Illustrator guides and grids
GuideGuide is a plugin for quickly and easily creating Illustrator guides and grids, with more power and flexibility than Illustrator’s built-in grid tools — and it works wherever you do.
Guideguide supports:
Whether you’re lining up elements in a delicate wedding invitation, creating comic book layouts that are perfect for punching out of, or trying to balance a grid of nearly identical black metal band logos for a poster, I bet you constantly need to line things up and space things out in Illustrator.
GuideGuide is a companion for structure and alignment throughout your process, all using the power and flexibility of Illustrator guides. Want to find the middle of something? Need a baseline to make your type less sloppy? GuideGuide has you covered.
What can you do with GuideGuide?
Create rows and columns and baseline grids.
Place guides based on your canvas, artboard, page, selection.
Mark the edges or midpoints of things.
Clear guides based on your selection.
Add guides based on aspect ratios.
Create grids based on other grids.
Go beyond traditional grid tools.
Save your grid templates and bits.
How does GuideGuide work?
Illustrator guides are a built-in feature that let you add lines to your document to assist with mesurement and alignment. They only appear in Illustrator and don’t end up in your final work.
GuideGuide is a plugin that creates grids using these guides, without the limitations and constraints of Illustrator’s layout features.
Ok, but why should you use GuideGuide?
Be flexible and contextual
Built-in grid tools are made for basic scenarios and only work within strict contexts, like the current page. Do you consider yourself strict and basic? GuideGuide can create grids anywhere, based on anything.
Be smarter than “smart” guides
Sure, design apps have automatic guides. Screw ’em and their passive aggressive “you seem like you need my help” attitude. GuideGuide is always there, when you want help.
Be a non-conformist
Pedestrian columns and rows are fine, but you are an artist with ideas that don't fit into nice little boxes.
Be a pervert
Be honest — you really like the golden ratio. Or maybe Fibonacci is your thing? However you get weird with the lights off and a deadline fast approaching, GuideGuide supports your choices.
Does GuideGuide cost money? Yes it does.
But you’re a professional — you gotta spend money to make money. Besides, your support helps this guy (points two thumbs at myself) continue being an independent software developer.
It feels right
GuideGuide does its best to look native to the app you use it in, ill-advised platform design choices and all.
We’ve gone soft. Our modern design tools, great as they are, hold our hands in the direction of what is easy to build and optimize. They deprioritize whack-ass ideas that scare product managers but are cool as sh*t when someone has the audacity to make them work.
GuideGuide raises a middle finger to tools that limit creative potential. If you’re a designer that wants to do work that is different from the rest, GuideGuide will help you do it.
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