kagablog

DYE HARD PRESS NEWSLETTER #6

Introduction

Publication design is about packaging information in the most effective and appropriate way possible. Good publication design begins with good reading, because designers should always be working with the reader in mind and asking themselves how they can design a publication in such a way that it aids the transfer of information to the reader.

Good design is, of course, subjective. That is why no two designers will ever agree, but the majority of professional publication designers do agree on the basics of the craft.

Designers try to give publications a distinct visual personality, and the way designers dress up and display information determines the publication’s image.

This idea of ‘visual personality’ is vital to publication design and designers need to understand the elements that create such a personality.

Elements of design

There are seven key elements in a publication’s visual personality. These are:
• Format
• Grid
• Typography
• Visuals (photographs and graphics)
• Colour and white space
• Rules
• Creativity

These are the elements that make design happen and they have to work in combination and in harmony to be effective. It is important to understand these basic elements before setting out to design a publication.

Format

Format means the size of the publication. In most instances, format will be dictated by considerations such as budget, the publication image that you, as a publisher, want to project and, of course, whether the format is appropriate to your needs.

There are four standard publication formats:

• The A2 or ‘broadsheet’ (the same size as The Sunday Times or Rapport)
• The A3 or ‘tabloid’ (Mail & Guardian or The Citizen)
• The A4 newsletter/magazine
• The A5 newsletter/magazine/book

There are marginal differences within these standards. The ‘mini-tabloid’ size, for example, was popular for a period in the 1980s but has fallen away. There are also size differences among A4 publications – the standard local A4 size being 297×210mm and the US standard being slightly smaller at 285×210mm. However, what you should be interested in are the advantages of each of these formats and deciding which would be most appropriate for your needs.

Broadsheet and tabloid formats are primarily used for newspapers and are unlikely to be used by independent publishers, who traditionally use A4 and A5 formats. So I shall only deal with these two.

The standard A4-size page (which is half A3 or tabloid size) is ideal for newsletters and is the standard format for most magazines. In the context of independent publishing, however, the A4 format is likely to be a bit too big.

The standard A5 (half A4 size) is the most likely format for independent publishing projects. It can also be comfortably used in ‘landscape’ mode, i.e. turning the page on its side so the width of the page is larger than the height.

As mentioned, there are variations on the standard formats and ‘bastard’ formats are occasionally adopted by publishers who want to make a statement. However, you must be aware that the A2, A3, A4 and A5 formats are created out of standard sheets of paper, meaning there will be no paper wastage if these are used. If you decide on a bastard size, be prepared to pay for the wasted paper as the format is cut to size from a standard sheet.

You will have to decide which of these formats best suits the task at hand. If you want to produce a newsy publication, think of going the tabloid route. If you want a magazine feel, opt for A4, and if you are considering a book, use the A5 format. It is vital that you think this through carefully because each choice of format has ramifications.

If one takes design alone, for example, a tabloid is far more difficult to control than an A4 newsletter, and an A5 publication can also require design skill because you have less space to work with. There is also the issue of postage. Broadsheets are difficult to mail and tabloids need to be folded at least once, which means time and money. An A4 publication will fit a standard envelope as will an A5, but of all the formats, A5 is the easiest (and usually cheapest) format to post.

Grid

The grid is the architecture of the page. The grid defines the type area on the page (i.e. the height and width of the type area), how many columns of type will be used, and the size of the gaps between columns of type.

In most cases, independent publishers will use an A4 or A5 format, with the latter being the most likely choice.

For the A4 format, two, three, four and even five columns are normally used because using only one column of type makes for heavy reading. Two-, three- and four-column usage is the most common for the A4 format, but sometimes a five-column grid is used whereby columns are combined into two larger columns, leaving one smaller column of white space on the margin of the page. In this case, text runs in the two doubled-up columns and the small open column is used for pictures, captions and/or pull quotes (i.e. a quote that is pulled from the body text for emphasis).

Most independent publishers will use the A5 format with a single column of type, though two columns are also popular. More than three columns on an A5-page are difficult to read.

Typography

Typography is the most vexing aspect of design because very few people who design publications are trained typographers, as was the case in the past. Today, anybody with a computer and the necessary desktop publishing software can put pages together knowing nothing about type or for what purpose various typefaces are designed. And there are literally thousands of different typefaces available, the vast majority of them bad.

For most independent publishing, you probably need to chose only two or three different typefaces: one for headlines, one for text, and perhaps a third to provide some contrast in pull quotes or subheadings. Generally, though, for most purposes, two typefaces will suffice.

Of the choices you have to make, the choice of a text type is the most important because text has to be readable. As the great typographer Beatrice Webb said: “Text type should be invisible”, meaning you should be able to read the text without noticing the type. Some basic points on choice of text type might be useful:

• Serif type is easer to read than sans-serif type, so a serif typeface is preferable;
• Classic typefaces, such as Times Roman or Century, were designed as text typefaces, so rather stick to a classic typeface;
• Avoid using italic or bold for text type excessively, both are difficult to read; and
• Run out some text type choices and see which is easiest to read and then use it.

