Before&After®

HowtoDesignCoolStuff

JohnMcWade

Before & After: How toDesignCoolStuffJohnMcWadePeachpit1249EighthStreetBerkeley,CA94710510/524-2178510/524-2221(fax)Find us on the Web at:www.peachpit.comTo report errors, please senda note to

errata@peachpit.comPeachpit is a division ofPearsonEducationCopyright © 2010 by JMSPublishingProject Editor: Nikki EchlerMcDonaldProduction Editor: TraceyCroomDevelopment and CopyEditor:CathyFishelLane

Indexer:KenDellaPentaCoverdesign:JohnMcWadeInterior designer andcompositor: Kim Scott,BumpyDesignNoticeofRightsAll rights reserved. No partof this book may bereproduced or transmitted inany form by any means,electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording, or

otherwise, without the priorwritten permission of thepublisher.Forinformationongetting permission forreprintsandexcerpts,contactpermissions@peachpit.com.NoticeofLiabilityThe information in thisbookis distributed on an “As Is”basis without warranty.While every precaution hasbeentakeninthepreparation

of the book, neither theauthor nor Peachpit shallhave any liability to anypersonor entitywith respecttoanylossordamagecausedor alleged to be causeddirectly or indirectly by theinstructionscontained in thisbook or by the computersoftware and hardwareproductsdescribedinit.Trademarks

Many of the designationsused by manufacturers andsellers to distinguish theirproducts are claimed astrademarks. Where thosedesignations appear in thisbook, and Peachpit wasaware of a trademark claim,the designations appear asrequestedbytheownerofthetrademark.All other productnamesandservicesidentifiedthroughoutthisbookareused

in editorial fashion only andfor the benefit of suchcompanies with no intentionof infringement of thetrademark. No such use, ortheuseofanytradename,isintended to conveyendorsement or otheraffiliationwiththisbook.ISBN13:978-0-321-58012-2ISBN10:0-321-58012-5

987654321Printed and bound in theUnitedStatesofAmerica

Acknowledgements

Anonlinereadernotlongagowrotetomeandsaidsimply,“You’re a rich man, JohnMcWade.” Bywhich hewasreferring to the trust that somany of you have placed inme, and the fact that I canpose, in his case, a simplequestion, and so many arewillingtopitchinandhelp.

Inthisway,Iamindeedrich.Before & After has theworld’s best audience—curious, creative, expressive,loyal.Someofyouhavebeenwith us for 20 years. Somewe hear from often, othersrarely. Some of you are avisible part of our lives,contributing directly andobviously to ourwork.Withothers, we gladly share ourhours and our confidence.

Stillothers teamwithusandworktoacommonvision.This book is the product ofsuchteamwork.I’d like to thank our friendMichael Solomon, withoutwhom we could not havegotten our second start.Thank you to our industrycolleagues, whose co-operation—in the full senseof the word—has yieldednew markets, new revenue,

and,notleast,moralsupport.And thanks to Seth Godinand Sean D’Souza, friendsand foils who see the worlddifferently than we do andprovidevaluableperspective.Closer to home, there’s mystaff.MywifeGaye,withoutwhom I would be someoneelse, someone smaller.DexterAbellera,ourtalentedand tireless senior designer,whoseworkfillsthepagesof

this book; e-mail Dexter at3:00a.m.andyou’llprobablygetareply.AndourunnamedWebmaster, not shy butsecretiveanyway,whokeepsus online and, basically, inbusiness, with her abundanttechnical skills andher care.HernameisDr.Evil.I’m delighted to thank thehardworkingcrewatPeachpitPress, who pretty muchhounded us intomaking this

book. (This is a goodproblem to have!) I’ll startwith publisher NancyRuenzelandaddeditorCathyLane, who also editsLogoLounge.com.Both,onceupon a time, werecompetitors of ours but thencame over from the DarkSide.NikkiMcDonald is theacquisitions editor who gotthisprojectlaunchedandhaskeptitsailingsmoothly.AndthankstoKimScott,whohas

now laidout all threeof ourbooks, and productionmanagerTraceyCroom.None of us ever createsanything alone, and I amgratefulforeveryoneofyouwho,inwayslargeandsmall,visible and invisible, hashelped shapeBefore&Afterintowhatitistoday.

Contents

Knowledge

Design without rulers:Put away your ruler.Here’s how to designthewayyousee.

The empty page has alottosay:Don’tflypastthat setup dialog! It’s

where your designbegins!

Our color wheel:Thecolor wheel is our toolforunderstandingwhichcolorsgowithwhat.

How to find the perfectcolor:The color paletteyou need is alreadyhidden in the photo.Here’showtofindit.

Whattypefacegoeswith

that?:How to pick atypeface thatcomplementsagraphic.

How contrasts createtype style:Usingcontrast properly canmake or break yourtypographicdesign.

Typography101:Typeisatool:Learnhowtouseit properly, and yourworkimproves.

Characterparts

Technique

Many from one:Bigphotos have smallphotos inside. Here’show to get severalimages out of oneoriginal.

Morefromless

Croppingbasics:Howtocropphotosforfunction

andmeaning.

Backgroundselection

Focal points:Complexor ambiguous photo?Eightsimplewaystoputthe reader’s eye whereyouwantit.

Cool covers:Tensimpleideas for great-lookingcovers.

How todesign a second

page:You’vedesignedabeautiful outside. Howdo you follow it upinside?Simply.

Bringtheoutsidein

Simply borderless:Howto design pages fordesktop printers thatcan’tprinttotheedge.

Voice-over captions:Acaption can be muchmore than a label.

Here’s how to get itonto your picture andintoyourstory.

Multi-caption phototellsmanystories

Multiple captions inhighstyle

Lessonsfromabeautifulsi te:The University ofMiami College of Arts& Sciences shows thatbeauty really is in the

details.

A welcoming homepage:Greet all of youronlineviewers.

Simple, bold, bright:Minimalism works onanyscale.

Organizethatcard

The power of thepostcard:Bigimageandsmall type, or big type

andsmallimage:Eitherworkswell.

Put a photo in yourn a m e :Words andpicturescanbestrongerthanwordsalone.

Functionalbeauty

Projects

Makea theme:Asimplegraphic can provide afocal point, color, and

continuity.

Design a story-styleb r o c h u r e :Fold—andunfold—a single sheetinto an appealing,narrative-likepresentation.

Template: Story-stylebrochure

Design a pocket-sizebrochure:Eight smallpagestellabigstory.

Template: Pocket-sizebrochure

A small newsletter thatreads big:Half-sizepage is easy to designand creates a strongimpression.

Designa“photo”graph

Design a card the easyway:A photo and oneblock of type is all it

takes to make abeautifulcard.

Design a dual-purposel e t t e r head :Legal-sizesheet can serve as yourletterheadandprovideabonus,too.

How to set a text-onlylogotype:The key is towork with the naturalpatternofyourletters.

Design a flier that

comesbacktoyou:Onabudget? Design a flierthat doubles as its ownreturnenvelope!

Template: Flier thatcomesback

Smallsite,greatformat:This simple beauty isideal for professionalsandsmallenterprises.

Template: Small formatwebsite

Design a beautifulWebh e a d e r :Create aneffectiveheadertheeasyway. Just think insections.

Design simplepr esen t a t i ons :Visualbrevitywillhelpagreattalk.

Picture yourpresentation:Photographs give your

audience an emotionalconnection to yourwords.

Design a panoramicb o o k l e t :A crossbetween book andmagazine, thislandscape format isunusually easy to layout.

Template: Panoramicbooklet

Design below the line:Simple techniquecreates a report thatlooksopenandinviting.

Index

Introduction

This book, like the twobefore it, isacompilationofarticles that firstappeared inour magazine,Before &After, How to design coolstuff.Before&After, for youwhodon’t know, is a magazinethat teaches graphic design.

Abetterway to say itwouldbe that it’s a magazine thatexplains graphic design, orillustrates it, because wedon’t teach in the sense ofconducting a formal courseof study, where skills arelearned in a sequence, eachbuildinguponthelast.What we do is show it,typically with a reallifeproject, and explain what’sgoing on—whythese colors

gotogether(ornot),whythisobject must be bigger thanthat object to convey thus-and-such a meaning, and soon.Somepeopleget thiskindofinstruction in school, butmost do not.Most of us arelike you. You know someabout design, you have aninterest in it,andyouhaveaneedforit. Maybe you have a

brochuretowrite. Or a slide presentation

tomake. Oranewslettertoedit. OraWebsitetobuild.Maybe you need a logo foryournewbusiness.Oranad.OraDVDcover.Whatever the case, youhavea story to tell that has somekind of visual expression,

meaning that it can beseen.That’s where design comesin.Inherent in the meaning ofdesign is the idea ofplanning. To design abuildingoragarmentorevena business means to plan it,thenactuallyworktheplan.Graphic design, of course,means to plan the visualpresentation of a thing.Design isabouthowit looks,

but there’s more, becausehow it looks can’t beseparated from what it saysanddoes.There is aprocess todesign,and the key step is the firstone:Decidewhatneedstobeachieved. Ask, in otherwords,where are we going?Once you know, you workoutwhatneedstobesaid,theconcept you’ll use to say it,the elements—type, colors,

images, and soon—thatwillexpresstheconcept,thenyouwork them together into thefinishedpiece.Before & After does this intherealworld.We’ve arranged this book inthree sections: Knowledge,Technique, and Projects.Becauseeverydesignhasallthree,theynaturallyoverlap.Knowledge is about the

basics. Basics are calledbasic not because they’resimple-headed but becausethey are the basis, orfoundation, of every design.Basics include line, shape,direction, motion, scale,proportion, similarity,proximity, color,composition, and soon.Youlearnthebasicsbecausetheymake your work easier andyourdesignsbetter.

Technique illustratespractical ways and methods.What’s valuable about thissection is its transferability.Thewayyou crop photos onthisbrochurecanberepeatedon that Web page. The wayyousetyourtypeorhandleamargin or overlap an objectin this advertisement can bedoneagaininthatnewsletter.Some techniques have a bigeffect and make dramaticdesigns and because of that

are obvious. Others areinfluentialbut small andcanbe repeated foreverunnoticed. All have theirplace.You’llsee.Projects are whole jobs—brochures, newsletters, Websites, business cards, slidepresentations, and logotypes—in which knowledge andtechnique come together andwork. Projects show conceptand application at once—

what’s been done, how, andespeciallywhy. Our projectsalso make great blueprintsfor your projects. You can,more or less, copy ourdesigns, and use ourknowledge to make themworkforyou.Twenty years ago when wewere dreaming up thisadventure calledBefore &After,Irecallonedaydrivingaround thinking how to

describe what the magazinewould be about. “Graphicdesign for desktoppublishers” was as close asI’d gotten. It would showhow to design newsletters(big at the time), brochures,stationery,andotherbusinessdocuments. It wouldillustratedesignconceptsandhow to set type. It wasn’tabout point-and-click butrather about the aesthetics—the whys and hows of good

visualcommunication.But it was too much. Thereare too many differentaspects of design tosummarize in a sound bite.“Howtodopage layout”notonly didn’t describe it fully,it was dull, too. AndBefore&After wasn’t aboutdull: Itwasaboutcool.Coolstuff.Sowhynotjustcallitthat?Iasked out loud in the emptycar.Howtodesigncoolstuff.

And that’swhat it became. Ihope you find this bookenables you to do exactlythat.—JohnMcWade

Knowledge

Design withoutrulers: Put awayyour ruler. Here’show to design thewayyousee.

Ever watch a street artist atwork? What fun! A splashhere,adashthere,andfromablank canvas a picture just...

appears. He uses nomechanical tools at all, nocolumns, rulers, or guides,yet the result is a beautifulwhole.It’ssofluid.Thebestdesignislikethat.To see how it works, let’sdesignapage,but insteadofa grid,we’ll use this picture—whatwesee—asourvisualguide. Its lines, shapes,proportions, and theirrelationshipswillgovernour

choice of type, sizes, colors,layout,andeverythingelse.Whatcanyousee?Measuring only by eye(closely, not exactly), canyouanswerthefollowing? • Is the man as tall as

theglobe? • Is theman aswide as

thepot? •Howmanypotswideis

thetree? • What else in the

pictureisthesizeofthepot?

1. Take a visual

inventory

Every image has lines,shapes, textures, colors andsoonthatcanguideadesign.First step is to take a visual“inventory.” Start with thebigelements.

BasicshapesThe

imageismadeofthreebasicshapes.

SizesIthasa

hierarchyofsmall,medium,andlarge

elements.

LayoutThecompositionisfairly

balanced.Focalpoint

A good image has a focalpoint. This image has two—one physical and onephantom.

PhysicalTheprimary

focalpointisusuallythebiggest,clearest,ormostvividobjectintheimage—inthiscase,theglobe.

PhantomThethree

formscreateacompositionaltriangle,thecenterofwhich—justwhatyou’dwant—isonthemoney.Thecenteristhe

strongestpointofanyvisualfield.

SecondaryThe

phantomisreinforcedbythefocalcenterofthewhitetriangle.Had

younoticedit?Objectsandspaces

Theobjectsandspacesinthisimage are unusuallyrepetitive.

Thepotisthesamesizeasthespace

aboveit...

...andthesizeofthe

spacebesideit.

It’sthesamesizeas

NorthAmerica!Closeenough...

Artistic relationships areperceptual, not mechanical.If it looks close enough, itreal lyis close enough, soinventoryonlybyeye.

Theimageisfourpots

tall.

Aone-potspace

encirclestheglobe.

Themanfitsapot

space.

Anaturalgrid

Thisimagehasanaturalgridthatisunusuallyuniform.Itselements are so repetitivethattheycreateawholegrid!

Smallerelements

Whileyou’relookingatthelargeelements,makenoteofthe

smallerelements,too.Payattentiontoedgesandcontrasts.Clearedgesarelikethe

man’sheadandlegs.SouthAmericastandsoutbecauseofitscolorcontrast.Theshadowareashave

obviousweight,andso

on.Takethetimetoconsciouslyobservethesethings.Whatyou’redoingis

trainingyoureye.Itwillsoonbecome

intuitive.Shapeandtexture

Be aware of what the linesare doing. Note if they’restraight or curvy, wherethey’re close or far apart,where they change direction,andsoon.

Lookatallthe

triangles!Thesecreate

visualmovement.

Trianglesareevidentateverydistancefromfarthesttonearest.

Theedgescreatea

repetitivetexture;note

thepointinessthroughout.

2.Choosecolors

The next step is to create acolorpalettefromtheimage.

Abazillionpixels!Colorplaysamajorroleindesign.Theeasiestandbestplacetogetaperfectly

coordinatedpaletteistheimageitself.First,reduceitsthousandsof

pixel-sizecolors(right,inset)toaworkablefewby

applyingPhotoshop’sorIllustrator’sbuilt-inMosaicfilter(far

right).Rarelywillyou

wantmorethan64colors,andusually32oreven16arebetter.Forfewercolors,

increasetheCellsize;formore,decreaseit.Organize

Sample color swatches withthe eyedropper tool, then

arrangealloftheswatchesbycolorandvalue.Youcansee inMosaicmodethat the image has severalmajor colors—the blues andgreens of the globe,terracottas of the pot, andgrays of the man. Sampledark, medium, and lightpixelsfromeach(belowleft).Neatly arrange your choicesbycolor,thenbyvalue(darkto light). Take the time to

actually do this; you’ll besurprised by how much ithelpsyouvisualize.Sampleafew minor colors—in thiscase, yellows and violets—that can be used forcomplements andcounterpoints. Discardlookalikes.

Tryeachoneon

Try the image atop a swatchof each color. What you’llsee is that every color youpicked automaticallycoordinates, because it’salreadyinthere!

CoolcolorsCoolcolorsaremoredirect

andsomewhatbusinesslikeandaloof.Theblueglobenowblendsintothe

background,andthoseoppositeorangesstand

out.

WarmcolorsWarmcolorsaresoft,earthy,welcoming,suitableforenvironmentalmessages.Notehowtheblueglobestandsoutagainstitsoppositecolors,theterracottas.

3.Selecttype

Next, we need to select atypeface that feels like theimage.There are many ways tochoose a typeface.You mayhave a house style, so nochoice is required.Youmayhave a look already inmind—say,formalorbusinesslike

or collegiate.Youmay havea new favorite to try out,which is always fun.Whatever the case, keep inmind that type is graphical,just like an image. Its lineswill sweep or jog or dive. Itwill have tooth and grain.When you add type to adesign, its visualcharacteristics interact withthosealreadyonthepage,forbetterorforworse.

For this article, the image isdrivingourchoices.Ourgoalis to match the visualpropertiesofimageandtype.Ourtypechoicemustalsobefunctional—beautiful,readable,andreproducible.So what’s here?We’ve seenthat the image is full oftexture:Ithasarich,detailedsurface and a lot of “leafy-ness.”The leavesarepointy,evenly spaced, and they

actually look a lot like seriftype.Let’stakealookattypefacesin three common categoriesto discover what similaritieswecanfind.

Threeviewingdistances

Compare the type to the

texture at three distances—near,middle, and far; itwilllook different at each.Manytypefaces are better at onedistancethananother.

GlyphaisoutdoorsyAbeautifulslabserifwithperfectletterfit,Glyphaisboxyand

clean,withhardedgesandrepetitiveshapes.It’sexcellentinbothheadlinesandtext—anuncommonasset—anditsbold,slabsidesmakeitanaturalforoutdoorsynatureoftheart.Glyphaisalsoveryeasytoread.

Problem?Itlooksnothingliketheimage.

Near

Middle

Far

Turnitupsidedown

A reliable way to “see” atypeface is to turn it upsidedown, which reveals itsridges, hollows and, funnyknicknacks that are alwaysfeltbutnormallyunnoticed.

MyriadiscrystalclearForoutright

visualclarity,thereisprobablynotypefacebetterthanMyriad.Extremelygoodinheadlinesandshortpassagesoftext,

Myriad’slarge,opencountersandminimalformsretaintheirclarityateventhe

lowestresolutions.Myriadprojectsa

light,fresh,cleanlookthat’sanaturalforgreentopics,butitdoesn’tlooklikeour

image.

