West Des Moines Community Schools Community Education

Unlock the power of strategic design by mastering the art of layout and grids. Whether you’re designing for print or digital platforms, knowing how to start a layout—and where to take it—is essential to creating work that captures attention and guides the viewer with ease. Great design isn’t just about placing elements—it’s about controlling space. Understanding focal points, leading lines, and the role of negative space helps create layouts that feel polished, effective, and intentional. In this course, you'll explore professional grid systems and golden layout rules, which bring structure, consistency, and sophistication to any design. You will learn about structural grids and column systems, the power and strategic use of negative space, and essential compositional principles that shape hierarchy and focal points. We’ll break down column systems, layout rules, grid structures, and negative space forms so you can confidently understand how they create flow, breathing room, visual hierarchy, and clarity.

To progress through this course you will:

• Read the print readings.
• Have the option of accessing the online readings.
• Listen to the audio presentation for the Unit and view the slides.
• Have the option of taking a self-quiz to see how much you have learned.
• Engage in written online discussion with your instructor and other participants.
• The content (readings, audio lectures, slides) and self quizzes are accessible for the entire course, so you can work ahead, or go back and review again, at your convenience.

Discussion:

• The discussion for each unit lasts one week. All comments are made in writing and can be made at any time of the day or night.
• Your instructor will log into the discussion area at least once a day and answer questions, make comments, and respond to comments by you and the other participants.
• We encourage you to make 2-3 comments each day to maximize your learning and enjoyment of the course.