Rhythm and Grid

A grid without rhythm is just rows and columns. Rhythm is what gives a grid meaning — the repeating beat that lets the eye move and rest in a pattern it can anticipate.

In music, rhythm is the distribution of events across time. In visual design, rhythm is the distribution of elements across space. Both create expectation. Both satisfy or subvert it deliberately. And both make the experience of the work feel inevitable rather than arbitrary.

Types of visual rhythm

Regular rhythm is the simplest: equally spaced elements of equal size. A row of evenly-spaced columns. A baseline grid in body text. Regular rhythm reads as calm, orderly, systematic — good for data and documentation, potentially monotonous for editorial work.

Irregular rhythm introduces variation while maintaining an underlying beat. Column widths might be 2:1:3. Row heights might alternate between compact and generous. The variation creates visual interest, but the underlying ratio system keeps it from becoming chaos.

Flowing rhythm emerges from curves and diagonals — it's the rhythm of a magazine feature with photos that bleed between grid cells, of a design that breathes more like a landscape than a spreadsheet.

The baseline grid

The baseline grid is the purest expression of rhythm in typography. By aligning every line of text across columns to the same baseline increment, the page acquires a vertical cadence that feels right even when you can't articulate why. Text columns align across a spread. The body and captions sync. Remove the grid lines and the order persists — trained into the spacing, not drawn in.