Near

Middle

Far

Watchthesurface

While you’re comparinglinesandedges,payattentionto surface texture, too. Notethe leaves are irregular andgrainy,with amottled blendofcolors.

GalliardRomanistexturedGalliardisa

Romantypefacewithchiseledfeaturesandsharp,exaggerated

serifs.Itsthick-to-thinstrokeshelpmake

Galliardeasytoread,althoughitsangleswouldbetiresomeinlargeamounts.Itcomesinseveral

weights,it’swellproportioned,ithastheeasyfamiliarityofseriftype,anditlooks

liketheleaves!Galliardwillbeour

choice.

Near

Middle

Far

4.Layout

Layout is where those lines,shapes, spaces, colors, andtextures finally get put towork.We’llillustratehowbydesigning a legal-sizebrochurepage.

WorktotheimageFirststepistoplacetheimageonthepage.Where,andhowbig?

Thekeyistohavevisiblerelationships.Becausetheglobeanditspothaveastrongcentralline(right),

centerpagewillbeitsstrongestposition,whereeachwill

reinforcetheother.(Remember,it’s

center-ish;noneofthisisrulerexact.)Similarly,thepot

spacewesawencircletheglobewillbe

visibleasatopmargin(right).

Forthisdesign,we’vehiddenthenon-printingfoldlines(left);wecareonlyaboutwhattheeye

cansee.

Legal-sizedbrochure,

14″×8½″Settheheadline

A rule of design is to workwith what’s in front of you;don’t arbitrarily make stuffup. Here, the headline picksup the visual characteristicsoftheglobe.

Typebasedonsize,color,andtexture(Right)Placinga

headlineacrossthetopisnormal,butdon’tdo

it;thestraight,horizontallineisaforeignobjectthat’sdifferentfromwhat’sinfrontofus.Instead,

ablockofoverlappinglinesinGalliardUltramimicsthesize,mass,color,andtextureoftheglobe,avisiblerelationship.Its

positionbesidetheglobe(below)strengthensthe

connection.Notehow

theinteractionoftranslucentserifs(whiteinset,below,right)mimicsthesizeandtextureoftheleaves.Marginsareunalignedinanyway.

Addphotosandtext

As you add things to the

page, its complexityincreases, and it becomesincreasingly difficult tosustainvisualcoherency.Payattentiontowhat’shappeningaroundyourmaterial—inthemargins, at the edges,betweenthings.

Rectangularspace,organicdesignAparadoxofdesignisthatwhilenatureis

organicandirregular,paperandtextblocksarerectangular.Theserectangleshavestrongandoftenunwantedvisualpresence,andit’sachallengeto

“unrectangle”apagewithoutmessingupthereading.Butthere

areways.Inthiscase,thephotosandtext

remainunaligned,yetmeanderdownwardfollowingthegeneralcontoursoftheglobe

(left).Unlikeastandardtextwrap,makesurethatnoidentifiablewhite

shapesformbetweenelements.

Toothytexture(Left)SetinGalliardUltraandcoloredliketheglobe,thespeakers’

namesstandoutfromthesurroundingtext,whilethewholeparagraphhasthetextureofthe

illustration,aneasyblendofformand

function.Aligntothepaper

The paper is also an activeelement that can be used asneeded. Here, the leadparagraphandkeydetailsarealigned right to an edge,establishingavisualanchor.

ThatrecurringpotspaceIfyou’vetakenthetimetothoroughlyinventoryyourimage,you’llfindyourselfseeing(orfeeling)

thingsyou’dotherwisemiss.Above,thepotspacerecursalmostintuitivelybetween

elementsonthepage.Asaresult,whilethelayoutappearsonlylooselystructured,ithasrealcoherencythat’sfeltmorethanconsciouslyobserved.Notealsothattheleadtextblockintheupperright,liketheheadline

acrossfromit,isthegeneralsizeandshapeoftheglobe,anotherintuitivesetting.

Descendingsizes

Finally,textalignedrightdescendstothelower-rightcorner,thenaturalexitpointof

thepage,inincreasingdetail.Notethattheragged-leftedgesmeanderloosely

aroundtheimageasbefore.

The empty page hasalottosay:Don’tflypast that setupdialog! It’s whereyourdesignbegins!

A blank page may havenothing on it, but it’s themost importantnothing adesignerwill encounter. It is

the platform upon whichgreat design is built. It ishere that you establish yourworld—the dimensions ofyourpage, itsorientation, itsactive space, and whether itappears alone or in pairs.Thesechoicesaffecthowthepage is perceived, how it’stouched, how it’s read, andultimately,itssuccess.Which page size does what?Where does a reader’s eye

go? What does empty spacedo?Herearesomeanswerstoquestions you didn’t knowneededasking.

Payattentiontoallofthedesignresources

andoptionsavailabletoyoubeforeyou

clickOK.1.Pagesize

Why are movies at thetheater better thanmovies athome? Because they’re soBIG!They thunder, they fly;ourheadsmustturntofollow

the action. At home we cansee thewhole scene at once.Thedifference in size is onenot of performance but ofperception, and it plays avitalroleinourexperience.We relate image size to ourown size. It is our humanscale that governs how wesee.Inprint,ourfocal“zone”isaspaceroughlythesizeofourown head—at reading

distance, about a letter-sizesheet.Adesign in this spacewillbeperceivedasawhole.Atabloid,attwicethesize,istoo big for a single view; totake it in our eyes mustmove, so we see it (and itmust be designed) insections.Our perception of a page isalso influenced by itsproportions. We thinkdifferently of a tall, narrow

page(airy)thanasquareone(earthy).Theidealproportionhas for millennia beenconsidered the “goldenrectangle,” a ratioRenaissance mathematiciansdefined as 1 to 1.618. TheGreek Parthenon is a goldenrectangle. Goldenproportions can be found inwindows, tabletops, photos(3″×5″,4″×6″,etc.)andthehuman bust. Generallyspeaking, the most pleasing

rectangle has a length oneandahalftimesitswidth.

Torunonmodernpresses,aestheticsmustoftenyieldtoefficiency,whichmeansemployingstandardpapersizes

(left).TheInternationalStandardASeries(below)illustrateshow

efficientlysmallsheetsaremadefromlargeones.TheAseriesisbasedonasizecalledtheA0,arectangularsheet841mmby

1189mm[*](33 ″by46¾″).CuttinganA0inhalfproducestwoA1sheets,cuttingan

A1inhalfproducestwoA2sheets,andsoon.Everysheetintheseries,nomatterhowsmall,hasthesame

shape.

Goldenrectangle

A page can be foldedcrosswise or lengthwise, inhalves, thirds, quarters, orasymmetrically. A foldeddocument has heft andsubstance that a flat sheetdoes not. And while a flatpage reveals its contents allat once, a folded documenthides some to be revealedlater, a tantalizingopportunityforthedesigner.

Foldinhalfineither

direction...

...ortwicetomakeanotecardthatprintsonasingleside.

Letterfold

Gatefold

Off-centerfold

2.Orientation

Orientationreferstohowthe

pageisplacedinfrontofus.A tall page “looks in”—thatis, the reader focuses on itsvisual center. A wide page“looks out,” meaning thereader looks to the right andleft margins, wanting to seetheentiresheetatonce.

Weinstinctivelyholdawidepagefartherawaythanatallpagesoournaturalfieldofviewcancapturetheentirepagewithout

scanning.

Thevisualcenterofapage—ourfocalpoint—isateyelevelorslightlyhigher,notinthegeographicmiddle.Thisistrueonboth

tallandwidepages.Thenaturalstartingpointforprinted

material,therefore,isnear,orslightlyabove,eyeheight.

Oureyesdonoteasilycometorestonawideor“landscape”page(above).Theyroam

insteadfrommarginto

margintoembracetheentirefield.Ifyouwantyourreadertofocusonasingle

objectorinanarrowzone,useaportraitview(left),which

drawstheeyeinward.3.Marginwidth

Margins play a key role inattractive, effectivecommunication. Marginsframe the printed materialand act as a container. Toonarrow and there is nocontainment; the framingeffectisdefeated,andtheeyetends to wander (the biggerthe page, the greater thiseffect).Ifthemarginsaretoowide thematerialcanappearfrivolous.

How much space should bedevoted tomargins?Rule ofthumb:Fiftypercent,or1½″per side around a 9″ × 12″page, keeps the reader well-focusedonthematerial.

Toonarrow;no

containment

Toowide;canseem

frivolous

Justright

EqualEverymarginis

thesamewidth.Common.Static.

Bureaucratic.Readerwillhaveno

awarenessofmarginsatall.

FramedFramedlikea

picture.Sidesandtopsamewidths,bottomwider.Grounded.Stable.Hasthe

illusionoffourequalmargins.

ProgressiveThe

traditionalbookmargins.Narrowest

marginisonthegutterside;topmarginishalfagainaswide,outsidetwiceaswide,bottomthreetimesaswide.

ProportionalClassic

margins;theprintedareaisthesameshape

asthepage.Noarithmeticinvolved:Drawadiagonal,thenconnectthecorners.Offsettotheinside.

AspreadisasingleimagewithamiddlemarginAspreadturnstwotallpagesintoonewidelandscape.Youmustdesignthesepagesconcurrently,notseparately,

becausethey’llalwaysbeviewedintandem.

Toprightillustratestheproblemofsettingupmarginsseparately;equal-widthmarginsleaveadouble-widegapbetweenpages.Progressivenarrow-wider-widestmargins(right,bottom)solvethis;gutternow

matchesoutsidemarginsandpagesflowharmoniously

together.

Drawdiagramsasshown

GreatguidelinesSet

desiredinner

guidelines,thendoublethewidthfortheouterguidelines.

Drawhorizontallines

whereguidelinesanddiagonalsintersect.

Repeatontheoppositepage

Ourcolorwheel:Thecolor wheel is ourtool forunderstanding whichcolorsgowithwhat.

Whereverthereislight,thereis color. While we think ofcolors as independent—thisblue, that red—a color is

never seen alone but alwaysinthecontextofothercolors.Like a musical note, no onecolor is “good” or “bad.”Rather, it’s one part of acomposition thatas a wholeis pleasing or not. The colorwheel is our tool forunderstanding how colorsrelate to one another.Here’showitworks.

Thecolorwheelistherangeofvisiblelightmadeintoacircle.

Infinity,simplifiedWhitelightcontains

allvisiblecolors,whichformaninfinitespectrumthatalwaysappearsintheviolet-to-redsequenceyouseeinarainbow

(above).Tomakeitpractical,thecolorwheelrepresentsthisinfinitywith12basic

huesprettymuchlikethoseinyourfirstbox

ofcrayons.Whatarethecolors?

Thewheelhas12basichues.First are the threeprimarycolors of blue, yellow, andred. Primary colors combineto makesecondary colors,

which combine to maketertiarycolors.

Primarycolorsare

thewheel’s“parent”colors;theyaretheonlycolorsnotmadefromothercolors.Theprimarycolorsare

positionedaroundthewheelinthirds.

Secondarycolorsarehalfwaybetweentheprimarycolors.Eachismadefromequal

amountsofthenearestprimaries.

Tertiarycolorsfilltheremaininggaps.Theyaremadefromequalamountsoftheadjacentprimaryandsecondarycolors.

Colorsincommon

As you can tell, every color

ispartofthecolornexttoit,whichispartof thenextandthe next, all the way aroundthewheel.Colorsincommonare the basis of colorrelationships.

Blueiscommontoallsevencolors,whichgetlessblueasthey

fanout.Greenandvioletarethe

secondariesthatcontainblue.

Yellowiscommontoallsevencolors,whichgetlessyellowasthey

fanout.Greenandorangearethesecondariesthatcontainyellow.

Rediscommontoallsevencolors,which

getlessredastheyfan

out.Orangeandvioletarethesecondariesthatcontainred.

Colorvalue

Color also has darkness andlightness, orvalue. To showvalue, the color wheel hasmorerings:twobigringsforthe darkshades and two

smallringsforthelighttints.

Tintsandshades

(Left)Ashadeisthehueplusblack,andatintisthehueplus

white.

Infinitegradient(Below)Fivestepsrepresentwhatis

actuallyacontinuousgradientfromwhitetoblack.Atintorshadecanfallanywhereon

thecontinuum.Colorrelationships

The following pagesillustrate the six basic colorrelationships.Each can yieldan endless number of colorpalettes.Any palette can includeshades and tints along withthehue.Theresultcanbealldark, all light, or anycombination.

MonochromaticFirstarethedark,medium,andlightvaluesofasinglecolor.Thisisa

monochromatic

palette.Ithasnocolordepth,butitprovidesthecontrastofdark,medium,andlight

that’ssoimportanttogooddesign.

AnalogousAdjacentcolorsarecalled

analogous.Analogouscolorssharestrong

undertones(here,yellowandred),

whichcreatepleasing,low-contrastharmony.Analogouspalettesarerichandalwayseasy

toworkwith.

ComplementDirectoppositesonthecolor

wheelarecomplements—inthiscase,blueandorange.

Whatthecomplementbringsiscontrast.A

coloranditscomplementconveyenergy,vigor,and

excitement.Typically,thecomplementisusedinasmaller

amountasanaccent—aspotoforangeona

bluefield,maybe.

SplitcomplementOnestepeitherwayarethecomplement’s

ownanalogouscolors.Thispaletteiscalledasplitcomplement.Itsstrengthisinthelow-contrastbeautyof

analogouscolors,plustheaddedpunctuationofanoppositecolor.Inthiscasethered,becauseit’smost

different,wouldlikelybeusedastheaccent.Theamountofcolormatters.Palettes can be madewarmer/cooler,darker/lighter,stronger/quieter,andsoonbyusing more or less of somecolors.

PrimaryTheprimarycolorsarerarelyseenasatrioexceptin

children’sproducts.Redandyellow,

however,arepopularinAmericancultureforeverythingfromfastfoodtogasoline.Redandblueare

commonbutattractiveonlyifseparatedby

openspace.

SecondarySecondarycolorshavealotincommon—twoshare

blue,twoshareyellow,andtwoshare

red—sotheyharmonizeeasily.Asa

triotheyaresoft,inviting,andrich,andhavepleasingdepth

anddimensionthatarehardtogetinother

ways.

Nowforaquiz

Trainyoureye:Eachcoverusesoneofthe

basiccolorrelationships

(monochromatic,analogous,

complement,splitcomplement,primary,orsecondary).Can

younamethem?Hint:

Lookatthebigcolors,notthesmallones;ignoreblackandwhite.Answersare

below.Answerslefttoright:monochromatic;complementary;

primary;analogous

How to find theperfect color: Thecolor palette youneed is alreadyhidden in the photo.Here’showtofindit.

Here’sthesituation:We’redesigningan

academicscheduleforawomen’scollege,andforaphotowe

havethisno-nonsense,freckle-facedmodel.Thegoalistolookfresh,alive,and

personal(nobuildingsandgroundsshots)whileconveyingthesensethattheprogram

isseriousandbusinesslike.Anoteof

trendinesswillbegood.Coloris

involvedinallofit.Nosinglevisualelementhasmoreeffectonaviewerthancolor. Color gets attention,sets a mood, sends amessage.Butwhatcolorsarethe right ones? The key ist h a tcolor is relational.Colors don’t exist in avacuum but are always seen

withothercolors.Becauseofthis, you can design a color-coordinated document basedon the colors in anyelementonthepage.Here’show.

1. Look close, closer,closest

Every photo has a naturalcolor palette. First step is tofinditandorganizeit.Zoomin on your photo, and you’llbe astonished by how manycolorsyousee.

Atnormalviewingdistance(left)weseeafewdozencolors:skintones,redhair,blueeyes,bluejacket.Butzoomcloser,andweseemillions!Firststepistoreduceallthosecolorstoa

manageablefew;you

want16,32,64tops.InPhotoshop,firstduplicatethephotolayer(soyoudon’t

losetheoriginal),thenselectFilter>Pixelate>Mosaic(right).A

largeCellSizegivesyouveryfewcolors;ifyouneedmore,reduce

thesize.2.Pulloutthecolors

Now extract colors with theeyedropper tool. Work fromthebiggestcolor(theoneyouseemost of) to the smallest.For contrast, pick up dark,medium, and light pixels ofeach.Work firston thebigcolors.

Thesearetheonesyouseeata glance; her skin and haircolors and blue jacket. Thendo the small colors—hereyes, lips, the highlights inher hair, and soft shadows.You can see in this image alightsideandashadowside;it’s subtle,butpayattention.Finish each area beforemovingon.Sort your resultsby color, then each color byvalue(lighttodark).Discardlookalikes.You’llbe thrilled

bywhatyoufind.

3.Tryeachoneon

Place the photo on a swatchofeachcolor.Theresultsarepretty, aren’t they? What’s

fun is that this will alwayslookgood,becausethecolorsyou’re using arealreadythere.

WarmcolorsThesearethewarmcolors—pinks,salmons,sepias,

browns—ofthered-hairedmodel.Thewarmercolorsmakeherlooksofterand

morefeminine.Thesecolorswouldbegood

foracosmeticmessageoracaring

message.

CoolcolorsThecoolcolors—blues,mainly—makeforamoreserious,businesslike

relationshipandconveyadirect,to-the-pointmessage.

Notethatasthevaluesgetdarker,herfacegetsperceptually

brighterandappearstoriseoffthepage

towardyou.

4.Addtothecolors

Thenextstep is toaddmorecolors. Select any of thecolors, and locate it on thecolorwheel.Thepurposeofacolorwheel is toshowyouacolor’s relationship to othercolors.

Pick any of the photo’scolors—let’s use this blue—and find its generalvicinity[*]onthecolorwheel.We’llcallthisthebasecolor.We already know that thebase color goes with thephoto.Ourjobnowistofindcolors that go with the basecolor. Keep in mind that iftype or other graphics areinvolved (pretty typical),you’ll need both dark and

lightcolorsforcontrast.

