I really enjoyed Josh Clark’s post on New York’s grid-based urban design, and how that relates to web design. In Grids, Design Guidelines, Broken Rules, and the Streets of New York City he writes:

That’s what visual designers get from the grid, too: efficiency, ease, and cheap builds. No question, a well-deployed grid also bestows order and visual harmony on a layout, and those are worthy goals (perhaps the best goals!) of good design. But when you look around at how we use grids on the web, one has the strong impression that we lean on them more for efficiency than aesthetic delight.

His post reminded me of Nishant Kothary’s Rap it in a Grid, which I’ve linked to before:

The reality is, a grid makes the act of solving design problems seem predictable, but says nothing for supplying the appropriate design solution. The grid is akin to the beat. But it’s hardly ever the flow, which is the true design solution.

I highly recommend both articles.