Typophile

A question about grids for folding posters

alanw

Hi,
This may be a simple question but I can't seem to figure out an elegant/simple solution to this problem.

I am designing a large poster with one side that holds a fair bit of text so a grid/column layout will be necessary.

It will be folded across into four sections. So - I thought that setting up the columns would just be a matter of setting the gutter equal to the margins, but evidently this doesn't work because the outer 'sections' are narrower than the inner 'sections' due to the margins?

I am thinking I should evidently try to avoid having text set horizontally over folds (especially large amounts of small copy).

I'm wondering what kind of solutions people have come up with to setting text in a page that folds as it seems that even gutters across folds are impossible unless they are unusually wide (twice the margin), or the margins are unusually narrow?

(Am I making any sense at all or am I too tired?)

I've attached an image for reference...

Thanks so much in advance,
Alan

EDIT: I am starting to think the answer is simply "Draw the guides manually".

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Grid Question9.58 KB
Jason Walley

I'm guessing the pink lines are where the folds will be? I could see adjusting the column widths in the outside sections so that they would be equal to each other (but different than the column widths of the inside sections). This sort of thing would depend on how big/wide the columns are. I could see how this could lead to the outside columns looking "wrong" if the difference isn't enough.

alanw

Yes it's a bit confusing because unless the outer margins are adjusted almost as tightly as the gutter, then the gutter won't be centered on the folds of the paper. Otherwise, it seems like uneven columns is the only solution - which wouldn't be a problem if there were more dynamic variation in the text (different content might take a different column width), but alas it is almost an entire page of the same kind of content without any varying hierarchy.

I've attached another image showing the difference. The outer columns will always be narrower I suppose, maybe it isn't as odd as I'm thinking it is to have varying gutters or column widths? I suppose I'm just wondering if there is some sort of rule of thumb for this kind of thing because I feel like I am over-thinking this.

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