OUGD404
Romek
Marber's Grid System
1 Divide the page in two,
vertically
2 Draw the ‘right’ diagonal,
across the page
3 Draw the ‘left’ diagonal
across the page
4 Draw a line from the top right
corner so that it intersects the ‘left’ diagonal at a right angle
5 At that intersection, draw a
horizontal line across the page
6 Draw a line from where the
line from step 1 meets the top of the page to where the line from step 4 meets
the left edge
7 From the intersection of that
line with the ‘left’ diagonal from step 3, draw a horizontal across the page
8 From the intersection of the
lines from steps 3, 4 and 5, draw a vertical to the top of the page
9 Now draw a diagonal from the
top left of the page to where the line from step 5 meets the right hand side of
the page
10
Now draw a vertical from the line from step 5 to the top of the
page so that it passes through the intersection of the lines from steps 3 and 7
11
Now for a final horizontal across the full page, passing through
the intersections of the lines from steps 6 and 9
12
Then draw a final vertical from the intersection of this line
with the left diagonal from step 3. Then add your titles and publisher logo!
Today, Marber’s design is synonymous with Penguin books.
Many can recognize a Penguin book from the layout alone, simply because they’re
so well recognized as ‘classic Penguin’ designs.
The design has stood the test of time due to Marber’s
careful consideration of its application and requirements, the fundamentals of any
good design.
Contemporary designers still continue to admire and emulate
Marber’s design, applying it to a range of modern day practices.
Penguin was a synonym for ‘significant’ and ‘worthwhile’ and
the books’ covers, which projected a consistent, authoritative identity, were
an essential aspect of their impact and of the pleasure of collecting them.
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.
