About
Built by a designer,
for designers.
Designers Bookshop is an independent software studio. Originally founded for designers, we are now moving into new territory with Merge to help small to medium size businesses and independent professionals work faster and smarter.
The story
Grid Calculator Publishing Edition (earlier called Pro Edition) started as my school graduation project at Berghs School of Communication and was launched in 2009. I wanted a way to solve the tedious, error-prone math of building professional grid systems inside InDesign. After years of refinement it became the product it is today: the fastest and smartest way to create grid-based layouts in Adobe InDesign.
For years people told me that sooner or later Adobe would implement their own way to do what my plug-in does, but they never did, and most likely never will.
Every feature exists because a real designer, myself or someone else, ran into a real problem. Nothing is added for the sake of a feature list. I am a third-party developer for Adobe.
What's next
Merge is currently our largest project and primary focus. It represents a major step forward in building a private, connected operating system for small to medium size businesses, combining CRM, invoicing, workflows, and on-device AI into one local-first application.
Alongside Merge, work continues on bringing Grid Calculator to new platforms. Affinity is gaining a lot of attention, and designers have been asking me to bring Grid Calculator to it. At the time of writing, Affinity does not provide a way for developers to create plug-ins, but I have already figured out a very good method to get grids into Affinity. I am currently developing a standalone desktop app for both Mac and very likely Windows. I am not affiliated with Affinity.
My philosophy
A good tool disappears into your workflow. It should feel natural and fill a genuine need. That's exactly what Grid Calculator PE does. Instead of demanding your attention, it amplifies your ability to do exactly what you set out to design. That is the standard every Designers Bookshop product is held to.
Get in touch
Questions, feedback, or just want to talk shop?