"Logo grid" covers three different drawings that get confused constantly, in briefs, case studies and guidelines. The base grid is what you design on. The construction grid shows how the finished mark is built. The clear space grid keeps other things away from it. They are made at different times for different readers, and mixing them up produces files nobody can work in and guideline pages nobody can read. Here is what each one is for, how to draw it in Illustrator, and the mistakes that give a grid away.
Three grids, three jobs
The base grid
The base grid is the lattice you design on: square, isometric at 30 degrees, hexagonal, or a golden ratio grid of nested squares. It exists before the mark. Its module sets the smallest unit the mark may use, usually one stroke width, and its angles decide which directions are available. It is a deliberate constraint, and the reason a geometric mark holds together at every size.
The construction grid
The construction grid is drawn from the finished mark, not the other way round. It shows the anchors and handles of the paths, the outlines, horizontal and vertical gridlines extended from key points, and the circles that key curves belong to. Its purpose is to refine, check and document: are the stroke ends on one line, do the curves share a radius, is the counter centred. It turns "it looks right" into "here is why".
The clear space grid
The clear space grid, also called the exclusion zone, is the area around the mark that must stay empty of type, images and other logos. It is defined by the mark's own dimensions, usually a unit X taken from the height of the logomark or of a letter, so it scales with the logo. It is drawn last, once the lockups are final, and it is the only one of the three that every user of the logo needs.
| Base grid | Construction grid | Clear space grid | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drawn | Before the mark | From the finished mark | After the lockups are final |
| Purpose | Design within a module and angles | Refine, check, document | Protect the mark in layouts |
| Reader | The designer | Designer, art director | Everyone who places the logo |
| Units | A module (px, mm, stroke width) | Same as the artwork | Relative to the mark: X, X/2 |
| Lives in | Working file, as guides | Working file and case study | Guidelines, every version |
What to show and what to keep
Clients rarely need the base grid. A square lattice behind a wordmark tells them nothing they can act on, and invites questions about why it does not line up with the letters, which it often does not, because type is not designed on it. Keep it in the working file as guides.
The construction grid belongs in two places: the working file, where it earns its keep during refinement, and the case study or rationale page of the guidelines, where one clean version explains the logic of the mark. A few circles, the lines that matter. The full version with every anchor and handle is for you.
The clear space grid goes in the guidelines, on the logo page, for every lockup you supply. It is the one drawing the client's other suppliers will actually use, so it needs a clear unit, a legible label and a version for each variant.
Draw a base grid in Illustrator
For a square grid the document grid is enough. Open Illustrator > Settings > Guides & Grid (Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid on Windows) and set Gridline every to your module, for example 10 px, and Subdivisions to 1 or to a finer working step. Show it with View > Show Grid (Cmd+", Ctrl+" on Windows), make it sticky with View > Snap to Grid (Shift+Cmd+", Shift+Ctrl+"), and tick Grids In Back so it sits behind the artwork.
The document grid cannot be rotated, so isometric and hexagonal grids are drawn as paths. Draw one vertical line with the Line Segment tool () while holding Shift, copy it across with Object > Transform > Move (Shift+Cmd+M, Shift+Ctrl+M), entering your module as the horizontal distance and clicking Copy, then repeat with Object > Transform > Transform Again (Cmd+D, Ctrl+D). Rotate a copy of the set by 60 degrees and another by minus 60 for an isometric lattice. Select everything and choose View > Guides > Make Guides (Cmd+5, Ctrl+5) so the lines snap and stay out of the way. Set Constrain Angle to 30 degrees in Settings > General and the Pen tool follows the same directions with Shift held.
Draw a construction grid in Illustrator
Start from a duplicate of the final mark on its own layer, so nothing can damage the artwork. Switch to View > Outline (Cmd+Y, Ctrl+Y) to see the bare paths. Illustrator shows anchors and handles only on selected paths and only on screen, so the grid has to be drawn as real objects to survive an export.
Anchors and handles: place a small circle on each anchor and a thin line to each handle end. Gridlines: with Smart Guides on (Cmd+U, Ctrl+U), draw horizontal and vertical lines through the anchors that share a coordinate, extended a little past the mark, deleting the ones that reveal nothing. Circles: where a curve really is an arc, draw a circle that matches it by Option-clicking (Alt-clicking) its centre with the Ellipse tool and entering the diameter; where a curve is a free Bezier, do not force a circle onto it. Anchr Grid draws all of these from the selected mark, each on its own layer with its own colour and stroke.
