I think grid systems in UI design are getting too rigid

I was working on a dashboard layout last week and caught myself spending an hour trying to force everything into neat columns when a simpler staggered setup would've worked better. Anyone else feel like we're overengineering layouts just to follow the grid?

2 comments

2 Comments

iris_park3d ago

Do you think the grid actually helped or just wasted your time on that dashboard?

simon_black2d ago

Did you actually get hands-on with it for a while? Because I felt the opposite - the grid saved me from second-guessing every placement. Sure, staring at those lines felt pointless at first, but when I had to align a ton of metrics side by side, it clicked. Without it, my dashboard would have been a mess of overlapping charts and weird spacing. I think it helps more than people give it credit for, you just have to lean into it instead of fighting it.