Next you have to choose a headline type. You might decide to stick to your text type choice and make the headlines bigger and bolder in the same typeface. This is fine, but it would be preferable to choose another complementary typeface for your headlines. If you are using a serif text type, chose a sans-serif typeface for the headlines. This will provide contrast.

Visuals (photographs and graphics)

Visuals enhance text. Positioned well, they can give life to an otherwise dull page. The basic rules when using photographic images are:
• Don’t allow images to compete on the page. Make one image dominant and others secondary;
• Avoid using poor-quality images. Rather do without them than use images that will not reproduce well. While one photograph can speak a thousand words, one bad photograph can ruin an entire publication;
• Crop photographs to remove unnecessary parts of the image;
• If you are using head-and-shoulder photographs of various people, make the subjects’ images the same size; and
• Captions normally go underneath the images they describe. If they don’t, ensure the reader can quickly identify the photographs to which the captions refer.

Likewise, good graphics add great value to editorial pages, but bad graphics can destroy an otherwise good publication. You have two basic choices: custom graphics and clip-art graphics.

Custom graphics are drawn by an artist to your specific brief. They can be expensive, but independent publishers can sometimes make use of the skills of an artist who wants to give their work added exposure, or who simply wants to collaborate on your project. If you can find a good artist who will do illustrations for love, that is always first prize.

A warning on copyright: you cannot use any graphic that takes your fancy in your publication without first getting written permission from the artist or the artist’s agent. Simply attributing the artwork to the artist is not sufficient. Permission must be sought and granted before using any custom graphics.

Clip art has no copyright restrictions and you can use it without permission. Most clip art is bad and it rarely fits the exact editorial need. However, some clip art is good. If you decide to use it, be selective.

Colour and white space

When designing pages, as opposed to the book cover, the simple rule of thumb for colour is ‘less is more’. Just because you have a full colour facility does not mean you have to spread it liberally across the pages of your publications. Colour is much more effective when used sparingly and for emphasis. Colour headlines, for example, rarely work. Nor do background colour washes across pages. But used sparingly and judiciously, colour adds great value.

Black and white images add contrast to full colour images, so don’t think just because some of your images are in black and white, they need to be rejected.

Remember that white is a colour. It is not neutral and white space adds greatly to the overall colour value of pages. The modern tendency is to use white space liberally so that the text and images on your pages are given ample space to breath.

Rules

By ‘rules’ is meant lines between columns of text type, lines drawn underneath stories or lines used for special emphasis. Again, the rule for rules is to use them sparingly and, in most cases, in small weights. It is seldom necessary to use more that a 2pt rule and rules separating columns are usually 0,5pt or 0,25pt. Cut-off rules separating stories are rarely more than 1pt in weight.

Creativity

While anyone can learn to design a publication given the right equipment and the mental acuity to master the necessary software, really good designers are born, not made. Everyone brings a fresh eye to their own publication and hopefully independent publishers will advance their design skills to reflect their vision for their publications.

How do you advance your skills? Simply, the more you work in design, the better you will get. But don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Look at magazines and newspapers; when you read a book, take note of the design and the way it pulls together. Keep a scrapbook of cuttings from newspapers and magazines, make photostats of good book designs that appeal to you and study the techniques used. Then, when you have absorbed what the designers have done, start to develop your own design style.

Binding

Many independent publishers produce saddle-stitched publications (i.e. a publication that has two staples in the spine that holds the whole publication together). However, your publication may have too many pages for saddle stitching (usually from about 64 pages upwards) or you may simply want a more elegant and sophisticated look, and decide that your publication needs to be perfect bound.

In the case of perfect binding, the pages can either be glued into the spine or sewn in. If the former, there is a risk that excessive use of the publication will result in pages starting to fall out, and you should ensure that the printer doing the binding uses quality glue applied in an appropriate manner. Sewing is more expensive, but much more robust.

In either case, if you are going to perfect bind your publication, when you design the grid ensure that you leave some extra space in the spine area (or gutter) of the page to accommodate the perfect binding. If you don’t, you are likely to see your text begin to disappear into the gutter of the page when the publication is printed. This results in a reader having to force the book open to read the text, thus putting pressure on the spine. If in doubt, consult your printer.

Software

There are no hard-and-fast rules regarding the best software to create your publication. The industry standard desktop software has been Quark on Apple Mac, but I have seen excellent publications done on graphic packages such as CorelDraw. If you are starting out, you might do well to consider the Adobe graphic suite containing InDesign (page make-up), Photoshop (image manipulation), Illustrator (graphics) and Acrobat. It is available for Mac or PC and this creative suite of software is poised to become the new standard, as well as being reasonably priced.

The best guide to good publication design is Kiss – keep it simple, stupid. Keeping it simple is always the best option, though not always the easiest, given the vast array of seductive design options and techniques available. Remember you want your publication to be read, not to necessary win design awards. Always keep your readers in mind. If you put design obstacles in their way, they will stop reading and all your efforts will be wasted.

© Kerry Swift, 2005