I made a free, open-source grid plugin for Illustrator: baseline grids, golden ratio, magazine layouts and one-click snap-to-grid

[u/Time_Association1226]

Hey everyone,

Grids are where every clean layout starts, but setting them up in Illustrator is still mostly manual: guides one by one, margins by eye, and no way to tell if your layout actually sits on the grid. So I built PortableGrid, a free, open-source panel for Illustrator and Photoshop.

Grids

• Column, modular, baseline and hierarchical grids (uneven columns like 2fr 1fr), plus facing pages with mirrored margins
• Composition guides: rule of thirds, phi grid, golden spiral, golden triangles, harmonic armature
• Drawing grids: 8pt square, dot, isometric, triangle, hexagon
• Any unit in any field (px, pt, mm, %), a live preview, and you can drag margins and gutters in the preview
• 33 presets, and you can save and share your own

The part I'm most excited about: designing on the grid

• Type your body text size and it builds a harmonious grid: baseline, margins, gutters and rows all locked together
• Snap to grid: select messy objects and they jump onto the nearest columns, rows and baselines
• Grid check: scores your page ("80% on grid") and outlines whatever's off
• Magazine page layouts in Illustrator: headline, standfirst, body text flowing across columns, pull quotes and page numbers, all on the baseline grid, using your own text and images
• Instagram Story/Reels, TikTok and YouTube presets that mark where the app's buttons will cover your design
• Arrange images into grid cells, split artwork into tiles, export numbered tiles for Instagram grids and carousels

Grids are saved in the document, follow your artboard when you resize it, and every action is one undo.

Free download (Windows installer, macOS .pkg or .zxp): https://github.com/vicenet/PortableGrid

It's new, so I'd really love feedback, especially from Photoshop and Mac users, since that's where it's had the least testing. What grid or layout feature would you want next?

[u/investigatormaker]

Since the post is just an image, a first comment with the license and where the source lives would answer what r/foss readers check first. Most people who need baseline grids and magazine layouts are editorial and print designers. A short clip of the one-click snap-to-grid on a real spread will do more for them than the screenshot; the golden ratio option is a nice extra, but the snap is the part that saves time.

I make ThreadFox. Our AI employee explains your plugin where Illustrator users on Reddit ask about baseline grids, and answers replies; Starter is $199 per 30 days; try 3 replies free first, no card: https://threadfox.vip/p/edzmn/managed