kareldries Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Hi all, I figured out a way to configure a centered grid design in Affinity Designer, with a custom number of columns and gutter width. Below is a spreadsheet to calculate the required values. If you make a copy of the file to you Google Drive, you can edit the values. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1imTD6Ao3OJyS0_E-fnHTr5l9GKG9zulM4uIutVZGAnE/edit?usp=sharing Example values for the calculation: Grid width: 1170 px Nr of columns: 12 px Column width: 97.5 px (= grid width / nr of cols) AD Gutter: 30 px AD Spacing: 67.5 px (= col width - gutter) AD Document width: 1335 px (= 2*spacing + gutter + grid width) Here's how you would use these values in AD to set up your grid. Create a new document, use the calculated document width, 1335 px in this example. Go to the View menu, enable 'Show Grid' and open the 'Grid and Axis Manager' Apply this grid manager configuration: - Untick 'Use automatic grid' - Select 'Advanced' mode - Untick 'Uniform' under 'Grid type' - First Axis spacing: 67,5 px - First Axis gutter: 30 px - Second Axis spacing: 1000px, for this example we use the document height but you can use any height you like Add guides to the left side of the first and last gutter. Go to 'View' - 'Guides Manager' Add half the gutter width to both guides by appending '+15' and pressing enter. This should be the final result. You will end up with two additional columns on the left and right side of the document. The reason for this is that there is no way to have a margin on the left side of your document using the grid setup. By following this tutorial you end up with a document that contains 2 more columns, but you simply do not use them. In the export persona, you can easily set the slice to export only the part of your design you need. In the screenshot below, I've marked the area you actually use. Of course there is an example .afdesign file to save you the trouble ;) centered 1170 px 12 col grid kareldries.afdesign mayahan, Nic727 and Besli 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kareldries Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 I noticed someone asking me for access to the Google Drive file. It is actually view only at the moment, so the best thing you can do is make a copy. Here's a Dropbox link to the Excel file with the calculations in case someone finds that easier. https://www.dropbox.com/s/kkbh8z9rx3djqt4/Affinity%20Designer%20centered%20grid%20calculation.xlsx?dl=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Hi all, I figured out a way to configure a centered grid design in Affinity Designer, with a custom number of columns and gutter width. Below is a spreadsheet to calculate the required values. If you make a copy of the file to you Google Drive, you can edit the values.... Nicely done! Thanks for sharing this. :) kareldries 1 Quote ♥ WIN 10 AD & AP ♥ Lenovo Legion Y520 15.6" Laptop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kareldries Posted January 25, 2017 Author Share Posted January 25, 2017 You're welcome jer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonfuller1004 Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Rather lost this doesnt work for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kareldries Posted February 11, 2017 Author Share Posted February 11, 2017 Hi Jon, There seems to be some confusion as to why you end up with 2 extra columns on the left and right side of the document. The reason for this is that there is no way to have a margin on the left side of your document using the default grid setup. By following this tutorial you end up with a document that contains 2 more columns, but you simply do not use them. In the export persona, you can easily set the slice to export only the part of your design you need. I marked which part you would actually use in the screenshot below. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonfuller1004 Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Fantastic thank you !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisWhite Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Considering how powerful and thought out Affinity Designer's grid features are can anyone think of a reason you wouldn't want a gutter on the left side? Other than an odd outlier here or there I can't think of any, just curious why Affinity designed it this way. Anyway, thanks for getting the math together and creating such a nice tool! I went ahead and expanded upon it a little to also let you calculate spacing and grid size if you'd like to have a full gutter to both sides instead of half. It's the difference between this: And this: Here's my updated spreadsheet. My math skills could be a lot better but I did test this with several different values and always got the expected result, if anyone finds a problem please let me know and I'll do some troubleshooting. I'm not a huge spreadsheet guy myself so I started by converting the calculations into Calca, if anyone else uses Calca and is interested here's the snippet. Note that I included a couple of other calculations and notes relevant to Affinity Designer as well but nothing too interesting. Edit: Fixed my snippet link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kareldries Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 Hi Chris, That's a commendable effort for sure, thanks for your contribution! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreibarbuta Posted July 1, 2017 Share Posted July 1, 2017 Thank you so much for this. It was the only thing that was missing for me! This is just great!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kareldries Posted July 1, 2017 Author Share Posted July 1, 2017 Thank you so much for this. It was the only thing that was missing for me! This is just great!!! @andreibarbuta You're welcome! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayahan Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 Great, this will come in handy. Thanks! :) kareldries 1 Quote Freelance web designer located in San Diego, CA, USA Portfolio site: http://www.mayahan.net Art and design blog: Design MInt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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