The Grid Is for the Type
An International Typographic Style poster — a declared column count, every edge snapped to it, and the title as the largest thing on the page. Six fields.
Two runs of the same template. Six columns beside five, one accent each, the shape cropped by the top margin in the first and by the left margin in the second. The same three sizes of information both times, and the same large piece of nothing — the two posters are recognisably one system, which is the test a style like this actually has to pass.
Generated from this template with the fields shown above — SAID AND MADE set flush left across four of six columns as the largest thing on the page, the sentence at roughly a third of it, the facts in one tracked line at the foot, and the vermilion arc filling the right columns cropped by the top margin. The upper centre is left genuinely empty. The reference's baseline is the reason this template leads with an ordering rule rather than a styling one: it returned a handsome arrangement of black, red and grey rectangles with the title absent from the page entirely, every rendered word garbled, and the whole composition sitting in a narrow strip inside a black void instead of filling the canvas. The grid had become a decorative pattern of blocks — the method used exactly backwards, since it exists to place information and the scaffold had eaten the thing it was built to hold. Hence the check that comes before any judgement of the design: is the title there, is it spelled right, is it the biggest thing.
Generated for this library
Input
Announces an exhibition of interfaces that were described
rather than drawn
Title SAID AND MADE
Second A season of work from the vibe library
Facts VIBARY · 2026.03.14-05.02 · THE LIBRARY DISTRICT
Columns six; a quarter-circle arc in the accent spanning
columns four to six, a stack of thin rules in
column one
Accent vermilion
Returned 1 poster · 3:4 · white, black, grey, one vermilion
grid six columns, even gutters, one margin all round -
every element's left and right edge on a boundary
title SAID AND MADE across four columns, the largest thing
on the page, flush left, tight leading
levels the second line at roughly a third of the title, the
facts smaller again in one tracked line
shape the arc filling columns four to six, cropped by the
top margin, flat vermilion with no gradient
space the upper right left entirely empty, which is what
makes the rest read as deliberateYou fill in 6 fields — the braced lines at the top. Everything below them is fixed.
- 1What it announces
- 2The title
- 3The second line
- 4The facts
- 5The columns, and what sits in them
- 6The accent
The Grid Is for the Type
Produce ONE image, 3:4 portrait: a poster in the International Typographic Style. Follow every line. Replace only the FIELDS block; everything after it is fixed.
First — do you have the fields?
If any field below still has braces around it, stop and ask. Put all the questions in one short message, and show the example under each one so they can see the shape of a useful answer. Wait for the replies, then draw. Never fill a brace yourself: a value you invented is a value nobody asked for, and it will look exactly as considered as the ones they did give you.
Ask in whatever language they are writing to you in. Translate the questions and the examples; do not make someone read English to tell you what they want.
The examples are only examples. If someone answers a question, use their answer; never fall back to the example because you prefer it.
If the fields are already filled in, ignore this and carry on.
Fields — replace these six lines only
- What it announces: {the occasion} e.g. an exhibition of interfaces that were described rather than drawn
- The title: {two to four words} e.g. SAID AND MADE
- The second line: {one sentence} e.g. A season of work from the vibe library
- The facts: {an organisation, a date range, a place} e.g. VIBARY · 2026.03.14—05.02 · THE LIBRARY DISTRICT
- The columns, and what sits in them: {a number, and the visual element with the columns it spans} e.g. six columns; a quarter-circle arc in the accent spanning columns four to six, and a stack of thin rules in column one
- The accent: {one colour} e.g. vermilion
The first law
The type is the poster. This method exists to place information on a page; the grid is the scaffold that holds it, not the subject.
A run of this style returned a handsome arrangement of black, red and grey rectangles — and no title at all. The grid had become a decorative composition of blocks, which is the style used exactly backwards. If the poster works with the words removed, it is not a poster in this style; it is a pattern.
So, in order:
- The title is present, spelled correctly, and is the largest thing on the page. Check this before judging anything else.
- All text is sharp and readable. No malformed letters, no invented words, no decorative text-like marks standing in for words.
- The visual element supports the type. It never replaces it.
The grid
The column count is stated in the fields. Use exactly that number.
- Even gutters, one consistent margin on all four sides.
- Every element's left and right edge lands on a column boundary — text blocks, rules, shapes, images, all of them. Nothing is placed by eye.
