Snap to Grid is an artist book and animation that employs systems, both real and arbitrary, to explore the relationship between digital and analog processes, analytical and playful approaches, and decorative and functional aesthetics. Both books and animations are time-based experiences and sequences of images. Snap to Grid explicitly investigates this similarity between books and animations. When closed, the book structure shows a series of squares that are stacked on top of each other, gradually rotating, changing in size, and shifting in color; showing a visualization of a square changing over time. The size of the squares was determined by a mathematical formula that used the size of the preceding square to calculate how large the next square would need to be for the corners of the preceding square to just touch the edges of the next square. When open, the book reveals a long accordion structure that is a linear representation of the animation. The animation was made in response to a musical composition written by Christopher Pierce - who composed the music in response to the book structure. The animation was letterpress printed on Vandercook Press using modular pressure printing plates that were designed in Adobe Illustrator and cut out of vinyl using a Zund digital cutting machine. The book was made in an edition variable of 48 with 25 folios per book. When printing each set of folios, the plates were changed slightly after every print so that when the folios were photographed and digitally sequenced they created the illusion of continuous motion. The animation was made at 12 frames per second, and because the edition size was 48 there were 48 unique prints made per each folio of the book - so each folio of the book lasts 4 seconds in the animation. There are 25 folios per book, which last 4 seconds each in the animation, resulting in an animation that is 100 seconds long. The animation shows a shape that is transforming while rotating and orbiting the center of a circle. It begins as an eight-pointed quilt star and gradually changes into other star and flower-like shapes inspired by decorative motifs. Waves radiate from the center of the circle and spirographs populate the circle in response to a bell chiming in the music. Together these elements evoke ideas of planetary motion and waves of sound or light energy. The color of the image gradually transitions through a complete spectrum of colors. The persistence of vision that allows the viewer to see a series of frames as a smooth animation also impacts their perception of the color that they are seeing, depending on what was seen before and after. But the color also slightly flickers throughout the animation and exposes the imperfection of the traditional printing process or perhaps instead of the printer. The title Snap to Grid refers to the fantasy of complete digital control and perfect adherence to a system. But the final book and animation reveal the impossibility of humans acting as infallible machines.