National Park Service brochures, from Massimo Vignelli’s The Vignelli Canon.

A Brief History

The Unigrid System was designed for the United States National Park Service (NPS) in 1977 for use with print materials. Designer Massimo Vignelli was Awarded the 1985 United States Presidential Design Award for his work on the NPS.

What It Is, Exactly

The Unigrid is a modular grid system, a grid with both vertical and horizontal rulings. This provides a way to organize elements like text and images. Designer Massimo Vignelli describes the idea behind the NPS brochures in his book Design Is One:

In order to achieve better identification and financial savings through standardization of every aspect of the publications program, we designed a modular system that determined everything from the paper size to graphics to cartography and illustration.

The A2 used in Unigrid system can be folded and cut to make several size variations.

Grid modules are 7 picas wide by 80 points high with. Vertical spaces are 1 pica and horizontal spaces are 10 points. These specifications work  with ISO A2 sized paper (16.5″ × 23.4″or 420mm × 594mm). The paper can be folded into twelve 4″ × 8¼” (99mm × 210mm) sections. Smaller formats can be made by cutting and folding the paper. This makes the Unigrid system extremely economical since paper can be purchased in bulk and cut to size.

Perhaps the most striking quality of the Unigrid is the black header with contrasting white titling. This is accompanied by a black bar at the bottom of the unfolded brochure. Type selection is limited to Helvetica and standards are set for titling, body text, and captions to enforce unity in design. Body text is organized in multiple vertical columns and justified to reinforce the underlying grid structure.

What It Does and How It Works

The Unigrid system does an excellent job of establishing the National Park Service’s visual identity through consistency. Nearly every national park brochure looks similar because elements like maps and body text are placed in a regular and organized way. Hierarchy is achieved through standard sizing for headings, body text, and captions. Vertical columns of text provide strong vertical movement; the eye easily navigates through a document.

The Unigrid design has been used by the NPS since the late 1970s, giving documents a dependable appearance. Most people can recognize a park brochure from a distance.

I think this shows the power of organizational grid systems, especially in print design. Fitting facts, maps, and images into anything is a daunting task; organizing it to appear visually cohesive is an equal challenge. The underlying structure of the Unigrid makes National Park Service brochures just that: visually cohesive, elegant and effective.