5. Create colorpalettes

From your base color, youcan now create an exciting

range of coordinated colorpalettes.Valuescanmix.Forexample,mediumblueworksw i t hlight teal anddarkviolet.

MonochromaticFirstarethedark,medium,andlightvaluesofthe

basecolor.Thisisamonochromatic

palette.Ithasnocolordepth,butitprovidesthecontrastofdark,medium,andlight

that’ssoimportanttogooddesign.

AnalogousOnecolorsteptoeithersideofthebasecolorareitsanalogouscolors.Analogouscolorsshareundertones(here,blue-green,

blue,andblue-violet),whichcreatebeautiful,low-contrastharmony.Analogouspalettesarerichandalwayseasy

toworkwith.

ComplementDirectlyoppositethebasecolorisitscomplement—inthiscase,theorangerange.Whatthe

complementbringsiscontrast.Acolorand

itscomplementconveyenergy,vigor,

andexcitement.

Typically,thecomplementisusedinasmalleramountasan

accent;aspotoforangeonabluefield,

asshownabove.

Complement/analogousThismixedpaletteisthesameasthesplitcomplementbutwithmorecolor.Itsaddedrangeyieldssoft,richharmonyonthewarmsideandsharp,icycontrastonthecoldside,anintenseand

excitingcombination.

SplitcomplementOnestepeitherwayonthewheelarethecomplement’sown

analogouscolors.This

paletteiscalledasplitcomplement.Its

strengthisinthelow-contrastbeautyof

analogouscolors,plustheaddedpunctuationofanoppositecolor.Inthiscase,thebluewouldmostlikelybeusedastheaccent.

Analogous/complementColorsanalogoustoourbasecolormake

coolharmonypunctuatedbyahot

spotofcomplementary

color.Keepinmindthatoppositesofthesamevaluetendtofightbutcomplement

whendifferent(below).Thisiswhy

youwanttoeyedropperdark,medium,andlightvaluesofeachcolor.

Oppositecolors,same

value

Oppositecolors,

differentvalues6.Editandapply

Designthepage,andnowit’stime to make color choices.How to pick? The key is tothinkmessage. Weigh eachagainst the original purposeby asking,whichcolorsmeetthegoaloutlinedon the firstpageofthisarticle?

AllbusinessBlueiseveryone’sfavorite

color.What’sinterestinghereisthatblueandorangeare

nativetothephoto,givingitexcellentnaturalcontrast.Thebluebackground

swallowsherjacket,allowingherintensegazetoliftrightoffthepage.Handsomeandbusinesslike.

SeriousThispalettebeganinthedeepredofherhair,andforanaccenttooktwosteps

towardyellow.Hereyesandjacket,whichonbluerecededintothebackground,nowstandincontrast.Notethattheredinherhairisamerehighlight,butfillingthepageitacquiresrealweight.Serious,warm,draws

thereaderin.

IntenseThehighlightsinherhaircarrythispage;theblueaccentlendscontrastand

depth.Anunexpectedpointofinterestistheyellowheadline,

whichseemscutoutofthephoto.

Dimensionallyflat,thismixisintenseandengaging(andwould

winthedesigncontest),butittakesa

daringclienttochooseit.

Reminder:Valuesmix.Youcanalwaysusedark,medium,andlightofanycolor.Notehereboth

mediumandlightteal.CasualAnalogoustotheblue—astep

towardgreen—isteal,abeautifulcolornotin

thephoto.Itsdifferenceaddsdepthandvibrancyandrelaxesthemessage

somewhat;it’strendiernow,more

approachable.Hereyes,whichagainstbluelookedblue,nowtendtowardgreen.

Typecolor,stilllightorange,isasoft

contrast.

PrettyOnesteptheotherwayisblue-violet,anothercolor

notinthephoto.Blue-violetisashifttowardred;theresultisa

slightlyflatterimage,becauseface,hair,andbackgroundarenowmorealike.Blue-violetisacoolcolornormallyassociated

withsoftness,

femininity,andspringtime(withundertonesoffreshness).

What typeface goeswith that?: How topick a typeface thatcomplements agraphic.

You’ve found the graphicyouwantandneedatypefaceto go with it. How do youchoose?

We think of type assomethingtoread,buttypeisactuallyartwork:A,B,andCare lines, corners andsquiggles—images—towhich we’ve assigned soundandmeaning.This is why type is soexpressive. While thealphabet representsdata,words in print conveyplayfulness, stateliness, orbusiness depending on how

they’redrawn.Whichisthekeytoselectingjust the right typeface.Sincetype and graphics are,visually speaking, thesamething,youneedtocoordinatetheirvisualproperties.We’ll show you. In thisarticle,Harry&Sonshaveafavorite graphic—this treehere—forwhich theywant acomplementary typeface tocompletetheirbusinesscard.

Watch.

Before

1.Evaluatetheimage

To coordinate type andimage, we must first findtheir common visualproperties. Start with thegraphic, and evaluate it forproportion, shape, line, andtexture.Because we tend to onlyidentify images (“this is atree”) and not reallyseethem, this drill may at firstseemlikelookingforfacesin

the clouds.But look closely;there’salotthere.

Proportions/massProportionsandmassareBIGandaffecteverything.Becauseproportionscanbe

deceptive,it’sagoodideatodrawa

boundingbox(above).Actuallydrawit;don’ttrustyoureye.The

treeissquare,symmetrical,upright.

LineLinemeanstheoverallsweepordrape—asinthelineofadress—anditalso

meansedge.Here,weseeapredominantlyhorizontalsweep,a

top-downdrape,andagnarly,detailededge.

ShapeShapeistheprimaryqualityby

whichweidentifyanimage.Thetreeisanovoidshapeatopastraight-line,verticaltrunk,andhorizontalbase—somethingofan

eggonastick.

TextureThetreehas

alotofsurfacetexture.Theirregularfoliageisobviousandrandom,butnoteespeciallythe

interactionofthick-thin,negative-positiveareas(squintandit’seasier);whichappearasshapesandrivers—

likethesurfaceofamossypond.

2. First edit:Incompatibletypestyles

There aresomany typefacesavailablethatwehavetoculloutmanyquickly.Startwiththe biggest elements—

proportion and shape—andeliminate the styles that aremostdifferent.With a visual understandingof the tree, it’s easy to seethat condensed, extended,and swoopy typestyles don’tmatch its square proportionsand symmetrical shape. Theblocky typeface is closest tosquare but artificiallyconstructed, which islikewisedissimilar.The first

edit in this case eliminatesall typefaces except thosewith standard, squarishproportions and uprightposture.

Condensed

Extended

Swoopy

Blocky

3. Second edit: Lineandproportion

What’s funny is thatsquarish, upright stylescomprise half the world’stypefaces including all thestandard ones! So we mustlookfurther.Thesecondedit:lineandproportion.

Rightproportions,

wronglinesSans-seriftypefacesare

generallymechanicalandtendtohaveuniformstrokes,repetitivecurves,straightlines,andsharpcorners.Thelinesandtextureofthesefacesarequite

unlikethenatural,organictree(below).

Rightproportions,betterlinesLikethetree,old-styleRoman

typefacesarefullofdetailandvariety.Theirthick-thinstrokes,serifs,terminals,and

counterscreatealotoftextureandinteractionthatcancomplementtherichest,mostdetailedimage.

4.What’sleft?

After two major edits wehaveamuchshortertypelist.We’re down to standard-proportion, Romantypestyles.Which isbest? Inthiscase,lineandtexturearethekeys—butnowwe’lllook

closer.Standard-proportion, Romantypefaces are the oldest[*] ofall styles and the mostcommon.Theycanbesortedinto a half-dozen majorcategories, each with sub-categories. The basicproportions,serifs,andthick-thin strokes make Romantypestyles easy and pleasantto read; as a result, theycomprisemost of the text in

our books, newspapers, andmagazines.

Romantypestyles

5.Thirdedit

As before,we’re looking forcommonalitiesbutnowinthedetails. Look at all three

viewing “distances,” becausedifferent and usefulcharacteristics are evident ateachone.

MiddleShapeand

pattern

FarTextureand

“color”Times Roman PopularTimes Roman is a sharplydefined typefacewith pointycornersandthick-thinstrokes

of mechanical regularity. Itsserifs have flat ends that aretoo small to blunt the sensethey’re tiny needles thatwould prick your finger ifyou touched them. TimesRoman is too uniform andtoopointytocomplementtherounded,organicformsofthetree.

NearLinesandedgesPay attention to the smalllines, small shapes, andespecially the interactionbetween letters, whichcreatestexture—the tree isfull of texture! Do you seeuniformity or irregularity,

similaritiesordifferences?

BauerBodoniPartoftheModernserif

category,BauerBodoniisanuprightstylecharacterizedbyextremethick-thincontrastsandauniformstrokesorepetitivethatitcreatesapattern

(above).Modernsarebeautifultypefaces

widelyusedinfashionandfinance,buttheirsharpedgesand

geometricprecisionaremachine-madeandrigid,quitedifferent

fromthesoft,touchabletree.

MiddleShapeand

pattern

FarTextureand“color”

NearLinesandedgesRemember the faces in theclouds? It’s a matter oftraining your eye, but once

you can see patterns andcurrents, especially in thewhite spaces,yourworkwilltake a big step forward.Gargoyleisamatch.

GargoyleMediumOldStyleGargoyleisaHumanisttypeface;meaningithasOldStyleproportionsyet

withtheappearanceofhavingbeendrawnby

handinsteadofmechanicaltools.It’sfullofvarietyand

irregularity,withlowcontrastbetweenthicksandthins;funky,rounded

cornersandquirky

serifs,fewofwhicharealike.Its

interactionoflinesandshapesiswarm,

varied,andorganicjustlikethetree.Thisisourtypeface.

6.Putittowork

As with the type, let theimageinfluencethelayout—here it’s upright and statelylike the tree, centered withirregular edges. The deepgreen color is richer andmore organic than theoriginalbrightgreen.

After

Everythingbuildsoffthetree.Turnthecardupright,thenrundownthepagejustlikea

treetrunk—logofirst,aphantomvertical,

thenphonenumbers.Thisisthekey

information;theopenspaceallowstheeyetosettleandtakeitin.Samethingonthebackbutwitha

smallertreeandnoname,soit’snot

confusedforthefront.

Line-bylinepresentationiseasytoreadandsuggestsanappropriatelytree-likeoutercontour.Tree,typeface,layout,andcolorsarenowunified

inasinglelook.

Howcontrastscreatetype style: Usingcontrastproperlycanmake or break yourtypographicdesign.

Creatingcontrast is themostcommonofall typographicaltechniques; it yields thegreatest results in the

shortest time.How? It is thecontrastbetweenobjects thatdraws the eye: big againstsmall, black against white,few against many, and soforth. An insect can hidemotionless on a leaf andremain invisible until itmoves. Then, it is thecontrastofmovementagainsta stable background thatmakesitvisible.In type, contrast takesmany

forms: large/small,upper/lower case,roman/italic, serif/sans serif,heavy/light, black/white,plain/fancy. As theserelationships change, themessage’s tone—andsometimes its substance—changes.Typehasneverbeeneasiertoalter;yourcomputermakesitpossible to explore hundredsof permutations in a click.

Here are some principles towatch for, using gas stationsignageasourexamples.1. What pump areyouon,Sir?

By setting the sign in NeueHelveticaBlack,thedesignerhas chosen a businesslikepresentation. But the settingbegs a question: What’s the

5? Although the English iscorrect, the type gives thethree messages (pumpnumber, brand name, andtype of gasoline) the samevoice; that is, the same toneandemphasis.Sinceallthreeareequallyimportant,what’smissing? Contrasts!Although the messages areequal, theyarenot thesame;differences in weight andcolor will help the motoristbetter understand the

message.

2.A change of colorclarifies

Reversing the 5 from a barerasesthedoubt:Neitherfontnor reading order has

changed, but it’s now clearthere are two kinds ofinformation;ExxaneRegularis the gasoline; the 5 issomethingelse.It’snotclearthat 5 signifies a pumpnumber, yet when asked“What pump are you on?”it’sprobablywhatwillcometo mind. It’s equallyeffectiveinblackandwhite.

3. Weight changeaddsathirdlevel

One advantage of a typefamily with a wide range ofweights is that contrast canbe created without changingthe font. Here, HelveticaNeue Thin makes Exxanerecede—the motoristprobably knowswhat station

he’s at—so the key wordregular stands out. Insetemphasizesbrandname.Thecontrastissogreatthewordsare distinct even with nospacebetweenthem.

4. Color contrastsarestylish

Here, three levels areachieved with color changesonly; the type weights areidentical. Reversed to white,Exxane is light andattractive, yet theinformation of realimportancetothemotoristisleftblackandisdominant.Inblack,white,andgray(50%),the setting is clean, but thetwo white elements leaveroom to confuse number 5

andExxane.

5. Without the bar,spaceisneeded

With Exxane—the leastsignificant information (tothemotorist)—in thinwhite,an illusion of open space

appears; bold, black type iswhat the eye sees first. It’sacceptablebut less effective,as it pulls theeye twoways.On a dark color (right,below),whitetypeisstrongerthan black; reading order isreversed and improved.Why? The eye naturallymoves from left to right andignoresthelargegap.

6. Stacked in twocolumns

Stacked type improves thebar-less setting; it keeps theeye focused in a small area.Against blue, beige Exxanerecedes sufficiently to allowthin, white Regular to beseen. The result? Threedistinct voices. Inset, we

achieve clarity using colorchanges only. Contrast is sogreatbetweenthewhite5andblack background, it standsdistinct from lower-contrastcolorwords.Aquick-to-readsolution.

Typography 101:Type isa tool:Learnhow to use itproperly, and yourworkimproves.

When you italicize a word,should you also italicize thepunctuation that follows it?What’saligature?Docertain

charactersreallyhaveears?Oncesuchquestionswerethesole domain of typesettersand copy editors. Today,they’re your business. Theanswer to the first questioncan be found in theillustration below. For theanswers to the otherquestions,readon.But typographic issues aremyriad. For answers to justaboutanyquestionthatmight

comeup,consultoneofthesethree books, long-time andreliable sources ofinformation for editors:TheChicago Manual of Style;United States GovernmentPrintingOfficeStyleManual;andWordsintoType.1. What should youdo?

There are so many tinytypographic issues thatcomeup in so many jobs. Butthere’s a solution to everyone of them, if you consultthe right sources. Handlingthe situation properlyimprovesyourtypography.Proper style forpunctuation following aword:

Roman,Roman

Italics,italics

Roman,italics,Roman2. Watch yourspacing

Extremely narrow columnsof text are hard to read andharder to set, especially ifthey’re justified. Thisexample, clipped from anewspaper, illustrates the

hazard:

Asitappeared

Tighter

letterspacing

Alignedleft

Widercolumn

(A)Nowthisiswhatwecallariver;itmost

oftenoccurswhenjustifiedtypeispouredintoaverynarrow

column.Onesolution(B)istosetwiderletterspacingand

tighterwordspacingallowances.Betterstill(C)istosetthetypeAlignedleft,which

placesallexcessspaceatline’send.Anevenbettersolution(D)istoalignleftonawider

column.3. Learn to useligatures

Aligatureisatypecharacter

made when two or morecharacters are combined intoone. The most commonligaturesarefiandfl,bothofwhich occur commonly inEnglish andarepart ofmostfonts’ standardcharacter set.Most ligatures involve thelowercase f. A few fontsinclude more exoticcombinations.Ligaturesareconsideredveryfine typography but they’re

notalwaysworththetrouble.Here are the most typicalthreeconditions.

ClassicGaramondshouldalwayshavetheligature;notehow

thefandiactuallycollide.

HandsomeBookmangivesyouachoice;thecharacterslookgood

eitherway.

Withoutaligature,CenturyExpandedappearstohaveadoubledot.Theligatureeliminates

this.4. Use properfractions

Fractions that are part of afont are not simply smallversions of full-sizenumerals. They have beenspecially drawn to be morelike full-size numerals inweightandproportion.Given

a choice, use the truefractional numerals thatcomewithafont.If you don’t have truefractional numerals, you’llhavetomakeyourown.Youdo this by using yourprogram’s superscript andsubscript function for yournumerator and denominator.Set the size to about 70%(thisvariesbytypeface),andseparate numerator from

denominator with a fractionslash, not an ordinarybackslash.Setthesuperscriptposition to about 28% oruntil it aligns with the capheight, and set the subscriptpositionto0(bottom).

Superscriptand

subscriptcharactersareregularnumeralssetsmaller(typically

60%),andasaresult,theyappearlighterthanthefull-size

versions.

Truefractionalnumeralshave

beefed-upstrokesandproportionssotheirweight,or“gray,”matchesthefull-sizenumerals.Squintand

you’llsee.

Forhomemade

fractions,ourpreferenceisthatthesuperscriptnumeratorandcapheightalign.

InUnivers57Condensed,that

means60%sizeand28%position,setinInDesign’sTextPreferencesdialog

(InDesign>Preferences>

AdvancedType).

Forbetter

readabilityatverysmalltextsizes,tryincreasingthe

superscriptsizeto80%andreducingthe

positionto14%.Eightypercentisalmostfullsize.Ifyourreadersarestillsquinting,better

increasethetypesizeoverall.

5. Straighten thatwigglyedge

Haveyou sometimesnoticedthat type aligned vertically(on its right or left edge)doesn’tlookthatway?That’sbecausewhileyourmarginis

straight, the alphabet isn’t,and its curves, crossbars andpunctuationmarkscancreatethe appearance ofmisalignment. InDesign’sOptical Margin Alignmentwillfixthat.

Beforeoptical

alignmentYourcomputersaysthe

margin’saligned,butyoureyestellyousomethingdifferent.

Lettersandpunctuationmarks

havefunnyshapesthatmaketheedgeappear

wiggly.

