How to build an organizational composite

Create a composite layout with multiple grids. This style is often used for services groups and corporate clients to sort portraits into their organizational units.
(A video demonstrating multi-group layouts is available - click here to view it.)

To make a multi-grid composite, the portrait index must contain information to create groups.  Index categories such as Department, Rank, Group, Division, Unit may be created to divide the portraits into groups.

For example, the nursing school below has four departments.

Each portrait also has job title information associated to it under the category of Role, which will be useful for labeling the portraits with a text tag.

Once the index has been imported and the categories and grouping have been identified, move to the Editor's Layout tab to build your grids.
Add a composite frame to begin.

Resize the frame and add as many composite frames as groups will appear on the page, roughly arranging them on the page.

Select one composite frame and add a query to it, to set it to your first group. Keep in mind that you can rename each composite frame so it is easy to identify.
In the example below, the top composite frame has been set to the Department of Administration - showing all members of this group.

Set a query for all remaining composite frames. Once set, you will see better how the composite frames fit together, since you'll be able to see the number of portraits in each region.

Once the basic composite frames have been set, customize the layout as required.

Add or create a portrait template to include job titles or other information.

In the example, four custom templates have been included to add a background behind the portrait, with the name and job title below the portrait.

You may resize the composite frames, and use grid settings, grid alignment and knockout tools to adjust the grids.

In the example below, the Support group has been resized and changed to a single row with a middle knockout. It is nested on top of the Direction group, which had been converted to three rows with the middle row knocked out.

You can add custom graphics - backgrounds, logos, shapes - and text frames, as required.

The example includes a tinted canvas, a shape with a gradient effect sent to the back of the composition, two text frames, a logo, and two decorative embellishments added on the sides.

Nesting Composite frames

Use manual knockouts to create a space where another composite frame can be placed inside a larger grid. Simply clear a spot in your grid, add and position a new composite frame, and set its query. You can add an administrative group or team leaders in the middle of the grid using this method.