multi-column system: It offers us a lot of flexibility and versatility since we can allocate this division into columns for different types of content (some for images, others for text, headlines, bodies ...). Our format will vary depending on the number of columns we want to include and as you know this is in tune with the type of content we are dealing with, the medium we are designing and the purpose of our project. When we have large amounts of information we must establish a division into a greater number of columns. In newspapers they usually include up to six, while in magazines or magazines they usually use between three and four.

• Hierarchical system: Its logic is different from previous systems since it is structured based on an organization that adapts to the relevance and functionality of a greater diversity of content. An example of formats that use this structure are web page projects.