- An element may span any number of columns, but it starts and ends on a boundary.
- Vertical positions align to a consistent baseline rhythm.
The grid is never drawn. It is visible only in the fact that everything agrees with everything else.
Hierarchy
Three levels, and the sizes are relative to each other:
- The title — the largest element, flush left, tight leading, set across several columns. May run to two or three lines.
- The second line — roughly a third of the title's size, in the same family, regular weight.
- The facts — smaller again, one line, wide tracking, usually at a margin.
Nothing is centred. Balance comes from weight and position, never from symmetry.
Composition
Asymmetric. Put the mass on one side or in one corner and leave a large region genuinely empty — not lightly furnished, empty. That emptiness is the style's whole confidence, and filling it is the commonest way to lose it.
The poster bleeds to the frame. The artwork fills the entire image, edge to edge. Never render a poster sitting inside a larger field, never add a border, a mount, a shadow or a background beyond the poster itself.
Type and colour
- One modern grotesque throughout — Helvetica, Univers, Akzidenz-Grotesk, DIN or similar. One family, two or three weights, no second typeface.
- White ground, black text, grey for a secondary tone.
- One accent colour, used in one or two places to mark hierarchy or carry the visual element. Flat, never a gradient.
Never
- ✕ a missing, misspelt or illegible title
- ✕ text-like marks standing in for real words
- ✕ elements placed off the column boundaries
- ✕ a centred layout, or symmetry
- ✕ the poster inset inside a larger canvas, or given a border
- ✕ a second accent colour, a gradient, or a texture
- ✕ drop shadows, 3D, hand-drawn marks, or ornament
The result
A poster that looks like it came out of an institution rather than a template: counted columns, three sizes of information, one shape carrying the accent, a large piece of nothing — and the title readable from the other side of the room.
The whole template, in one piece. The steps below are the entire workflow.
How to use it
- Copy the whole template with the button above.
- Replace the six FIELDS lines. Choose the column count deliberately in the fifth — four, five or six — and say which columns the visual element spans. A grid nobody counted is not a grid.
- Paste it into any image-capable agent or model, in one message. One run returns the poster.
- Check the title is actually on the page and correctly spelled before anything else. A run of this style returned a handsome arrangement of coloured rectangles with the title missing entirely, which is the failure this template is named after.
What you swap
- What it announces
- an exhibition of interfaces that were described rather than drawn
- The title
- SAID AND MADE
- The second line
- A season of work from the vibe library
- The facts
- VIBARY · 2026.03.14—05.02 · THE LIBRARY DISTRICT
- The columns, and what sits in them
- six columns; a quarter-circle arc in the accent spanning columns four to six, and a stack of thin rules in column one
- The accent
- vermilion
Before it runs
- A short title. This style sets it enormous, and a long one either shrinks to ordinary size or breaks the grid it is supposed to demonstrate.
- Facts worth setting small. The third level is where the style earns its calm, and a poster with nothing to put there ends up padding it.
- One accent you will use sparingly. Two accents turn a rational poster into a decorative one, which is the opposite of the point.
When to reach for it
For anything institutional and calm: an exhibition, a lecture series, a course, a report, a season. Templates in this style say 'establish a strict grid' without ever stating a column count, so 'strict' ends up as an adjective doing a rule's job.
What changes
- One rational poster: flat white, black and grey with a single accent, asymmetric, and quiet enough to belong on an institution's wall.
- The column count is a field rather than an assumption, and every element edge lands on a column boundary — a rule you can verify by drawing the columns back over the result.
- The title is the largest element on the page and is required to be present and legible, which is the check this genre most often fails.
- Three information levels in a stated size relationship, so the poster reads in a fixed order.
- Full bleed to the frame — the poster is the canvas, not a picture of a poster sitting inside one.
Pairs with
- Every Bar Is a MultipleA barcode poster in two colours — with the code built on a base module, guard bars and a numeral row, so it reads as a scanned object rather than a stripe field. Five fields.
- One Family, Three SizesA photograph with type laid over it — held to one typeface, three sizes fixed by ratio, and one accent, so the poster reads as designed rather than assembled. Five fields.
- A Whisper and a ShoutMatte black, white type, nothing else — a thin quote holding the top against one enormous rounded word below, with the three sizes fixed by ratio rather than by eye. Five fields.