- Take a magazine, newspaper or book that includes images and text. Lay tracing paper over the top of three spreads (both left-hand and right-hand pages). Using a pencil and ruler, carefully trace the grid underlying the page layouts. Remember to remove specific text elements or images, and to only draw the grid lines. Note column widths and margin sizes at the top, bottom, and to the left and right of the main body of text. Is your document based on a two-column, three-column, or another type of grid? Which elements stay the same on each page, and which change?
- Publish your findings to your WordPress blog and provide photos or scans of your exercise.
I used the “Illustrert Vitenskap” magazine for this task. They use a three-column grid throughout the magazine, and even when pictures go over several columns it’s easy to see the grid that they use. The elements move around, but the column widths stay the same all over, as does the margins.
Randis Reflective Journal 