Images in long-form content can do more than illustrate; they shape navigation, engagement, and interpretation while setting pace and influencing tone. Grids create predictable, rhythmic, and structured layouts that help readers feel comfortable and make complex information easier to follow. Breaking an established grid occasionally draws attention, adds personality, and prevents layouts from feeling formulaic. Techniques include pulling images into margins, nudging them out of alignment, or expanding images beyond their columns using negative margins. Used sparingly, these deliberate breaks act as visual punctuation, guide the reader's eye, and emphasize key content. Design briefs for fictional clients can test these approaches.
Images in long-form content can (and often should) do more than illustrate. They can shape how people navigate, engage with, and interpret what they're reading. They help set the pace, influence how readers feel, and add character that words alone can't always convey. So, how do you use images to add personality, rhythm, and even surprise someone along the way? Here's how I do it.
But once I've established a grid, breaking it occasionally can be a powerful way to draw attention to key content, add personality, and prevent layouts from feeling formulaic or flat. For example, in long-form content, I might pull images into the margins or nudge them out of alignment to create a more casual, energetic feel. I could expand an image's inline size out of its column using negative margin values: figure { inline-size: 120%; margin-inline-start: -10%; margin-inline-end: -10%; }
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