We explain what the layout is, what its meaning is and the different areas in which this distribution scheme can be used.
What is the layout?
When we talk about layout (a loan from English), layout or arrangement, we mean the layout scheme of elements within a format or layout. This term applies to various areas, such as technology, administration or graphic design, and is usually equivalent to “plan” or “order”.
While there is no specific and unique thing to refer to as layout, usually with this term it is refers to prior planning (too “setting”, From English) that is made of a thing or a project, so that its parameters can be measured, supervised or modified in time.
Thus, a Web programmer who works for a company, first reaches out to their employers a layout that exposes the visual and computer framework, so that it can operate as a sketch and serve to develop multiple Web pages.
In short, the layout it is the advance presentation of the disposition of the information of a project, which surrenders to its directors before, during or about to terminate the work.
The degree of complexity in its preparation will be proportional to the progress in the definition of the project: initially just a few sketches and sketches, but later a much more elaborate and established proposal.
Layout of a company
In marketing or marketing matters, there is talk of layout to refer to placement of products or services in a store or in a market, that is, to its strategic arrangement to minimize the consumption of labor and guarantee the correct exposure of each product.
Marketing-layout pursues the objective of maximizing sales per square meter, grouping or isolating them based on the consumption criteria that characterize a given market. For example, when it comes to shelving, a choice is usually made between two types of layout: rectangular or angular.
Industrial layout
In industrial matters the layout usually has to do with supply chain and warehouse layout, among other matters that merit prior logistical planning.
Thus, the optimization of the transfer processes of the raw material or the processed merchandise is pursued, in order to maximize the speed of preparation and reduce the effort.
This is because both in warehouses and distribution centers space is finite and requires strategic planning to achieve a rapid flow of materials, in the first case, or an optimization of the process of picking (selection) in the second.
Layout in graphic design
All graphic design presents a visual framework, a minimum order of allocation and distribution of graphic elements in the given space (a sheet, a monitor, etc.), and that often determines logical, causal or interpretive relationships of the message.
Therefore, the development of advertising campaigns, web pages or flyers, for example, usually has a previous stage of drawing up sketches and graphic models. This is known in graphic design as layout.
This stage is key to understanding what the customer is asking for and to show him from the outset a possible frame of shapes, colors and spaces in the product, before actually starting to produce it. There are usually several stages of layout before you risk producing an original design.