Keep the styling flat: one thin stroke weight, one or two colours, no fills. The mark should stay legible through it.
Draw a clear space grid in Illustrator
Decide the unit X. Common choices are the height of the logomark, the cap height of the wordmark, or the height of one distinctive letter. Select the lockup and read its dimensions in the Transform panel (Window > Transform).
Then draw the zone. Draw a rectangle matching the lockup's bounding box, using the W and H values from the Transform panel, and centre it on the lockup with the Align panel. With it selected, choose Object > Path > Offset Path, enter X as the offset, pick Miter joins for a square zone or Round joins for a rounded one, and click OK. Delete the original, give the offset rectangle a dashed stroke and no fill, and add a square of side X in one corner, labelled X, so the reader can see the unit. For a minimum zone, repeat at X/2 and label it as the minimum.
Convert the working copy to guides with Cmd+5, and keep a visible copy on a layer for the guidelines page. Check it against every lockup: horizontal, stacked and logomark alone each have their own X, because the reference dimension changes.
Layer names that keep a file sane
A construction file lives for years and passes through several hands, so name layers for what they hold, not for when you made them. A structure that works:
- Artwork, locked once the mark is final
- Base Grid, as guides, locked
- Construction, with sublayers Anchors, Handles, Outlines, Gridlines and Circles
- Clear Space, with the exclusion zone and the labelled X unit
- Notes, for annotations and dimension lines that must never ship
Give each layer its own colour in Layer Options (double-click the layer) so selections are identifiable, and untick Print on the grid and notes layers so a stray PDF does not carry them. When exporting the final logo files, hide everything but Artwork and check the export once at 100%.
The mistakes that give a grid away
The first is the grid drawn after the fact and presented as method: circles fitted to curves that were never arcs, gridlines that touch one anchor each, a spiral that grazes a corner. Reviewers who have built marks spot it in seconds, and it costs more credibility than an honest "drawn by eye, then checked and corrected on a grid".
The second is density. A construction grid with every anchor, every handle and a gridline through each of them is a working drawing, not a presentation. Cut it down until each line explains something.
The third is clear space in absolute units. "Keep 10 mm around the logo" fails the moment the logo is 8 mm wide on a pen or 2 m wide on a hoarding. Clear space is always a multiple of a dimension of the mark, and the diagram must show which one.
A fourth, smaller one: grids left in shipped files. An SVG that carries a construction layer is a construction layer on the client's website.
Questions
Do I need all three grids for every logo?
No. A hand-drawn or calligraphic mark may have no base grid and only a light construction drawing. Every logo needs a clear space grid, because every logo is placed by people who are not its designer. Base and construction grids are tools for you and arguments for your case study; clear space is a rule for everyone else.
Should the construction grid go in the brand guidelines?
One simplified version, on a rationale or construction page, if the mark's geometry is part of its story. The full version, with every anchor and handle, stays in the file. Guidelines are read by people placing the logo on a slide in a hurry, and they need the clear space page far more than the construction page.
What unit should I use for clear space?
A dimension of the mark itself, so the zone scales with the logo. The height of the logomark is the most common choice; the cap height or the height of one letter works for wordmarks. Name it X in the diagram, draw a square of side X for reference, and derive the minimum zone from it, typically X/2.
Can Illustrator's document grid be isometric or hexagonal?
No. The document grid in Settings > Guides & Grid is square, with a spacing and a subdivision count, and cannot be rotated. Isometric and hexagonal base grids are drawn as paths at 30 and 60 degree angles and converted to guides with Cmd+5 (Ctrl+5), or produced by an extension that draws them on a layer.
Do it in one click
Anchr Grid covers all three grids from the same panel in Illustrator. It draws square, isometric, hexagonal and golden ratio base grids, and a Make Guides button turns them into native guides. From a selected mark it draws the construction grid: anchors, handles, outlines, gridlines with an adjustable sensitivity, and optional circular trajectories fitted to curves, each on its own named layer with its own colour, stroke and size. Select the logomark, or the mark and the logotype together, and it draws the clear space guide: the exclusion zone at X, the optimum clear space at X/2 and the minimum at X/4, where X is the larger dimension of the selection or a value you type in px, cm or in. It never modifies the artwork. See the Anchr Grid page.