What is a Grid?

The definition of a Grid in the Webster's Dictionary Online is:

"1 : grating
2 a (1) : a perforated or ridged metal plate used as a conductor in a storage battery (2) : an electrode consisting of a mesh or a spiral of fine wire in an electron tube (3) : a network of conductors for distribution of electric power; also : a network of radio or television stations b : a network of uniformly spaced horizontal and perpendicular lines (as for locating points on a map); also :something resembling such a network grid> c : gridiron3; broadly : football
3 : the starting positions of cars on a racecourse
4 : a device in a photocomposer on which are located the characters to be exposed as the text is composed"

These definitions can be very useful, but for my particular use the definition "a network of uniformly spaced horizontal and perpendicular lines..." is the best answer for explaining why one needs grids in Typography.

For design and typography, a grid can be defined as such: "A grid breaks space or time into regular units. A grid can be simple of complex, specific or generic, tightly defined or loosely interpreted."

For Typography in particular, "grids are all about control. They establish a system for arranging content within the space of page, screen, or built environment."

Some examples of grids are:

1. city blocks
2. brochures
3. newspapers
4. magazines

Why Do We As Designers Use Grids?

Grid design IS a fundamental skill of any designer.

"For graphic designers, grids are carefully honed intellectual devices, infused with ideology and ambition, and they are inescapable mesh that filters at some level of resolution, nearly every system of writing and reproduction."