The Grid and the Soul
Why Great Design Has Never Been Purely Objective — Even in the Age of AI
Authored by: Jay Archambeau
Early in my junior year of college, my design professor, Ed, handed me a piece of advice wrapped in a threat.
I had just turned in my first two projects, both meticulously crafted by hand. Ed looked at them, looked at me, and said in no uncertain terms that if my next project wasn't done on a computer, I'd fail the course.
As you can imagine, that put the fear of God into me.
The catch? Our class was given absolutely zero formalized training on the Macs or its software (Adobe desktop). We were essentially pointed toward the lab, told to "have at it," and quite literally left to our own devices. It was a brutal, old-school trial by fire, forcing us to either sink or swim.
Most of us swam. We figured out the software through pure survival instinct, made it through junior year, and eventually thrived. And despite the fact that Ed and I rarely saw eye-to-eye, I learned a massive amount from him. He beat details into us — the nuances of typography, the weight of letterforms, and the way corporate identities and logotypes have to work in sync to form standard systems.
But there was one baseline argument Ed and I had that I still think about to this day. It centered around a deceptive question: Is design subjective?
I argued then - and still do now - that it is. Design is subjective. Ed’s counter- argument was built on the unforgiving laws of layout, rigid grid systems, and visual hierarchy.
Now, I wasn’t trying to argue against the foundational rules of visual communication. We all know what happens when a layout ignores hierarchy; it stops being effective and turns to noise. But my point to Ed was that even when an experienced designer follows every single "rule" in the book, subjectivity still gets the final say.
Why? Because human aesthetics simply boil down to how an audience receives a piece (or doesn't).
You can have two separate designs built on the exact same underlying grid. Both might technically cater to the natural laws of layout. Yet, one will feel entirely sterile, while the other stops you completely in your tracks. The difference isn't the rules; it’s the nuances. It’s the slight tension in the white space, the choice of a specific color combination, a subtle shift in contrast, or the repetition of rudiments.
The ultimate irony, of course, is that all of these "nuances" are the principles of design themselves. The very framework used to argue that design is an objective science is the exact same toolkit we use to express our subjective taste.
Today, as the design industry leans acutely into automation, AI-generated grids, and hyper-optimized layouts, I think back to those arguments with Ed. Sure, tools can provide perfect execution of the rules in three seconds or less. They can handle the math ... No question. But they can’t handle the nuances. Period.
The grid is just the plumbing. The magic - and the subjectivity —is what you decide to build on top of it. Quality design isn't just about passing the technical checklist of effective communication; it’s about having the taste and the eye to know when a rule needs to be manipulated just enough to let a little humanity through.
Ed was right about the standards. But I’d like to think, all these years later, I was right about the soul. Even though now, I do not feel the need to be right. Funny things: I'm more motivated to be effective ... Just like those damned principles, right?
Core Visual Principles
- Alignment: Arranging elements in relation to a line or grid to create a clean, connected layout.
- Balance: The distribution of visual weight to create stability, whether symmetrical or asymmetrical.
- Contrast: Using differences in size, color, or shape to make elements stand out and improve readability.
- Emphasis: Creating a clear focal point that highlights the most important message.
- Hierarchy: Ranking elements by importance so viewers know what to look at first, second, and third.
- Movement: Guiding the viewer’s eye intentionally through the design.
- Proximity: Grouping related items together to signal connection and reduce clutter.
- Repetition: Using consistent colors, fonts, or shapes to build familiarity and strengthen recognition.
- White Space: The intentional use of negative space to let important elements breathe and prevent visual overload.