Practicals of grid-based design

I just looked through a slide deck from Khoi Vinh from a recent SXSW presentation, and found it really interesting reading even without the verbal commentary. It walks through the approach to a complex portal design, and how to use a grid to achieve balance and order when presenting so much information in a single interface.

I freely admit my own background and personal preference is totally based around complete simplicity, with each interface helping you with a single task. I find it fascinating how to approach putting together a coherent design for a much more multi-task interface. I suspect my own bias is partly based in the fact that I haven’t been educated in grid-based design, so should have a go at something similar to the site that is used for illustration.