After optical alignmentWith the text cursor activeanywhere in a story, selectWindow > Type&Tables >Story (above), checkOpticalMargin Alignment, andwatch what happens—allthose idiosyncratic bits gethung over the edge. What’sinterestingis that themarginis now misaligned, yet itlooks straight. The numberyou specify in the dialoggoverns the amount of

adjustment; generally itshouldmatchthepointsize.6. Quotation marks,apostrophes, andprimes: thedifferences

Our modern computerkeyboard evolved directlyfrom the standard typewriterand brought with it some of

its idiosyncracies. Because atypewriter has fewer keysthan English has characters,shortcuts were taken in itsdesign. One of these was tomake double and singleupright marks do multipleduty as opening and closingquotation marks,apostrophes, and primes—analphabetic marks thatareactuallyquitedifferent.Earlycomputers,restrictedto

128 basic characters, carriedon the use of uprightmarks,which,thoughfunctional,aretypographically incorrect.Today, however, truetypographic quotation marksandapostrophesare standardin all fonts—but they’re notalwaysused.Primes are less well known.Primes are used to denotefeet (’) and inches (”),minutes (’) and seconds (”).

Primes are not part of thestandardcharacterset.You’llfind primes mainly in pifonts,includingSymbol.

Onthetypewriter,doubleandsingle

marksareallthesame

Typesetbutwithtypewritermarks;alwaysincorrect

Correctlytypeset

Ifyoucareabout

settingtypecorrectly

andwell,TheCompleteManualofTypographybyJamesFelicishouldbeonyourdesk—open.Encyclopedia,

dictionary,andlecturecourseallinone,Mr.Felici’sbookisclear,

wellillustrated,

authoritative,andthorough(“AligningCurrencySymbolsinTables,”“Usesfor

SmallCaps,”“TextonCurvedBaselines,”

“WidowsandOrphans,”onandon);ifthere’satypesettingissuethat’snotinthis

book,itprobablydoesn’texist.(AdobePress,publishedbyPeachpitPress.)

Characterparts

Typographic characters havemany aspects and attributes.It can be helpful to beacquainted with the manynames.It’sveryhelpfultobeaware that these many traitsandpartsexist in learning tospecify and identifytypefaces.

7. 48-point type inthreesizes

A character’s point size haslittle to do with the size ofthecharacteritself.Pointsizeis instead the height of theinvisible bounding boxcontainingit.A24-pointboxis said to hold a 24-pointcharacter, though thecharactercanbeanysizethatfitsinthebox.This is a holdover from the

days when type was moldedfromhotleadintoaphysicalpiece ofmetal called a slug.Typically, a small spacewasleft on the slug above theascenders and below thedescenders so they couldn’tbe lopped off during setting.Asaresult,thedistancefromascender to descender wassmallerthanthepointsize.Just how much smaller,though, has become an

artistic free-for-all. Atypestyle with shortdescenders will measuremuch smaller, as much asthirty percent. Script styleslikeRegencyoftenhave tinycursive bodies with long,swashytails,sotheymeasurebigbutappearsmall.Astylewith a tallx-height canmeasure small but appearbig,andsoon.

Inthephysicalworldtwoplustwoalwaysequalsfour.Butinthedesignworldsuchbothersomephysicallawsaresuspended—twoplustwocanequal,well,picka

number!Forexample,howbig,wouldyousay,arethethree

typefacesabove?Giveup?Allthreeare

exactlythesame:48points.Orsoyour

computerwilltellyou.Acharacter’spointsizerefersnottothe

sizeofthecharacteritselfbuttotheheight

oftheinvisibleboundingbox

containingit.Theactualcharactercanbeanysizethatfitsinthebox.Becausetypestylesaresodiverse—someare

stubbyandfatwhileothersaretallandthin—fontsizesthataretechnicallythesamecaninrealitybeverydifferent.Andtype

designersoftenignoreeventheseoddrules!Noteabovehowallthreetypefaces

disregardtheirboundaries.Inmoderndigitaltypesettingtheonlyconstantisthebaseline,whichsitsone-thirdthepointsizeupfromthebottom.Maybe.

Ideally, type would bemeasured differently. Herethe same three typefaceshavebeenrescaledaccordingto cap height—and what adifference! They’re muchmore uniform. Ascenders,descenders, and x-heights(theheightsof the lowercase

characters) will always varyaccordingtostyle,butwithaconstant cap height thevariationfromfacetofaceismuch less.Withoutaffectingtypographic artistry at all,this method makescomparison easier and givesusaconstanttomeasure.

Technique

Many from one: Bigphotos have smallphotos inside. Here’show to get severalimages out of oneoriginal.

Did you realize that bigphotos have small photoshidden in the details—a

collar, a button, a necklace?So take advantage—slice animage and use it in pieces!What’scoolisthatthesliceswill have a built-in unity ofcolor and texture, allowingthemtoworkeasilytogether.

Thisonephoto...

...madethisentire

layout.1.Story

Thekeyistopickgoodparts.Thinkstory. What’s fun isthat taking images out ofcontext gives themnewmeaning. Isolate differentsections, visualizing whateachmightnowconvey.Whenwefirstsawthebeachscene,we saw it as awhole,more or less unaware of thedetails. But by isolatingsections,weseethateachcan

tell a story that contributesitsownintrigue.

Prettydreamyscene.Isitclosetohomeorhalfaworldaway?

Outofcontext,wecan’ttell.

Oldthingsseemto

havemorecharacterthannewones.Takethistatteredoldboat.Itmakesyouwonderwhatithasseeninits

lifetime.Outofcontext,it’saloneandlonely.Doessomeoneuseit?Whatisitdoinghere?Those

footprintsinthesand,whosearethey?

Howlongisthe

coastline?Thissmallpiecemightseeminsignificant,but

becauseitshowslandandwater,itunifies

theothertwoimages.Awaveimplies

movement,erosion,thewind.

2.Scale

Viewers generally perceivebig images as important. Bymaking a small image bigand vice-versa, we can

change its emphasis andbring out different parts ofthestory.

Thebowoftheboatoccupiesasmall

percentageoftheoriginalimage—lessthanatenth—butin

ourlayout,it’shalf.Itsnewsizehaschangeditfromaninterestingobjecttothemain

storypoint.

Big,medium,small

Notethegreatdifferencesinsizeamongthethreeimages.These

differencesareusefulforcreatingvisual

hierarchy;thereader’seyemovesthroughthelayoutfrombigto

small.

3. Same technique,differentlook

All the pictures on theWeb

page below are from oneimage. Five slices of thephoto—plus coloredrectangles—have turned asinglechairintoahandsome,multi-imagedisplay!

4.Lookatthedetails

Up close, an ordinary objectis a surprising potpourri of

lines, shapes, colors, curves,corners, and edges. Look forcontrasts (light-dark, square-round)andvariety.

5.Layout

Top and bottom halves ofthis layout draw the eyes indifferent ways. The top halfisempty,airy,andquiet; thebottom half is full and busybutwellorganized.It’s amazing how from oneimagewecangetapagefullof contrast in scale, mass,shape,texture,anddirection.

QuiettophalfThe

empty,whitespaceallowsalleyestosettleonthechair.

BusybottomhalfInterlockingimagessuggestactivityand

abundance.Thereisnofocalpointbecausetheimagesareall

withintheboundaryoftherectangularshape.6. Similar colorsharmonize

Replacing a few sections

with flat color lightens thedesign and creates siteheadings, too. The key to anattractive page is to nowcoordinate the flat colors totheimage.Use the eyedropper tool tosample a range of colors inthechair,thenlocatethemonthecolorwheel. In thiscase,they’re all warm. To retainthe warmth, select a colorjust a spoke or two away as

shown below. Suchneighboring colors areanalogous, meaning theysharecolors—inthiscaseredand yellow—and so alwaysworkwelltogether.

7. Opposite colors

contrast

Here, we’ll cool our chair’swarmpaletteby selectinganopposite color. For contrastand energy, use an oppositecolor, orcomplement.Opposites are usually themostexcitingcombinations.

Becauseoppositesdemandequal

attention(left),theytendtocanceleachother.Solvethisbylighteningoneofthecolors—inthiscase,blue—whichmakesitrecede,allowingthewarmchairtocome

forward.

Morefromless

Here’s another example ofhow to turn one photo intomany. You can tell thearrangement below is onlyone photo, but the threeoverlapping frames add alevel of visual interest thatconveysthesenseofmore.

Oneimage...

...into“many”

(1)InInDesign,makesome“frames”outofoverlaidrectangles.

(2)Positionyour

photoasshown,then

Cut.

(3)Oneatatime,

selecteachframe,andEdit>PasteInto.

Cropping basics:How to crop photosfor function andmeaning.

Cropping isn’t simply atechniqueformakingaphotofitintoaspecificholeonthepage. It’s actually a verycreativetoolthatcanmakeagoodphotobetterandalousy

or uninspirational photomarkedlybetter.Lookat everyphotoyouusewiththesequestionsinmind:“How can I make this shotfunction more effectively?”and “What can I do tomakethis photo moremeaningful?” Then usecropping to discover theanswers.Zoom Crop to tell a

story

Differentdistancestelldifferentstories

Aboveleftisabaseballinthedirt,

completelypedestrian;atarm’slengthyou’dpickitupandthrowit.Butzoomin(right),andthestoryis

different.Thisisan

intimatedistance.Youseetheleather,thedirt,theseam,the

weathering.They“fillthescreen,”activateyoursenses.Youcanfeeltheballinyourhand.Youhearthecrackofthebat,theroarofthecrowd;you

cantouchthehistoryofthegame.

Goodphotosrevealworldswithinworlds.Zoominandseewhatyoufind.You’llbe

surprised.

UnifyCropmugs thesamesize

BeforeStraightfrom

thecameraarefourwell-posedshotswithsmoothbackgrounds

andconsistentlighting,butthe

viewingdistancesareunequal.Notehowthecloseup(bottomright)seemsmostimportant.

AfterMugshotsinaroworgroupshould

bepresenteduniformly.Startwiththemostcloselycroppedoriginal(above,left),then

scaleandcroptheotherstomatch.Positiontheresultsalongtheeye-level

line.You’llneedyoureyeforthis,becauseheadsarefunny.Male

andfemaleadultheadsaresurprisinglysimilarinsize,but

headshape,hairstyle,angle,andtiltallhave

abigeffectonperceivedsize,whichcanmeanmakingsmallscalingand

croppingadjustmentssotheyalllookalike.Position Crop

closeupsateyelevel

EyetoeyeAportrait

closeenoughtoconveyeye-to-eyecontactshouldbe

croppedateyelevel,

whichisabouttwo-fifthsofthewaydownthepage.Notethatthecloseryouzoom,themoreintensethe

connectionbecomes.

UpandawayBecausedistantobjectsappearhigherinavisual

field,asyouzoomout,movehereyeleveltowardthetop.

Simplify Crop outthedeadstuff

Whoarethose

strangers?Photostakeninreallife

almostalwayscontain

stuffyoudon’twant,likethebacksof

distantstrangersinavacantairterminal.Thefirstruleofphotocroppingistogetridofeverythingthat

doesn’tcontributetothecomposition.

Tight,focused,

compellingWellandsimplycropped,everysquareinchtellsa

storyoffriendshipandintensity.

Angle Level thosehorizons

Don’temptythebay!(Above)It’seasytooverlookaslightlytiltedhorizon,especiallywhenanotherangle(thebridge)isthrownin.Buthorizonsshouldbelevel,andwatermustbelevel.Whena

photohaswater,thinkofasoupbowl,anddon’tspillit.Levelinganimagewillrequirecroppingallfour

sides.

Bebold!Whileacameratilt(above) is weak, ambiguous,

and undesirable, a bold,artistic tilt can energize acomposition! It’s especiallyeffectiveonimagesthathavestrong, straight lines likethoseatright,above.Extreme Crop to fitaspace

Aphotographicbannerisasimple

waytobeautifyaWebsiteorblog.Buthowdoyoufitsuchanextremelyshallowspace?Bycuttingan

extremeslice!You’llbesurprisedbyhowmuchaslicecan

show.Lookforonethathassomeof

everything—inthiscase,needleand

thread,buttons,tapemeasure.Here,highcolorcontrasts(red,

yellow,white,black)areabonus;they

boldlydistinguisheachelement.

Position Crop tochangeameaning

Theoriginalphoto

haslotsofroomonthesides,soit’sgoodforcropping.Theproblem

isthathergazeisuninvolvedwithourmessage,likemaybesheseesabirdontheroof.Butdon’tthrowthisimageaway.Thereisawaytomakeitwork.

Cropboldly!Zoominandpushherradicallytotheright,offthepage,whichadds

mystery.Justlikethat,oursenseisnolongerthatshe’slookingatabirdbutthinkingabouttheschool.You’llfindsimilarlyalterable

meaningsinmanyimages.

Backgroundselection

You’re making a photogallery and need a suitablebackground. What color touse?Neutralsarebest.Whiteis clean, black is dramatic,andgrayhas themostdepth.Likethis:

Whiteisclean,fresh,inexpensive,andalwayseasy.Makesureit’spurewhite,notsomethingoff,whichmerelylooks

ordinaryandnotdesigned.Whitephotoedges(A)blendin.Blackisboldandsophisticatedand

onscreenwillbrightenyourphotos!Blackedges(B)blendin.

Grayismostversatile,accommodatinglight

anddarkedges.Againstgray(right)

youcanaddashadow,border,orboth.

Focal points:Complex orambiguous photo?Eight simple ways toput the reader’s eyewhereyouwantit.

Lookhere!Shortofusingredarrowsorcircles,howdoyouguarantee that readers will

look where you want themto?Photosarealmostnevershotinsuchawaythatcompletelyfocusesall attentiononwhatyouwant to point out.Whatfollows are eight elegantlysubtle solutions forwhispering—not shouting—lookhere.1.Drawanoutline

Before

OurrooftopcarrierisdwarfedbythebigJeep.Thisishowitlooksinreallife,but

it’snotidealforanad.

AfterCarefullytracedoutlinessolvetheproblembeautifully(above,right).TheJeep’sstillthereforscaleandfit,butourcarrieristhecenterofattention.Atrightare

twosimple

alternatives.2. Blur thebackground

Before

She’sclearlyinfront,buthercolleaguesinthefluorescentsafetyjacketsaredistracting.

After

Blur,andtheyfadeaway,leavinghercenterstage.Bonus:

Theshortdepthoffieldmimicshowwe

actuallysee.Photoshop

(1)Selectyourobject.

(2)Featherslightly.

Inverse.

(3)Blurtheselection.3.Addaspotlight

Before

Threeattractivemodelscompetefor

ourattention.

After

Gradientspotlight

focusesonher,addingdrama,intensity,

interest.Photoshop

(1)Onanewlayer,makeacircular

selectionoveryourobject,thenFeather(Select>Modify>

Feather).

(2)Inversethe

selection(Select>Inverse).

(3)SettheForegroundcolortoblack,thenfill(Edit>Fill).Deselect.

(4)SetthefilllayertoMultiplymode,thenreduceitsopacitytoabout75%(right).

4.Bringherforward

Before

Sixsame-sizestudentsareseenasa

group.

After

Oneisnowthefocalpoint.Asyoubring

herforward,keepinmindthatforegroundobjectsappearlowerinyourvisualfield;moveherfeetdownalotandherheadupa

little.Photoshop

(1)Extendthecanvas

size.

(2)Selectyourobject.

(3)Scaleitup.

5.Matchacolor

Before

Fivechildren,eachwearingadifferentshirtcolor,areinthisphoto.Howcanwe

identifyeachwithoutresortingto“atright,”“secondfromright,”

andsoon?

After

Shirt-colorfieldintuitivelydrawsattentiontoMissChan.Formorecontrast,maketheothersblack&white

(left).

Five-colorseries

highlightseachchildinturn.

6.Fadeasection

Before

Coolcar,butwhatifwe’reinterestedonly

inthefront?

After

Fadetherearintooutlines,thenaddcaptions.It’s

intriguing,andthe

reader’sattentionisnowwherewewantit.

(1)InIllustrator,tracetheobject.GiveitawhitebackgroundandimportintoPhotoshop.

(2) In Photoshop, place thetracing on top of the photolayer. Make sure they bothlineup.

(3)Withthetracinglayerselected,clicktheAddlayermask

icon(farleft).SettheForegroundcolortoblack.Selectasoftbrush,andstartmaskingawaytorevealthephoto.

7.Cropandcolor

Before

Left,thoseeyesareintense,butsoarethegreenbackground,glossylips,anddark

hair.Let’stightenthefocus.

After

Photoshop

(1)OpentheimageinRGBmode.Crop.

(2)Eyedropperherhaircolortofillthebackground.Onthelayerspalette,clickon

theAdjustmentLayericonandselectBlack&White.ClickOK.SettheForeground

colortoblack.Usingasoftbrush,paintoverhereyestorestorethe

color.

(3)Finishbycoloringthetypetomatchher

eyes.8.Guidewithlines

Before

Beautifulface.Wheredowelook?

After

Curvinglinessayhere.Notethat

VibrantPinkwordsare

differentiatedbytypeweightonly.

Twopointsmakeaperfectcurve.WiththePentool,click(1)anddrag(2).Release.Clickasecondpoint(3)anddrag(4).

Adjusttosuit.Aperfectlysmooth

curvewithnobumps!

Cool covers: Tensimple ideas forgreat-lookingcovers

Designing a captivatingcover that encourages thereadertolookinsideisnotasscary or difficult as youmightthink.Thekeyistousewhatyoualreadyhaveinnewways.

1. Build a cover ofsquares

This cover uses its own gridasavisualelement.Divideasquare page into foursquares, put a point ofinterest in one corner, thetitle in the opposite corner,then make the two squaresvisible.

DrawagridDivideasquarepageintofoursquares.Positionthephoto—onewithplentyofcropping

room—sothatapointofinterestisinoneofthesquares.Framethatsquareinwhite

(here,allarewhiteforclarity).Whatever’sintheframewillgetthereader’sattention,

quietly.

Filltheoppositesquarewithcolorsampledfromthe

photo,andreduceitsopacitytoallowsome

see-through.Below,Putasquarish

typefaceinthecornertosustainthesquare

motif.2. Many photos?Display them in agrid!

