OUGD406 - Penguin Grid Systems

OUGD406

Penguin Grid Systems

The Horizontal grid

The horizontal grid was a fresh approach to book design at the time, however it left little room for illustration. This leaves the interpretation of the book to just the typography and title of the book.

Great Journey's Collection

This grid system uses a centred style with all the information in a centre column. The covers are illustrated and limited to three or four colours. The illustrations show the location the book is set in. The title is bigger than the other text on the cover and the same typeface is used throughout the collection. The grid is hierarchical design. The authors name is at the top of the book (in caps), followed by the name of the book, then a quote from the book and finally the penguin logo and its collection (also in caps). 

Aino-Maija Metsola's Virginia Woolf Collection

Metsola's covers are for Penguin classic. Channelling the scenery and ambience of each novel’s title, Helsinki-based Aino-Maija makes use of the abstract, painterly style she has honed as part of her illustration and graphic design work. The grid concentrates the information in the bottom right corner. The illustration is the main focus point of the designs.

Coralie Bickford-Smith's F. Scott Fitzgerald Collection

The design uses patterns associated with the 20's and the art deco period. Most designs use a 6 column grid system. The colour scheme and typeface are consistent.

Great Loves Collection

The great loves collection focuses on the illustration which takes up the majority of the cover. The title of the book and the authors name are centred at the bottom of the book. The name of the collection is at the top and takes up less room than the title. 

The Marber Grid

Marber’s grid allows for different placements of title and author’s name depending on the length of the title and the needs of the design as a whole.

With the typographic structure in place, Marber could concentrate on producing images that reflected the atmosphere of the books, which he read from cover to cover. He was a graphic image-maker of great versatility, able to sum up the stories with motifs and ciphers that contrived to be both playful and threatening.