A ghost grid is a guide for organising thoughts, information and sketches, that doesn't compete with content.

Content itself can also be the ghost grid to highlight changes and help draw comparisons — as when you might sketch options for extending a house or designing a garden.

A grid is useful for structure and creation but needs to fade back from content or disappear when no longer needed. Like freeing data from its data prison, a ghost grid emphasises content and information without non-data-ink taking attention.

I learned the term ghost grid from Edward Tufte's Seeing with Fresh Eyes: Meaning, Space, Data, Truth.

I rarely buy other notebooks for work than a dot grid, preferably in a funky colour. Some of my favourites: Leuchtterm dot grid hardcover, Moleskine dot grid softcover, Moo soft cover dotted journals

Ghost grid

The default table crowds out your data with non-data-ink and locks your data into cells. When data is locked into cells their relationships with other data is harder to see and the reader has to work harder to learn from your table.

When making a table of data consider if, by adjusting spacing and alignment, you can make the columns or rows clear enough as they are without the prison bars. And look for opportunities to remove the visual noise to let your data and the relationships between them shine out.

The data prison is a concept from Edward Tufte. Check out the beautiful Envisioning Information, for more.

The data prison

You could do worse than follow this for most simple branding. Think of a suit where about 60% of the colour you see is the suit, 30% the shirt and 10% accent or highlight with the tie. Classic.

60-30-10 Colour rule

Often, the form of the data is obvious enough for what it is that you might consider simplifying by removing the label.

Let your data speak for itself.

Data graphics can lie in many ways, but the most common, I expect, is the error of using area or volume objects to represent one-dimensional data. (More Edward Tufte. Also see Maximise data ink)

Watch for the lie factor

You can design almost any information with this in mind (even an email for example). Probably not ideal for a novel, but if you’re competing for attention, as most things are, it’s not bad to keep in mind.

Design for a Glance, a Look and a Read

A nifty technique for making fonts appear smoother when viewed on a screen rendering pixels.

Anti-aliasing

Checking that things fit by rehearsing in the air is often a few seconds well spent.

Air-write before inking

Underlining was a by-product of typewriters. It generally doesn’t improve things. Now, I’m still waiting for someone to make a pen with a button on it to write in bold. And to write a straight line without a separate ruler. Anyone want to team up?

Urge to underline? Use bold or italic instead

Except in a sentence. Generally, I think this is helpful. Simpler, cleaner, and still clear. If it’s not clear, or if you’re writing a book or an article, keep the colon.

Sketchplanations tagged with graphic-design