Neaterthanascrapbook-stylecollageyetjustasversatile,agrid is a beautifully simpleway to display a group ofphotos.Agridaccommodateslargeandsmallphotos,side-by-side and overlapped, yetfunctionsasasingle,easy-to-designunit.

Griddividesthepageneatlyintothree

sections;typealignsto

agridline.

Gridofsquares

Sometimesyoucan’tfindthatoneperfectphoto.Usemany!Setupauniformgrid,

thencropyourphotostofitasquareorsomemultipleofsquares.A16-unitgrid(farright)cancontainbetweenoneand16images.

3. Narrow page

makes a “revealing”cover

Giveyournextreportcoverabitofintrigue.Anarrowpagegreets the reader with acolorful photo (the“establishing shot”) and apeek at the page beneath.Behind the cover is theintroductorytext.It’saseguethat’s easy to make and

alwaysengaging.

Thisisbasicallyatwo-pagecover,sobothpagesshouldbeonheavy,coverweightstock.Noteinthe

layoutabovethatthetextalignswiththe

horizon.

ReversethesequenceHeadlineonthecover

withphotoinsideshiftstheemphasis.

Colored,textured

stockisaninexpensive

alternativeexcellentforaseries.

4. Condense yourdesign

Designing a whole page canseem daunting—there’s somuch space to fill! It’stempting to scale everythingup, up, up and fill it all in.

But that’snotdesign.Here’sa better way to get goodresults easily. Thinksmalla n dfocused. Reduce yourwork area to the middle ofthe page and design that (atright). It’s much easier, andyou’ll get a built-in focalpoint,too.

Beforefillingspace

(Atleft)It’sbigandbrightbutnotpresented—the

designerjustscaledeverythingupuntilthespacewasfull.It’sorderly—centered

layoutmakesiteasytoread—butithasno

visualvoice.

Afterdesigned

(1)Shrinkthework

area,andthesurroundingwhite

spacebringsallattentiontothecenter.Nowthejobwillbeeasier.(2)AddthecopyAfatlizardsuggestsusingafattypeface(BlockHeavy),whose

irregularedgesmimichisscalyhideand

addsdensitytothepage.(3)Placethe

imageThisiswhereitgetsfun.Pullthelizardoutofthe

originalphoto,andsetitonthepageoverlappingthe

rectangle.Itsorganiccurvesand

photographicdimensioncontrastsharplywiththeflat,straight-edgedfield.

5. Less makes formoreimpact

Negative space gets norespect, but without it,positive images have little

impact. This spiral-boundcoverillustrateshow.

Lotsofmoney,noimpactWall-to-wallpileofcoinshasno

negativespaceandleavestheeyenowheretolook.

Lessmoney,moreimpactEditingthecoinscreatesshape

anddifference,makes

breathingroom,andleadstheeyetothe

headline.

6. Create a naturalbackdrop fromrecycledparts

Do you sometimes get aphoto that doesn’t have anaturalplacefortext?Orit’sflat and needs some depth?Or it doesn’t fill the space?Trythis.Copyapart,scaleitup, andcarefullyblend it in,creatinganaturalstage.

Lengthenapage

(Above)InPhotoshop,

copyandpastethewingtip,scaleitup,andmoveittothe

bottom.(1)Useasoftbrushtoblenditin.(2)Sampleitscolor,thenwithasoftbrushextendthecolor

further.

Makeaplacefortext(Left)Coveringgreenleaveswithapink

petalcreatesausefulforeground.Simpleedgesandsimilarbackgroundsare

easiesttoworkwith.

7. Design a bold,sleeve-stylecover

Need a bold, easy-to-makecoverforasimpledocument?This technique simulates awraparound sleeve. Draw asolid, horizontal band, thenplaceyourwordsatopit,likethis:

AligntheelementsDividethepageintocolumns,alignyourtype,andaddthe

horizontalband.Color

tosuitthetopic—notetheheadlinehasthemostcontrast—and

addashadowifyou’dlike.

Asymmetrical

Centered

An asymmetrical layout isactive; a centered layout ismoreplacid.Can’tprinttotheedge?Dothis:

Setamarginandtrim

thebandevenlytofitit.

Addalightfieldinthebackground,therebyredefiningthespace.8.Setabeautifultitleinoneline

Yourtitleisimportant,butsois your photo—so how doyou put them together? Try

this.Set thetitle inone, thinline. Widely spaced,uppercase type conveysstateliness and power; smallsize has quiet authority.Keyis the translucent stripe,which brings photo andwordstogether.

One-linetitle

interruptsthephotowithoutdisturbingit

andtakesadvantageofthenaturalpowerofthecenter.Drawathin,whiterectangle(1),loweritsopacity(here,to70%),addafaintshadow(2),and

setthetitleinuppercase(3)withverywidetracking

(200%).

9. Make a picture-framecover

Been to the art store lately?

Pictureframeswithmultiple-image mats are hot! Theclean, gridlike presentationlooksasgoodonyourwallasit does on your page.Designers have been usinggridsforever,solet’sborrowback the idea for our nextcover.

Multiple-imagematshaveneatlyreplacedthosecockeyed

arrangementshanging

onourwalls,andtheyworkequallywellonourpages.Note,at

left,thedepthcreatedbydarkandlight

accentsontheneutral-valuefield.

(1)Makeyourphotosthesamesize,thenarrangeinrows,

columns,orgroupssymmetricallytowardthecenter(stable,

placid)orasymmetricallytooneside(tense,exciting).(2)Keepthetype

small,alignedwithanedge,orcentered.

10.Domorewithless

What do you do when you

have three photos available?Youuse themall, right?Notnecessarily.Onecanbemoreeffective. Here, the campustower alone conveys theessence of the school betterthan three photos could; theheadline in a single, school-colored bar quietly providesthedata.

Before

Hehadthreegoodphotos,buttofitallthreeintohislayout,thedesignerhadto

shrink,crop,andpusheachtotheperimeter,

wheretheynowlookalike(similarmassesandtextures)andaredifficultto“read.”Hethenaddedaflat(andmeaningless)bluefield,blocktypeinthreesizes,andamotifofhorizontalstripes.Themorehe

“designed,”theweakerthecovergot;theschoolandits

socialscienceprogramwerelostinthe

artificialstuff.Toaddinsulttoinjury,itwas

toomuchwork!Solution:Letone

imagedothetalking.

After

LessismoreCampustoweranchorsthemakeover.Simplycenteritandletitdothe“talking,”thenaddyourwords.Note,above,thatthebarisshortenoughtoletthe

pictureflowby.Below,colorsviolet

andtanplusthegreenofthetreesmakeanappealing,splitcomplementary

palette.

How to design asecond page: You’vedesigned a beautifuloutside. How do youfollow it up inside?Simply.

Outsides have insides. Onceyou’ve designed a beautifulcover, you want the

following pages to bebeautifully similar. Butinside is a different spacewith different words and adifferent purpose, sohowdoyouretain the look?Thekeyissimplicity;thesecondpageshould be alesser andsimpler version of the first.Herearefourtechniques.Outside

Abeautiful,jewel-box

coverhasbeencarefullycropped

fromalargerimage.Keytothisdesignisplacement;note

(aboveright)thattheseashell’spositiondefinesthemarginscontainingthetype.

1. Repeat the centerofinterest

Whenyourcoverhasastrongfocal point like this one,mask its background andbring it inside. Alone on awhite canvas, it will standoutinstrikingrelief.By repeating the outsideimageinside,yougetbuilt-incontinuity of shape, color,and texture while making afresh, bold statement. It hasitsowndistinctivepresence.

Inside

HierarchyMaketypeandothergraphics

secondarytothefocalpoint.Todothis,

centerthelayout—whichmovestheeyedownthepageinastraightline(farleft)—andmakethetyperecede:Setitsmall(smallerthanyou’dthink),andcoloritgray(left)oralight

tintoftheimageitself.

Theresultisahandsome,minimalist

look.2.Liftoutonepiece

Tellastory.Here,abuild-it-yourself cover of doorsprepares the viewer for the“key”inside—asinglesquareliftedoutandenlarged.

Atfirstglance,what

youseeisacollageofdoors.Thefunisthatyoucanhideyour

messageonthecoverandthenrevealit

inside.It’s the only image with akey, appropriately tying it tothe message, “Unlock yourimagination.”

A grid of dissimilar imagesis naturally complex andshouldbesimplified.Aneasyorganizationaltechniqueistocreate one row of similarcolors.

(A)Thetitlerowis

madeofimageswithsimilarcolorswithafewsquaresleftemptyforthewords;ona

busyfield,suchemptyspacereallystandsout.(B)Thetype

colormustbesimilar,too;wordsincoolblue

woulddisruptthe

continuity.(C)Togetthis,justsamplethewarmneighboring

colors.

3. Make your ownobject

Draw an object—simpler isbetter—atop your image,then repeat it inside. Thistechniqueisespeciallyhandyif your cover image has noavailablefollow-up.

Sameshapes,fonts,sizes,andcolorsbutoppositebackgrounds

Front

Back

This look is cool and low-key.Note thatsimilaritiesofshape, size, and color worktogether easily besideopposites of light and dark.

Note especially the verysmall type; it takes realrestraint to set your ownname in 14-pt type, but theresultscouldn’tbeclassier.Position the shape in thesame place on both sides,then align the type blocksneatlytoit.Beconsistentandsimple;notebelowtheclean,straightlinesofsight.

Notethepositive-

negativeuseofcolor.4. Find something inthescene

Iftheoutsideisbig,maketheinside small. Bringsomething from the forest tothe inside—a pine cone, aneagle, a rock—and you’llcreateabeautiful contrastoffarandnear.

Forcontinuity,repeatthecovertypefacesinside.Notethatthegreenbackgroundisa

neutralvalueagainstwhichdarkandlighttypearedistinctively

separate.

Aforestisvast,panoramic,and

distant.Asmallobjectbringsitclose,putsitathumanscale,makesittouchable.Below,

simplealignmenthelpsbringtheoutsidein.

Bringtheoutsidein

These same techniquesworkon more complex projects,too. As in the previousexamples, carry over thetypestyles, colors, imagestyle, and general layout.Proportion counts. A lot ofgreen looks different from alittle. Pictures look differentbigthansmall.

Whitedominatesthelayout.Imagesarethesamestyleandsize.Typestyleisconstant.Colorsrepeat.Green

andgraysampledfromthecoverimage,

pluswhite(thebackground),yieldalight,healthypalette.

OrganicshapesKeytothisdesignaretheorganicoutlinesoftheextra-largeimages;theyyieldafluid,

indistinctedgethatconveysasenseofairinessandhealth.Notethateachimagealsohasastraightedgewhereitbleedsoffthepage.Textsetalignedleftorrightwillmimicthis

exactly.Below,super-

lighttypeismostlyairandfreshasabreeze,justlikethelayout.

Simply borderless:How to design pagesfor desktop printersthat can’t print totheedge.

Modern desktop printers aresmall technicalwonders thatcan put brilliant, high-resolution images on fine

paper for pennies. But for$99theycan’tdoeverything,including print to the edgesof the sheet (a full bleed).Most leave a white border,which is often irregular anddiffers from printer toprinter.This border can be a bigdistraction. Its real problem,however,isthattheborderisundesigned andundesignable.

So what to do? Instead offighting it, join it. Amplifythewhite space, andmake itpartofyourdesigns.

(Left)Howmany

timeshaveyoubeenstuckwithapagelike

this?Youdesignanicepagethat’s

perfectasafullbleed(above),onlytohaveitscaletofitthe

printermargins,whicharerarelyuniformononeprinter,letalonefromprintertoprinter.

Theresultisan

undesignedwhiteborderthatdistractsfromyourgoodwork.1.Makemorewhite

The surest way to eliminatethe white border is tomakemore white. Reducing yourlive matter visuallydisconnects it from the edge

ofthepage.

Thecloseproximityofimagetoedgecreatesavisualconnection,so

theeyeperceivesaborder.

Reducetheimagefar

enoughtodisconnectitfromtheedge,andthebordereffectdisappears.

Note that to maintain equalmargins on all sides, theimagehasbeencropped(it’sskinnier). The result ismoredramatic and more focusedonthedescriptivecoastline.

Theimageisnowlike

agallerypiecehangingaloneonawhitewall.This

smallersizehasabigbenefit:Youcancropandmovetheimagearoundandactuallydesignthepage.

2.Getmoving

Moving the image to eyelevel creates three differentmargin widths, so a framenever forms.Segmenting theimage in columns createsactivity within it and movestheeyedownthepage.

Bordersarestatic,sowhatyouneedis

movement.Theimageateyelevelyields

morenaturalviewingplusthreedifferentmarginwidths—

narrow(top),medium(sides),andwide(bottom)—which

eliminatesthebordereffect.

Shownhereisoneimagedivided

vertically.Youcanalsocreateacollageoftwoorthreeimages(below).Mixand

matchcolors,shapes,andtexturesuntilyou

haveastrongcomposition.

Fromoneimageyoucanpulloutthreeormorecolumn-orrow-shapedareas.Thisisanexcellenttechniqueforusingimagesthat

havemorethanoneareaofinterest,

becauseyoucanpickthemostdescriptivepartsandeliminatethe

rest.3. Coordinate thetype

Typestyles and sizes thatcorrespond to elements onthe page will unify thedesign. Similarities conveyharmony; contrasts conveyenergy.

Alignmentsustainstheverticalmovement.

Straight-roundAstraight,uppercase

typefacecontrastsbeautifullywiththeroundlogo.Butsincethepageandimagearealsorectangular,addingthisheavyblockwould

overwhelmthelightlogo.

AllroundAround,lowercasetypeface(sameheight,similarweight)mirrorsthe

roundlogo.Nowseenasagroupoffourcircles,theline

contrastsbeautifullywiththerectangularimageandgivesthepagetwostrong

shapes.4.Makealandscape

A horizontal image can bequite large. Ithas theenergyo fcontrasting direction and

still appears borderlessbecause of its varyingmargins and side-to-sidemovement.

Sameproportions

Unifyimageandpageeasilybyusingthesameproportionsforboth;justrotate90°andreducetoabout

60%.

VaryingmarginsEye-levelplacement

resultsinthreedifferentmargin

widths,whichaddsvisualactivityandkeepsmarginsfrom“connecting”andformingaframe.

EyelevelAletter-sizepageisaboutthesame

sizeasthehumanhead.Result:Eye

levelisthestrongestandmostcomfortableplaceforafocalpoint.

5. Create a focalcenter

Asinglelineoftypesustainsthehorizontalmovementandis a powerful andsophisticatedfocalpoint.Thesmall logo completelycontrols the open spacearoundit.

Smallisdefinitely

powerful.Here,thegalleryeffect—oneimagealoneonawall—isworkingtothemax.Thepagehastwozones,darkandlight.Centeredineachzoneisafocalpoint—theheadlineinoneateyelevel,thelogoin

theother.Eachcontrolsitsspace.ThissubtletreatmentisclassierandmoreeffectivethanSHOUTINGfor

attention.

Keytotheheadlineis

quietness.Onetypefaceinonelineatonesizebutdifferentweightsyieldsa

beautifullylow-keysetting.

6.Energizethepage

Cousin to the landscape

format is the banner, anextremely panoramic shapewhose total contrast to thevertical page creates realenergy.You’ll almost always besurprised by how little ittakes to convey the heart ofanimage.Here,onethinsliceshows coastline, inlet,estuaries, and wet and dryland masses. That’s thewholestory!

DullspaceThebeauty

ofthepanoramicshapeisthatit’ssodifferentfromthepage.Itworksfor

manyimages,butinthiscasewe’reseeing

alittlemoreuninterestingspacethanwe’dlike(top),sowe’llcropittohalf

apage(bottom).

Extremecontrasts

Tall-wide,fat-thin,up-down,andside-to-sidecontrastsallcreate

energy.7.Alignright

With image and text alignedto the right and at eye level,the white space—normallythought of as empty—iscontrollingthepage.Thisisaveryactivedesign.

Border?What

border?Thereisverylittleonthepagebut

it’sreallydesigned;ithasastrongfocalpointandalotof

movement.Bothtextandlogoarecoloredgraytorecede,leaving

theimagecenterstage.Theirregularleftedge(above)

keepsunwantedlines

fromforming.

Whatsizeshouldthetypebe,andwheredoesitgo?Workwithwhat’sinfrontofyouandnearby.Inthiscase,thepeninsulasandinletsbecomeour

rulersandgoverntypesize,linespacing,andlogosize.Thiscreatesvisiblerelationshipsthatunifythedesign.

Similarly,theextendedtypeface

echoesthehorizontalshapeoftheimage.

Voice-over captions:A caption can bemuch more than alabel. Here’s how toget it onto yourpictureandintoyourstory.

As long as there have beenmotionpictures,we’veheard

an unseen narrator whose“voice-over” accompaniesthe action. The voiceexplainswhatwe’reseeingortellsuswhatwecan’tsee.The voicecompletes thepicture—turn off the sound,and the meaning oftenvanishes. Voice-overnarration is a key part offilmmaking.Voice-over’s printcounterpart is the text-over,

but unlike film’s invisiblenarration,the“voice”inprintcanbeseenandsophysicallyalters the image—and that’swhat interests us here.Whatthe voice says is up to thewriter, buthow it says it—volume and intonation andpresence—is the designer’sjob.1. Detached yetvisuallyrelated

One way to tie caption toimage is to borrow fromnearbyshapes.

Heretheleftcaptionedgeisconvextofitthesailor’sconcave

silhouette,andtherightisflatliketheadjacentframeedge.Itsplacementavoidsinterruptinghis

farawaygaze,whichisthisphoto’skey

storyteller.2.Justwhisper

Mirrorthenaturalflowoftheimage,andyour“voice”willbe soft. The photo speaksfully, and the captionwhispers gently along. Typeshould be light, airy, andnon-intrusive.

Gowiththeflow

Sustainthefeelingofalight,expansiveimagebysettinga

light,airycaption.Letthephotoguideyou.Thecaptionontheprairiesceneabove

conformstothelineofthecloudsandsweeps

alongonthebreeze.Theinsetseaside

imageisdifferent;itsexpansivenesscomesnotfromashapebutthefeelofanendlessoceanjustoff-camera.Tomaintainthis,thecaptionissetonextremelywide

leading,whichallowstheeyetosimplypassthroughlikethewater

itself(left).

Farleft,thesweepingshapeofthecaption“speaks”inthesamevoiceastheimage.Arectangularcaption

(left)wouldbeforeigntotheimage.

3.Punctuate

Our eyes follow lines.Whereveralinegoes,wego.Ashortcaptionthatinteractswith a line is colored by thecharacter of that line.Alongthe line is motion andvitality, across the line ischallenge and tension, andthe end of the line is itsnaturalfocalpoint,thepowerposition.Alongaline

GOWhereverthere’saline,there’s

movement,andinthispictureit’sfast.

Groundlineandsnowbermsarephysicallinesthatrunedgetoedge;red/bluelineofthesnowmobileandblurredtreesaddto

thespeed.Asingle,horizontallineoftype(initalics)reinforcesthemotionandevencreatesphantomlinesthatacceleratethe

action.Acrossaline

PAUSEWhatyouseeisaleaf,butitsedgeisaspace-splittingline

thattheeyesubconciouslytraces;crossingthelineinterruptsitand

createsastrongfocalpoint.Here,thethin,one-linetitleislikethe

thinedge,complementingithandsomely.

Theendofaline

STOPTheendofalineisafullstop,thenaturalfocalpoint.Acaptionherehasgreat

power,andunderstated(small)typewillmakeit

greater.Inthiscaseyoufirstseethe

yellowline,thenthe

mistyscene,thenyoureadthecaption,thenyouseethepictureagain,differently.

4.Immerse

A dramatic curtain of typeoverlays the image andconfronts the audience withthestory.Wordsandportrait

are seen and literally “read”together, adding tremendousforce to an otherwisecommonphoto.

SimpleisbestAbove,boldtonalareas,lowcontrasts,andaneasy-

to-recognizeimageyieldexcellentresults.Atright,however,iswhattoavoid.Smallphotographicdetaillikethejockey’shelmetisaboutthesamesizeasthetype(inset),whichmakestheimagedifficultto

seeandthecaptionhardtoread.

5. Balance creates aserenestatement

The idea here is not to fillspacebut tocomplement theshapes. In fact, the effectwouldbelesssuccessfulwithbiggertypeormoreofit.

ShapeaslineThemodel’sslimtorso

createsaclearverticallineandhersimpledressablankcanvas.

Thebluecaptiontitlecapturestheline;

whitetextcounterbalancesherheadandneck.Theeffectissimple,serene,andappropriatelysophisticated.

6. Step in: Thecaption takes centerstage.

A caption can also play thestarring role. There’s simplynoway for the reader not tobecome immediatelyimmersed in the photo’sstory.

LineofsightThereareamillionphysicallinesinthisphoto

includingawholepailfull,butthemostimportantlineis

invisible:It’sthelineofsightbetweenthefishermanandhiswork.Interruptthislineandyou’llsteprightintothestory.

Helpinginthiscaseis

thatthecaptionisalsocenterpage;it’sbeentransformedfromanordinarysidenoteinto

akeypartoftheaction.

7.Takeover

All you can say about some

images isblah—no focalpoint, bad composition, toobusy. Turn your lemons intolemonade—use your captionexpertly to make somethinghappen.

Bysuperimposingthecaptioninragged,

typewriter-styleTrixie(above),weconvey

someofthehauntinggrittinessofthecabbie’slifein

nighttimeNewYorkCity.Thetypeisbadlysetonpurpose,poorlyspaced,andcrooked,whichconveysasenseofdarkness,rawness,andimmediacy.Now

thereaderissetupforastory,andourboringcabhasbecomeavaluableprop.

Above,typeface

Trixiemimicsaworn-

outoldtypewriterwithsmudgyribbon,soitneedsacomparablysmudgysetting.Thelineleading(spacing)

remainsfairlyconstant;enlarging

somewordsforcesthecollisions.Halfwaydownisasecondtext

blockrotatedslightly.Settingtypelikethiscreatesrealtension;ifyouhaven’tdoneitbefore,you’llnoticeyourtendencytokeepsmoothingthingsout.

Resist.

Multi-caption phototellsmanystories

Nomatterwhatyourpicture,every person, object, andelement in it has a story.Instead of one caption togeneralize everything, writefive, seven, ten, that unpackthe detail. It’s fun to do,quick to readandperfect for

our modern, big-screen,sound-bite world. Thecaptions can be atop thephoto,offtotheside,orboth,asweshowhere.

Anddidyouknow...

1. Activities CenterCuriously populardespitehavingnoWi-FiorevenadecentTV

screen. 2.MissJavaThat’sher

third coffee, and it’sonly eight in themorning. She’ll haveher fourth cup beforehersecondclass.

3.TextbookStrictly forshow. Hasn’t read awordinweeks.

4. Shoes Wearing hisfriend Brad’s shoes,

whichhepickedup atlast night’s kegger bymistake.

8. Focus: Connectthephototothestory

The snapshot of the littlepitcher wasmeant to begood; it just didn’t turn outthat way. Unlike the taxiimage, there’sstuffgoingon

here,butwhat?Theactionisdisconnected;themanypartsare not working in harmonytomakeagoodcomposition.In such a case, you can useyourcaptiontotiethepiecestogether. A big caption willby itself create a point ofinterest; overlapping thefocal point will pull thepitcherintothestory.

It’samess,visuallyspeaking!Strong

fenceandpolelinespullyoureye

everywhereexcepttowardthecenterof

interest.

Thelargemassofpeopleinthe

backgroundstaringofftonowhere

overwhelmanddetractfromthepitcher.Thewomaninthecenternaturallydrawsyoureye(becauseshe’sinthecenter),butshe’slookingelsewhere.

Theoversizedcaptionbecomesapointofinterest.Thisisanimprovement,butitsplacementcreatesahardedgethatboxesthepitcher;she’snowthrowingtowardaphantombarrier.

Extendingtheleadfarleftropesherlikealasso,breaksthebox,

andcreatesaconnectionbetween

pitcherandstory.Thecaptionisdoingwhatthephotodidn’t;it’sputtingthereader’seyeonthecenterof

interest.

Multiple captions inhighstyle

Here’s the perfect treatmentfor a photo that has a lot tosay. Instead of shrinking thephototomakeroomfortype,blocks of type are placedrightontop.Welikeitforitsbig-picture, soundbite value,andespeciallybecauseevery

image hassomanystories totell.Here’s a high-style takeonit.

Lessons from abeautiful site: TheUniversity of MiamiCollege of Arts &Sciences shows thatbeautyreallyisinthedetails.

The best design is simpledesign: an idea, an image, a

few words, open space. It’sclear,attractive,memorable.But real life is not oftensimple; it’s full ofstuff.People, programs, andcommerce all need attentionand screen space, and thiscan make for a busy,complexsite.What we like about theUniversityofMiamiCollegeof Arts & Sciences site isthat it handles complexity

beautifully. It does this intwo ways: It reduces eachelement to its essence (thesimple thing), then itbeautifully crafts the details.A dozen visual techniquesallow its many parts tocoexist effortlessly. Let’slookatafew.

HomepageTwodozenelementsand

linkseasilycoexistonthisinviting,visually

coherentpage.1.Structure

The site is convenientlyscreen size, not too long, somostofitisalwaysvisible.Itis organized in threehorizontal sections; each

holds a different kind ofinformation—permanentstuff at top and bottom,activestuffinthemiddle.

ColordifferentiatesthesectionsAwhite“centerstage”isflankedbyadark

headerandlightfooter.Thesecontainthefoundational

elements—logo,links,search,andsoon.Thewhitecenterisactive,withtransitorystories,newsbriefs,stufflikethat.Ascreen-size

spacelikethisconveys

atight,organizedimpressionandis

easiertoreadthanascrollingpage.Tight

editingiskey.

Homepage

Interiorpage

2.Header

Two dark bands—one green,one tan—form a simple,substantial header that leadsthe site; logo and links arereversed in white. To softenthe look, a faint gradientyieldsanunderstatedillusionofradiantlight.

Beautifultypography

isthesignatureelementofthesite.

ScholarlyCaslontypeinclassic,old-style

capsandsmallcaps(bigcircle,below)conveysliteracyandtradition;compactlinespacing(smallcircle)

keepsminorinformationfromfloatingaway.The

twolinesofsmalltypearethesamesizebut

spaceddifferently;themore-importantwordsareinpanorama.

Fourpermanentlinksonthefarrightare

tintedtoappearbarelythere,yetremaineasilyaccessible.

3.Mainlinks

Thehighest-levellinksareinthe tan header band.Typography, color, andshadow are identical to thelogo, which reinforces theirconnectionandpermanence.

Tanbandandgreenfieldaredifferentcolorsbuthavevirtuallythesamegrayvalue(dark-

light),whichkeepsthetwoconnectedwhilebeingdifferent.

Wideletterspacingis

relaxedandlessdemandingthan

normalspacingandsoconveysasenseofdeliberationand

stateliness.Onscreen,it’seasiertoread,too.

Threeshadesoftandefinethelinkstatesnormal,active,andhover;thisquietlybutveryclearlytellsthe

readerwhereheis.Shadesare

progressivelydarkerversionsofonecolor—amonochromaticpalette,right—thatchangethemessagewithoutchangingthe

subject.

4.Sublinks

As the reader moves deeperinto the site, subtle changesof typecaseandcolorareallittakestosignalthedifferentlevels.Styleand size remainconstant.

ReversethecolorsThebeautifully

uniformlookofthesiteresultsfromas

fewtypographicdifferencesas

possible.Left,thesublinksretainthetypesizeandstyleofthemainlinksbutjustchangecaseandreversecolor.

5.Mainstage

Betweenheaderandfooter,awhite “main stage” is thefocal point of the site. Oneach page, one short, book-like article is set in widelyspaced lines of serif type,which conveys an airy,literary look that’s verypleasanttoread.

Agradientaslightas

chiffonTheleftcolumnisdefinedbyanincrediblysubtle

gradientthatfadesfromlessthantwo

percentcolortowhite.What’sinterestingishowslighttheedgehastobe,notmerelytobevisiblebutclearlypresent.

Beautiful.

ComfortablereadingwidthBook-widthcolumnsoftype—45to65charactersorso

—areidealforcomfortablereading;thewideleading(spacing)isvisual

silencebetweenlinesthatrelaxesthe

message.Thelongeryourlines,themorespaceyoushouldput

betweenthem.

6.Footer

A correctly designed footerconveys real authority; itshould be thought of not asthe tail but the foundationthatsupportseverythingelse.The footer holds permanentinformation—key links,contactinformation,logo.

HierarchyisimportantAheaderandfooterofequal

weight(farleft)resultinan“Oreocookie”thatdividesthe

reader’sattentionandweakensthe

presentation.Instead,three-stagehierarchy

(nearleft)giveseachsectionappropriateweight.Keepinmindthatthereader’seyewillalwaysgravitatetowardthecenter.

Saveitforyourmostimportantmaterial,andputsupportingmaterialaroundit.

7.Type

TheHTMLtextof theentiresiteissetinGeorgia,thebestonscreen serif typefaceuniversally available.Georgiahasthelookofbooktypography plus themediumphysical traits that make itespecially readable at lowresolution.

Word spacing and letterspacing are as important asletter shapes, and hereGeorgia also excels. At textsizes it issmooth, repetitive,andrhythmic.Compared to Times, theuniversaldefault...Georgia is bigger Theperceived size of a typefaceisnotitspointsizebutitsx-height, that is, thesizeof its

lowercase characters.Georgia’sare68%ofthecapheight, quite average. Timesis too small for onscreenclarity.

WidercountersTheopenshapesinsidethe

characters,calledcounters,areasimportantasthe

outside.Georgiahasbig,roundcountersthatremainopenat

lowres.Bolder serifs Georgia’sserifs are bold and easy tosee,anditscurvesaresimple

andopen.Times’thin,pointyserifs are handsome in printbut weak onscreen, wheretoo-few pixels are availabletorenderthemclearly.

Georgiahastext

figuresGeorgia’sold-stylenumerals,ortext

figures,have

ascendersanddescenderslikelowercaseletters.Thesearemoredistinctiveand

thereforeeasiertoreadthanordinary,“all-caps”numerals.

Beautiful,too.

Georgia

Times

GeorgiareadsbetteronlineUnlike Times, which is aprinttypefaceadaptedforthescreen,Georgiawasdesignedspecificallyforonscreenuse.

Asaresult, its letterspacingand word spacing at lowresolution are smooth,repetitive, and rhythmic,while Times’ are oftenchoppy and fitful, an effectnot visible in print. Even inprint, however, Times’thinnerstemsandserifsyieldanedgier,lesscoherentlook.

A welcoming homepage: Greet all ofyouronlineviewers.

Syd Lieberman is aprofessional storyteller,teacher, and author—and aguy who literallyis hisbusiness! To picture that onhisWeb site, he “greets youatthedoor”likeanoldfriend

with stories to tell. Here’show he crafted an appealingfirstimpression.

www.sydlieberman.com1. The basicingredients

SoftcolorThree

horizontalbandsareusedforthetitle,navigation,andtheshortintro.Theseare

softenedbywarm,earthycolorswithjustahintofagradient

andshadow.Mid-pagenavigationisunusual

andeffective.

Aphotographic

interrupterOrganic-shapephotointerruptsthehorizontallinesandstopstheeye.Faintshadowaddsdepth.Notehowtheopenspacearoundeachelement—Syd,title,andopeningtext

—letseachbeclearlyseen.

Desaturated

wardrobeABIGimagewillbe

shockingifit’salsobright,buthisnearlycolorlessclothesblend

easilywiththedesaturated

backgroundtoconveyawarm,approachable

image.2. Repeat the look

inside—butsmaller

Insideiswherethatmid-pagenavigation bar goes towork.The home-page design iscondensed into a header thatruns atop every page andallows each topic to openbeneathit.

Literaryheadline

Handsome,book-styletypeisakeydesignelement.Notethat

Syd’snameisfixedontheleft,whilewordsontherightchange.Simpleandeffective.

Lightgradients

differentiateinteriorpagesfromthehomepageandalsoallowbettercontrastwithimages,text,and

buttons.

Continuityisas

importantindesignasitisinstorytelling.

Inside,thehome-page

elements—brownfield,title,navigation,Syd,andtheirspatialrelationships(above)—arecondensedatthetopandserveasa

touchstonethroughthesite.

Simple, bold, bright:Minimalism worksonanyscale.

Our visual world is socluttered that the key tocatching a viewer’s eye isgood, old-fashionedminimalism—use less stuff,not more. This is especiallytruewithposters.Tobeseen

fromalongwayaway,makeyour imagery simple, boldand bright. Note, on thefollowing page, howminimalism works equallywellonasmalldesign.

Familiarshapes,likethehands,andvivid

colorsconnectquickly.Thehandsarewarmanalogous(sidebyside)colorsatopa

cold,splitcomplementary

(nearlyopposite)field,anenergetic

combination.Withsuchclearimagery,

youdon’thavetoshoutforattention;notehowthesinglelineofwhitetypestandsoutclearly.

Organizethatcard

Our friend Richard financeshis love of flying byoperating a one-jet air-charter service here on theWestCoast.And it’seasy tosee where his heart is—hepilots a state-of-the-art jetbut prints his business cardson his desktop. Let’s see ifwe can get those cards

looking as fast andprofessionalashisairplane.

Before

SlowThefactorysuppliedagoodphoto,

butthedesignermadeacommonmistake—hefilleditsopenspaceswithwords.These“trap”the

airplaneand,lackinghierarchy,senda

fragmentedmessage.Hisnameinaviationbluewasagoodidea

butistoobrightforthedesaturatedphoto.AndTimesRomantype,whileexcellentfortext,istoofussyforthesleeksubjectmatter.Shadowsmuddyitfurther.

After

FastThewordshavebeenpulledoffthephotoandintoline,

whichishowweread.

Lightitalicstypefacelooksfast.Cornerflaganchorsthecard.

Blackanddesaturatedtaupecolorsare

neutral,businesslike,andcomplementthephoto.Theplane,backinopenspace,isfree

tofly.Sharp,

hierarchical,clear.

Boxy&slow

Angled&fast

The power of thepostcard: Big imageandsmalltype,orbigtype and smallimage: Either workswell.

Forget high tech. Anordinary, 6″× 4″ postcard isa perfectly efficient way to

get your message to a localaudience. It’s an easy spacetodesign,andyoucanprintiton your desktop. Key toeffectiveness is to besimpleandbold—one image, a fewwords, strong colors, bigcontrasts.Hereare twogreatapproaches.1. Big image, smalltype

Divideyourspaceintothirds,and fill two thirds with asimple, bold image, whichcreates a huge focal point.Fill the remaining thirdwitha short paragraph ofdescriptive text. The twofields work togetherbeautifully because theirsizeandtexture are so different.Itworkswithphotosandlineart,too(belowright).

Two-thirdsimage,one-thirdtext

2. Big type, smallimage

Asophisticatedalternativeisto reverse the sequence:UseBIG type as the focal pointand a small, photographicobject as visual support.

Juxtaposing words andimages can have veryinteresting results; you’llenjoy experimenting. Carrycolor and typestyles to thedescriptivebackside.

Front

Back

Bigtype,tight

letterspacingLetterspacingthat’scorrectatsmallsizes,whereyoudon’t

noticeit,istooairyatlargesizes,whereyou

do.Tightenthespacingbyeye—thebiggerthetype,thetighter—untilit’s

evenlydistributed.

Put a photo in yourname: Words andpictures can bestronger than wordsalone.

Sometimes a name and aproduct go together well. Ifthat’s the case for you, apicture reallycanbewortha

thousandwords:Theproductcan be pictured with thenameoraspartof thename.Here we share techniquesthat elevate simplewordmarks into trulymemorabledesigns.

Useitasan

interrupterTheBonsaitreeisa

visuallydescriptive,

easy-to-”read”photothatinterruptsthe

IKKOname.Below,treatthephotoasyouwouldaletter,andspaceitevenly.

UseitasacharacterIt’srarethatyourproductnotonlyfitsyournamebutistheshapeofaletterlikethehshownhere!

Below,ballsandotherroundobjectsare

morecommon.Also,tryreplacingpartofaletterlikeacrossbar.

Another photoapproach

Here’s another approach:Neitherfancytypographynora painstakingly craftedgraphicwouldbeaseffectiveas justshowing the servicethat Jennifer provides. Asilhouette is easy tomake—just trace and fill—and can

be assembled from severalimages,ifnecessary.

Onegreatthingaboutusingsilhouettesisthatitgetsridof

detail,whichisone

characteristicofawell-designedlogo.

Evenatthumbnailsize(below),thesilhouette

isstillclear.

TransformAnother

usefulcharacteristicisthatasilhouettecanbeflippedorotherwisetransformed.Inthiscase,theoriginal

actionmovedrighttoleft(farleft),whichonthecardwould

haveunnaturallyleadbackintothepage.

Functionalbeauty

Here’s a brilliant bit ofmarketing design—abusiness card that’s anenvelope of grass seeds!What we especially like arethat the colors, textures, andgraphicsweren’tdreamedup,but rather taken from “theworld of” landscaping,letterpressed by hand and

printed on earthy, recycledpaper. It’s a memorable andfunpresentation.www.struckcreative.com

LandscapingcolorsLeafgreenandearth

brownsetanorganictone.Thetypographyissimpleandunusual—everything’sin

uppercaseexceptthename.Old-fashioned,letterpressprintingaddstextureby

literallypressingthetypeintothepaper.

Projects

Make a theme: Asimple graphic canprovideafocalpoint,color,andcontinuity.

Mentalillnessisnotthetopicthat springsbrightly tomindwhen we think of children.Giggles,love,andhappyplayare more like what weimagine. The goal ofmental

health care is tomake thosepositive images a reality,evenforasickchild.With that in mind, SanAntonio’s Southwest MentalHeathCenter (SMHC) had alow-budget wish—lift thedepressing grayness from itsbrochure, and give itsdifficult subject a sense oflightnessandhopealongwithreal clarity. Key to themakeover was a little

butterfly that could providethe focal point, color, andcontinuitythedesignneeded.

Before

NotquitedesignedThree-panelbrochure

istheofficeworkhorse,butthe

problemwithpanelsisthatwetendto

“design”simplybyfillingthemup(right).1. Problem: It all

looksalike

The “before” is a letterfoldbrochure that was designedby filling panels with text.Although every panel tells adifferent pieceof theSMHCstory, to the reader it alllooksalike.

Headlinesanddropcapsstandatopthe

panelsliketombstones,clinically

identifyingeachsectionbutofferingneithercheernor

welcome.Becarefulwhenusingmorethanonedropcap;readersareextremelygoodpatternseekersandwill“connect”the

capsinstantly—which

meansthey’llwanttoknowwhattheyspell!2. Problem: It’s allrectangles

Thecolorcover isapointofinterest, but the boy is theonly child in the brochure,and the hard-edged,rectangular layout tends to

isolatehimfurther.

Outside

It’sarectangularworldGenerallyspeaking,whena

subjectneedssoftening,youwanttoavoidrectangularelements.(A)

Althoughhe’sinameadow,the

rectangularframeactsasacorral,isolatingandconfiningtheboyinappropriately.(B)

Notethephoto,textblocks,bluebar,headlines,andlogoareallrectangles.

3.There’sthestory!

Same information, samespace, but the makeoverbrings thebrochurenewlife.It now has a community of

children, and stories thatwere invisible are clear andinviting.

After

Whatachange!Ahierarchyofelementsfrombigtosmall

sharespace

comfortablyinthismulti-facetedlayout.Differentcolumnwidthstellthe

Southweststorywithpaceandinflection,tyingtheelements

togetherwhilekeepingthemapart.Butterflyprovidesapointof

focusaswellascolorandshape,whichsoftensthenatural

rectanglesofthepage.Orangesandyellowsarewarm,happycolors,andgreenisthecolorofhopeandnewlife.Onthecover(above,left),our

youngpatientisnotalonebutgettingthecaresheneeds.

4.Coverimageiskeywhile panels handleseparatejobs

The cover image is the keymessage-maker; it sets thetone and establishes the

reader’s frame of reference.Image and headline are seentogether and must work asone.The three outside panels areseenindependently,andeachhasadifferentjob.Thecoverpaneldrawsthereaderin;thebackpanelprovideskeydataataglance.

Outside

Followthepanels,butdifferentiateTovisuallydifferentiatetheoutsidepanels,

eachhasbeengivenauniquevalue:medium,white,dark.Becausebulletpointsandchoppyparagraphs(centerpanel)canbemessy,theyshouldbecushionedbywide,emptymargins.

Commontypography

(notetheheadlinestyle)isapointofunityamongthedifferences.

Before

After

SimpleimagesaremorepowerfulTheself-absorbedboyin

themeadowisnotonlyalone—aproblemofmentalillness—butthephotoiscomplex,withmanycompetinglinesandsurfaces,and

thepointofthemessageislost.Incontrastistheclarityoftheafter.Thegirlis

atpeaceinthenearnessofa

caregiver,akeyconceptinthe

brochure.Notethesimplicityofthe

image;despiteradicalcropping,afewstronglinestelluseverythingweneedtoknow—

andprovideasmoothbackdropforthe

headline.5. A multi-facetedpresentation

Varyingcolumnwidths, typesizes, values, and colorsexpress levels ofconversation and give the

readermany points of entry.Note that the folds aredisregarded.

Inside

Thelayoutstartsatthe

headline...

...andeverythingrelatesbacktoit.

ApageanchoredbyhopeThemost

importantstatementinthebrochureanchorsthedesign.Setinallcapsonextremelytightleading(54/39)andcarefullywrappedaroundthreephotos,theheadlineisan

umbrellatowhicheverythingelsewillrelateandleavesnodoubtwhatthe

hospitalstandsfor.6. Bi-leveltypography

Careful typography creates

stories within stories. Pullout key thoughts in acontrasting typeface anddarker value; the reader canthen browse lightly or readdeeper.

AcomplexstoryhasmanyfacetsThedesignercanmakereadingeasierand

moreinterestingbybreakingastoryintovisualparts.Withnoeditorialinputatall,a“browserlevel”wascreatedforthereadersimplybyhighlighting

keywordsinanordinarygalleyof

type.

Notethenumberof

keythoughtsthathavebeenhighlightedonthepage;eachlabels

andclarifiesadifferentfacetofits

story.7. Butterfly makes atheme

Fluttering across the heavytopic is a hopeful littlebutterfly.Thiswaskeytothemakeover. The butterfly

provided the color paletteand visual continuity fromsectiontosection.

Color,continuity—andtouchabilityAthemeisacolororshapeorimagethat

tiestheelementsofthebrochuretogetherbygivingthemaconsistent—or

repetitive—lookandfeel.Inthiscase,the

butterflywasduplicatedandplaced

intermittentlythroughoutthe

brochure,anditssimplecolorpalettewaspickedupintheheadlines.Justas

importantasitsvisualpropertiesareitsmessage-making

qualities;thebutterflyislight,non-

threatening,and

touchable,anditspresencerepresentshopetothoseinthedungeonsofmental

illness.8. On a page ofrectangles, a curvycounterpoint

Finally, graphics carve Sshapes atop the rectangularpage, gracefully connectingtop to bottom. Similar sizesmake all seven objectsworkinunison.

Mechanicaland

organicThevarietyofcolumnwidthsandtypesizeskeepthe

pageengagingandtheeyemoving.Atleft,thepageisfirst

dividedtoptobottom,theneachsectionisdividedagain;noteespeciallythe

unusuallynarrowcolumnsatthebottom.Above,overlayingthe

rectangularformatarethreebutterfliesfromlargetosmallandthechildren’sphotos,whichfollow

sweepingScurvesandprovideasofteningcounterpointtothe

layout.

Design a story-stylebrochure: Fold—andunfold—a singlesheet into anappealing, narrative-likepresentation.

Thebestbooks,plays,songs,and speeches are in astorybookformat—theyhave

a beginning, a middle, anend, each building to thenext, and all the parts tiecoherentlytogether.It’seasyto put this engaging style towork in a small brochure.Foldanddesignyoursheetsothe reader sees yourpresentation in sequence.Each space tells a differentpart of the story, and allshare a common style. It’sinexpensive, it feelsbig, andit’sfuntomake.Here’show.

Frontcover

Onesheet,bigimpactUnfoldingalegal-sizesheetrevealsyourstoryinanatural,

step-at-a-timesequence.Semi-

abstractcoverbeckonsthereaderin.Openoncetoabeautifulyard,whereanarrativepanelintroducesthe

business.Opentwice,andphotos,captions,

andtextappearthatexplainindetail.

1. Start with thecover

The cover has two jobs: itmustintroduce (Hi,we’re...)andinvite (Comein!).Todothisvisually,makethephotodosomeofthework.Here,it

hintsatmoretocome.

It’sthefrontdoorTochooseanimageforyourcover,thinkofaportaloragateway.Aboveright,thecloselycropped

fountainsuggestsanarchthatputsthe

readerina“doorway,”andits

soft-focusbackgroundhintsatthebeauty

beyond.Thisisideal.Thenplacethenamedirectlyinthereader’s

lineofsight.

Thecompanynameisconfidentlysmallbuthasplentyofpresence.Three

reasons:It’s1)inthemiddleofthepage,2)aloneinthegreenfield,and3)framedbythefountain.

Thetextblockisstraightontheright,raggedontheleft.The

straightside“connects”ittothepageedge,andthe

raggedside

“connects”ittothefountain,whosecurvesitfollows(above,left).Similarly,the

typestyles(above,right)includean

irregular,serifnameandacrisp,sans-serif

description.

2.Openonce...

...and the reader “walksthrough the door” into abeautiful welcome. Typesetan introduction on the flap,which, unlike a static page,actively suggests more tocome.

Imageandtext

togethercanbemorethantheindividualparts.Tomakethe

mostoftheirstrengths,letthephotospeakforitself,whileyou,innarrative,speak

directlytothereader.Dual-functionflapworks asan introduction and the next“door.” The narrow textblockisalignedbothleftandright, orjustified, whichemphasizes its height and

complements the flap. Verywide line spacing slows thereader to aconversationalspeed.

Original

MakeitbigBy

completelyfillingthepage,thebeautifulbackyardpresentsagrand,invitingimage.Thewall-to-wallcroppingconveysasenseofoutdoorspaciousnessby

avoidingtheconfiningeffectofaframe.The

imagestopsattheflapbutappearstogo

further;thepromiseofmorebeckonsthereadertoopenthe

flap.

Cropped

3.Opentwice

Inside iswhat the readerhascome to see. With the

brochureopenflat,fourmoreimages and captions plus acomplete narrative describetheproductfully.

Groupthenew

photosAhugedifferenceinscale—oneveryBIGphotoandfoursmallones—allowsfivesimilarimagestosharethe

spacepeacefully.Notethatthesmallphotosareallonesizeand

tightlysetinacolumn,

whichamplifiestheirpresenceandkeepsthelayoutbeautifully

organized.

Whiteasacolor

Whiteisoftenthoughtofasapassive

backdrop,butthislayoutclearlyshowsthatwhitewillworklikeanyothercolor;thewhitecolumn

lookslikeacolumn,nottheunprinted

paperthatitactually

is.

OureyesfollowsequenceAbove,wide,medium,and

narrowcolumnsmakethedesigndynamicby

movingtheeyelefttoright;same-widthcolumnswouldbestatic.Oureyesalsorecognizevisual

rhythm,seenhereinthealternatingdark-light-darkcolumns.

4.Beautifully, simply

designed

The three-column design ispleasing to see and easy toread.Andit’sassimpleasitlooks; columns run top tobottom with no zigs, zags,overlaps, borders, or othergizmos.

Impressum(left)isafaintlyquirkyseriftypefacewhose

irregularthicksandthinsandhalting

rhythmresembletheorganicshapesofnatureyetreadcomfortably.The

blacktextfollowstherule,“colorattracts,blackexplains,”andmakesitclearit’sintendedtoberead.Thetwocaptionsare

anexception;whiletheirtypespecsmatch,

colordifference(black/white)is

neededforcontrast.5.Wrapitup

End on the back with a callfor action. In this case, anappealing face conveys a

change of voice. Sustaincontinuity by carryingtypefaces, styles, and colorsallthewaythrough.

Inside

OrganiccounterpointStackable,movablerectanglesorganizeanyspaceeasily;ontheback,theirregular

silhouetteprovideseye-pleasing

difference;hergreenoutfitsustainscontinuity.

Back

AchangeofvoiceInsidewe’veseenherwork;onthebackwemeetthedesigner.Herdirect,“Giveusacall”statementand

phonenumbermakeiteasytoact.Bothareaccessiblyatthetop

nearherface,notburiedinthetext.

Typestyles,sizes,andcolorscontinuefrom

theinside.

Template: Story-stylebrochure

Legal-sizepage14″×8½″Finalsize5½″×

8½″

MailseasilyFitsa6″×9″envelope,orcanbedesignedasaself-mailerthatmailsat

USPSletterrate.

Design a pocket-sizebrochure: Eightsmallpages tell abigstory.

This single-sheetbrochure isasmallbeautythatgetseightpagesofworkoutofjustone.From its palm-size, 2¾″ ×4¼″cover,astoryunfoldsina natural, easy-to-read

sequence.It’seasytodesign,too. The key is tothinksmall—one photo, bite-sizetext,andabriefheadlineperspread look quite big. Andit’s inexpensive. Perfect forbusy readers, it slips easilyinto pocket or purse and isidealfortellingyourstoryinbrief,narrativeformat.

...open into a letter-sizesheet A tiny cover and twobrief but complete spreadslead the reader to centerpage, where (in this case)eight health tips give dentalpatients a useful takeaway

and a reminder of theirdentists’ care andcompetence.

1. Cover and firstspread

Thebrochure folds openone

spreadatatime.Todesignit,t h i n kstory—give it abeginning, a middle, and anend.Setavisualtheme(hereit’s people), anddesign eachspreadasacompletethought.

CoverAnattractivesmileandtheofficenamesetthevisualtheme.Suchsmall-spacedesignrequiresbold,simpleelements.Thisdesignusesfour

—photo,bluebackground,bite-sizetext,andabriefhead.

Eachelementshoulddoonlyonething.

Avoiddetail—notethephotoisclosely

croppedandhasnobackgroundorotherdistractions.Inside(below),thetextisplain;thetinyspaceneedsnosubheads,

indents,orotherflags.

Cropclosely

Breakout

Firstspreadisthe

introduction.“Breakout”photosthatoverlaptheblueadddepthandperceived

sizetothelayouts.Lightcolorsyieldthebiggestlook.Textcanbesolidblack,butinthetinyspace75%gray(orso)willbeeasierontheeyes.Here,freshapplegreenanddental-

officebluewillsustain

thethemethroughout.

2.Secondspread

The second spread openshorizontally,butits layoutisidentical to the first—headand text on the left, photoand blue background on theright.

Thinedge,thintypeQuick!What’sthe

thinnestpossibleline?It’sanedge,a

transitionfromonecolororvalueto

another—inthiscase,thebluefieldtothe

whitefield.Edges,notruledlines,yieldthe

sharpest,cleanest,mostminimallook.Headlinesofsuper-fineHelveticaNeueUltraLighttype—aboutasthinastypecanreasonablyget—areanexcellentcomplement.

Secondspreadis

twicethewidthofthe

first,anditstextistransitionalbetweentheintroductionandmainbody.Aboveright,typesizesandpositionsareidenticaltothefirstspread,butdidyounoticeitsleftmarginisslightly

wider?Probablynot,

becauseitlooksthesame;thewider

marginhasthevisualproportionsofthe

widerpage.3.Mainspread

The fully opened sheet hasroom toelaborate. Here,health tips flank a center

narrative.

AlivelyconclusionIt’snolongerpocketsize,butthethemecontinues—bigpeople,breakout

photos,blueandwhitefields,andtextintwotypefaces.Asbefore,thebluefieldfitsthefolds(farleft)and

“pulls”equallywiththewhite.Notethesymmetry;every

elementisillustratedandcentered.

Template: Pocket-sizebrochure

Letter-sizepage11″×8½″Foldedsize2¾″

×4¼″

Foldthepageintoeightequalparts.

A small newsletterthat reads big: Half-size page is easy todesign and creates astrongimpression.

For hard-working editorswho want their news to betaken seriously, here’s anexcellent small format. Turn

a letter-size sheet sideways,andlayoutitscontentslikeasmall book in two distinctfields repeated every spread.The result is a newsletterwith the lookof permanenceand credibility. Here’s howtodoit.

Insidespread

HandsomelyfocusedEachspreadislimited

toafewneatlypresentedelementsandhasthelookofa

smallbookormagazine.

Cover

Back

InexpensivetomailTwentypages(fivesheets)canbetabbed

andmailedfirstclass.Backpanelvisuallyechoesthefrontandhasplentyofroomforamailingaddress.

1. Divide the spreadintotwofields

Each spread is made of two

fields—a bold inner and alight outer—each with itsown information. The mainnarrative occupies the inner;supporting articles gooutside.

2. A field within afield

What makes this newsletterlook big is that the centerfieldbleedstotheinside(the

gutter),andelementsatopthefieldcan“bleed”toitsedgesjustlikearealmagazine.

TwospreadsinoneFunctionally,each

spreadismadeoftwo

spreads—alarge,whitefieldthatcan’tprinttotheedge(onadesktopprinter),andadark,centerfieldthatcan.Makethemostofthis!Designeachcentersothatitsimagestouchits

edges.

3. Similaritiesconnectthefields

Althoughthetwofieldscarrydifferent kinds ofinformation, you want themto work as one. Do this bycreatingsimilaritiesofcolor,shape, alignment, and so on.Consider the elements youhaveandhow theycanwork

together.For example,what keeps thesmall photo on the far rightactiveinthedesign?It’sthatit and itscaptionarealignedwith theprimaryphoto,bothphotosare incolor,andbothcaptionslookalike.Oureyesconnectsuchsimilarities.

4. Crossoversconnectthefields

Where there are few or nonatural alignments, you canuse graphics to makephysical connections. Yourgoal is to keep the fieldsvisuallytogether.

CrossoverwithasolidbarExtendingtheheadlinebar

makesaconnectioneasily.Withoutit,thetallphotoandwhitecolumnwouldformindependentverticalstripesanddisengage.

Crossoverwitha

graphicThebackhoeinsilhouetteisan“interrupter”that

connectsthefieldsanddrawsattention!

Nearbyitisanexcellentplacetoput

akeybitofinformation.

5.Designsimply

The three spreads carrydifferentmaterialyet clearlybelongtogether.Theirclarityandcoherenceistheresultof

simple design—only a fewtechniques used over andover.

(A) Super-clean,edge-to-edgephotosmovethe eye straightacross or straight

down the page. Notethey never stopmid-column,nordoestextwrap.

(B)Straight-linelayoutmoves the eyecleanly withoutbumps or jogs that astaggered layoutwouldcreate.

(C) Every spread has aclearfocalpoint thatsays“starthere.”

(D) The photos havehigh scale contrast(big-small). Highcontrasts are alwaysunambiguousandfullofenergy.

(E) Thedesign isrepetitive—only twolayout zones (innerandouter),threetypesizes (head, text,caption), limitedcolor palette (black,

gold, gray), twoimage sizes (big andsmall; “interrupter”is an attention-gettingexception).

(F) The inner zone canbe one continuousarticle or severalshortones.

Works beautifully as aPDFbooklet.

Design a “photo”graph

Chartsareusefulforshowingtrends and relationships, butordinary rows, columns, andlines are so... forgettable.Make your next chartengaging and memorable,too,byaddingaphotographicillustrationbehind,beside,or

interactingwiththedata.

Interactwiththe

chartPull!Push!Lift!Enlivenplaindatabyshowingpeopleorobjectsinteracting

withit;inthiscase,theschoolkids

illustratewhatthechartissaying.

LaythechartatopanimageStrawberry

basketillustrateswhatthechartisabout—mucheasierthan

visualizing!Reddotssustainthetheme.

Design a card theeasy way: A photoandoneblockoftypeisallittakestomakeabeautifulcard.

When photographer JayneKettner asked for helpmaking a logo for herbusiness card, we had to

wonderwhy she’dwant one.Her photos were rich, well-composed, and pleasing, justwhatshe’dwanttheworldtosee. A logo is an artificialdevice used to represent aproduct, service, or group ofpeople. It would add only abarrier; when you have thereal thing—that is, Jayne’sphotos—why do you need arepresentative?

Whatdoyoureallyneed?Jaynewantedtoportrayaprofessionalimage;giveadramatic

presentation;andmaybeincludealogoorwordmark.Oneofherearlyeffortsisshownatright.Butwhynotletherstellerworkspeakforitself

(below)?

1. Start with thewords

Setyourwords inablockofordinary type—not fancy

type—and place it in theupper-left corner. Thissimple “block in the corner”has a minimal, intentionallydesignedlookthat leavesthewhite space as the dominantelement. You’ll be temptedtofillthespace,butdon’t.

(1)Setsolid,theinformationisabit

dense.(2)Splittingthebusinessnameoffintroducessome

breathingspace,butputtingthecontactinfoinalightertone(3)reallyputsthefocusonthecruxoftheinformation.

2.Addthephoto

Placeandcropyourphotoall

the way to the edges. Colorthe type white, and you’redone.That’sallthereistoit.No artificial graphics, nodistracting layouts. Itquietlyplaces your work, literally,into the client’s hand,simply,clearly,beautifully.

PlaceandcropMostbusinesscardsarehorizontal.Selecta

photowithopenspaceintheupper-leftcorner,place,and

crop.Don’tbeafraidtocropradically,whichcanyieldunexpectedand

powerfulresults.Touchalltheedges

(fullbleed).

Colorthewords

Bringthewordstothe

front.Onadarkimagelikethisone,finishbycoloringthebusinessnamewhiteandthebodylightgray.

Extendthephototocreateableedarea,whichisanextra1/16incharoundyourcard.Thispreventsany

whitelinesalongtheedgesofthecard

whenit’strimmedtofinalsize.

3.Usebothsides

Ifyourfavoritephotohasnoroomforwords,usetheback.Artist’s canvas Without

words, winter trees fill thecard like a painting oncanvas, quietly speakingvolumesaboutyourwork.Onthe back, use a minimal,gallery-stylelayout.

Front

Back

4. Add somebackground

Photo doesn’t fill the space?Addanartificialbackground.

It’sabeautifulmagnolia,butit

doesn’tfillthespace.

Whenyouhaveasolidbackgroundlikethis,(1)eyedropperthe

colornearesttheedgeandfillthecard

behindtheimage.(2)Inthiscase,wetheneyedroppersomepinkfromtheflowerandaddittothebusiness

name,creatingabeautifullysoftconnection.

5.Fadetoblack

A too-narrow image with amulticolor background

requiresfading.

AchangeoftypeHere’sanexample

fromanotherphotographer.Bob

Schnellisapeoplephotographer.SmallchangeoftypefacefromBentonSanstoDidot—ononlythebusinessname—softensthenamesuitablywhile

retainingthelook.

BobSchnellPhotography

FadeyourphotoinInDesign.(1)Fillthecardblack(inthiscase,tocomplementhissuit),then(2)placeandcropthephoto;notethe

resultinghardedge.(3)Clicktoselectthephoto.Selectthe

GradientFeatherTool(left),dragfromrighttoleft,stoppingjustshortoftheedge,andyou’redone(4).Notquiteright?Drag

again.

6.Getvertical

Vertical-formatcardsarelesscommonbutcanbedramatic.It’s tempting to move thewordsaround,butdon’tdoit.The upper-left corner makesaclear,designedstatement—especially if it’s consistenton all pieces. If an imagewon’t work with that

position, use a differentimage.

Herasymmetrical

positionactivatesthepage.

Youdon’twanttoloseagreatshotbecauseitdoesn’tfitthespace.Ifyoucrop,we

recommendmakingtheimagesquare,

whichlooksintentional,notambiguous.

7.Findcolor

Eyedroppercolorsrightfromthe image for a perfectcomplementeverytime.

Herlips...

Herhair...

Herdress...

Thebackground...

8.Useanobject

An alternative to a portfoliophoto is to picture an objectfrom your business. Justknockoutitsbackgroundandplace it on the page. Includeitsshadow.

SmallisbigWhitespaceisthe

controllingelementonthesecards—notehowyoureyeimmediatelyregisterstheimages,despitetheirsmallsizes.Smallis

important;ifyoumakethembig,theobjects

becomethestory,notyou.Note,too,thatalthoughthey’re

predominantlyblack,theobjectsarein

color,justlikeyou’dseetheminreallife.

Whitespaceisnotemptybuthasrealforce.Notehowit

pushesyoureyetotheleftandcreatesa

strongsenseofdepthbehindthestudio

umbrella.9.Createagallery

Insteadofonephoto,createatiny gallery. Make amatching Web gallery, andyou’llhaveadirect, card-to-Web connection, useful forbranding.

Makeagrid...

...addyourphotos.

Squareimagesare

hardertocropbutlookdesigned,andtheycorrespondtoWeb

thumbnailsandavatars,too.

Backgroundcanbewhiteorblack.

Design a dual-purpose letterhead:Legal-size sheet canserve as yourletterhead andprovideabonus,too.

The economy of direct mailis especially valuable fornon-profits. But amidst all

the junk mail, a letter mustwork quickly to stand apart.It must establish itsreputability, attract with itsmessage, and generate areply.The Saint Philomene Shelterexists on contributions forwhich it periodically makesan appeal. We’ve designedfor it a dual-purposeletterhead that conveys animage of dignity and

authority, and has aperforated panel as a leave-behind.Here’showitworks.

Leave-behindvalueforthereaderLegal-

sizesheetwithaperforatedpanelhas

bothformandfunction.Thequietlookofthestationerybespeaksdignity—thewhoandwhatthey

are.Thetear-offpanelcanbeusedinmanyways:asareply,

promotionaltakeaway,voucher,coupon,map,calendar,or,asshownhere,araffleticket.

1. Create a visualimageofyourworld

Design the letterhead first toshow your readerswho youare. Here, a simple tabletoppendantframedinopenspaceconveys dignity, stateliness,andtradition.

Startwithpre-perforated,legal-sizepaperOursheetispre-perfedat3½″,aquarterfold.To

visuallyseparateletterfromtear-off,applyabackgroundtintas

shown.Leaveawhitemargintoserveasa

frame,andinsetathinwhitelinetoadd

formality.Centertheimageatthetopinopenspace;it

becomesthefocalpoint,quietly

conveyingauthorityandsupplyingthevisualcredentials.

Derivethe

backgroundcolorfromtheimageFor

easycolorcoordination,

eyedropperacolorfromtheimageandtintitlightly,which

ensuresgoodreadabilityand,inthis

case,addsawarm,parchment-likepatinaandasenseofageand

stateliness.

2.Selectandsettypethat conveys historyandstature

Toconveyhistory,formality,and stature, use serif type,which has existed sinceRoman times and isbeautiful, too.Note itsmanysmalldetailsalsocorrespondtodetailsintheimage.

Bigshapes,smallshapesSerifsaretotheletterswhatfiligreeistothe

image,pointsofdetailthataddcomplexity,

visualinterest—andsimilarity.Noteinbothimageandtypethecontrastofbroad,openareastothe

curvesandhollowsofthesmallshapes.Suchdetailconveysage;oldartismoredetailed

thannewart.

SAINTPHILOMENE

SHELTEROFSEATTLE,

WASHINGTONTypeallcapsAnall-

capssettingisthecorrectwaytopresent

atitle.Typethewords,headononelineandsubheadonthenext.Noteatthispointthatthewords

formheavyblocksthatasyethavenoartistryorinteractionwiththe

image.

Createartistic

contrastsWithoutchangingtheleading(linespacing),reduce

thesubheadto70%ofitsoriginalsize,

lightenit70%,thenspreadoutthe

letterspacing400%.Theresultisvisualhierarchy—headis

visiblymoreimportantthansubhead—andwithallthatair,the

lettersalmostevaporate,allowingtheeyetomovefreelyandnotinterferingwiththeimage.

3. Maintain the lookdownthepage

Stateliness is quiet, steady,

and strong. Visually, thismeans it doesn’tmove orshout, nor does it interactwith other elements. Thesequalitiescanbeexpressed intypesetting.

DesigntheaddonThetear-offpanelmustbedesignedtocomplementthe

letterheadandalsofunctiononitsown.

Theeasiestwayistoduplicatethe

letterhead;here,it’sbeenreducedinsize,combinedwithits

addresslines,andthewidemarginsretained.Fill-informsneedplentyofroomto

write;allowatleast18

pointsbetweenlines.Setlinelabels(name,address,andsoon)exactlyliketheothertypebutsmallerstill.

How to set a text-only logotype: Thekey is to work withthe natural patternofyourletters.

Welcome to Nagano UrbanGrill, a popular midtownhangout. Our project is todesignitslogotype.Alogois

acompany’ssignature; it’sadistinctivewayofwritingitsname. Some logos includegraphicsandsomedonot.Agood logo isbold, clear, andattractive, and it conveys anappropriate sense of thecompany.Thesequalitiescanbedifficulttocombineinoneword.Theplacetostartonatext-onlylogo—orwordmark—is with the natural patternofitsletters.

Everywordhasanaturalpattern

Beforesettingtype,takeavisual

inventory.Even

handwritten,wecanseeadescendingg

loopandrepeatinga’s,whichformatrioofroundishshapesmoreorlessinthemiddle.Naganostartswithanangle(N)andendswithacircle(o),bothofwhichhaveopen

endsthatleadtheeyeoutward.Ithassixletters.Visually,

Naganoisanaverageword.It’seasytosay(NOG-uh-no),andithasstrongJapaneseassociations.Thesequalitieswillformthefoundationofour

designs.1. A logotype startswiththealphabet

Letters have distinct shapes.Get familiar with theseshapes.Eachhasitsownkindof expressiveness. Theshapes will also determinewhat you can do with yourdesign.

The typefaceAvant Garde(shownhere),whichconsistsmainly of simple straightsand generous circles, isespecially good at revealinglettershapes.

2.Forexample...

A word’s pattern can beexpressed rhythmically.Rhythm is an unseen factorthat affects howweperceivea word. The namej.jillconsists solely of straightletters that do not conveysoftnesslikeroundlettersdo.Conversely, roundpod isnotnaturallysharpandedgy.

3.Findyourpattern

Startbysettingyournameinuppercaseandlowercase,andnoticethepatternthatforms,even if it’s subtle. Payspecialattentiontorepetitive

linesandshapes.Nagano in uppercaseFuturaBook has two groups ofmirrored angles (NA-AN)alternating with two roundletters,a rhythmicbutsubtlepattern. LowercaseAvantGarde forms a line of all-round letters, a strong andinterestingpattern.

4.Patternbreakers

Yournameinsometypefaceswill not form a pattern.Letters that look alike inAvantGardelookdifferentinAdobe Garamond, and thepatterndisappears.Thegthatbeforewas a circle is now asnaking, twisting line. As arule, the more detailed thetypeface—details include

serifs, terminals, filets,varyingstrokewidths,andsoon—the less visible thepatternwillbe.

TexturePatternsarebig.Whenrepetitive

elementsaresmall(commonindetailedtypefaceslikeAdobeGaramond),they

maketexture.Above,youcanseefour

circularcountersandotherrepetitiveshapesinthemiddleofthe

word.

Shape Related to pattern isshape, which refers to theoverallformoftheword.5.Patternmakers

Your name can be given apattern by the typeface.Pattern-making is the mainfunction of most decorativetype.

CalligraphicSloop has astrong, graceful pattern—itslettersarcandflowsmoothlyfrom thick to thin and havecommon angles and loops.Extra swashes—notice theN—create similarity withother letters where noneexists naturally. Any wordset in Sloop willautomatically have a patternandbebeautiful.

6.Shapemakers

Similarly, your name can beforcedtotakeshape.Thetwoeasiest techniques areexpansion—spread yourname out—andcompression—squeeze ittogether.

ExpansionSpreadingyournamewayoutdisconnectsitslettersfromeachother.Thisbreakswhatever

patternmaybepresentandcreatesanewone—aneatrowofdots.Thepanoramicresult

conveysasenseofgrandeurbothunderstatedandelegant.It’sverypopularinmovie

titles.Thetechniqueworkswithalmostanytypeface;setallcapsforthecleanestline.

Compression

Conversely,settingyournameinahighlycondensedtypeface,thenpackingittightlytogether,yieldsa

dense,powerfulblock.

Thistechniqueisalsopopularinthemovies,becauseitcanconvey

amassive,overwhelming

presence,especiallyinallcaps.Atsmallsizesitsdenseshapecarvesadistinctivesilhouettethat’seasytowork

with.7.Designacard

So far, we’ve seen that theletters in a name can formapattern. The typeface canmake or break the pattern.The typeface can impose apattern of its own. In everycase, the typeface alsoaddsmeaning. The key to a great

logotypeistofindatypefacethat makes the name lookg o o dand conveys theappropriatemeaning.To see this at work, we’llnext set the name on abusiness card in ninedifferent typefaces.The cardwill give us the added toolsof color and layout.Wewilluse only type, with nographics of any kind. Payspecial attention to this, and

you’ll see how clearly—andbeautifully—type alone cancommunicate.Note: A standard U.S.business card is 3½″ × 2.″For this demonstration we’llputthenameonthefrontandignore the contact info,which in real life would beputontheback.AvantGarde

brings out Nagano’s naturalpattern. Simple shapes areboldandyouthful,especiallyin lowercase. Colors areinterchangeable. This wouldbeafun,trendyplace.

Brightchainofhoopsandcirclesrunsedgetoedgeandcanbeseenfromacrosstheroom!Urbangrillsubtitleisalsoin

AvantGarde.Greenandyellowarefresh,secondarycolorsthatcaneasilybeswapped

(right)withequallyboldresults.Single-linedesignconveys

restraint,acounterpointtotheexuberantcircles.Notethelettersareveryclosebutnot

touching.Asymmetrical

divisionsofspace—wide,medium,narrow(above)—keepthedesignactive.

Sloop

has airy, sweeping lines thatconvey grace, elegance, andtaste appropriate for a visitfrom the Queen (really).

Centered layout and light,metallic colors addformality.

Realpoweralwaysappearsnaturaland

unforced,asifitsimplyrequiredno

effort.(Ifitlookslikeyou’retrying,itdoesn’twork!)To

projectthis,youwantacenteredlayout,

whichhasnomotion;itiscalmandatrest.Silverandgoldcolors

suggestwealth,butherethey’relight,quiet,discreet.

Superlightsubtitle(HelveticaNeueUltraLight)isbarelythere;

itstinysizeandcontrastingRoman

stylesupportswithoutcompeting.What’s

interestingisthatforallthisformality,

NaganoisaboisterousmidtownGRILL,ajuxtapositionofnameandimagethatwouldprobablyworkjust

fine.

Centerthelayoutinbothdirections.

AdobeGaramond

is a text face in whichNagano has no pattern but asmall amount of texture. Gowith what it has, and addmore texture! Cockeyedsetting is correspondinglyrough.

Distressedserif

typefacelooksrough,weathered,andcrate-stamped,oppositethe

hard-edged

minimalismofitsurbanenvironment.Earthycolorsaddwarmth.Thewordscanbeputjustaboutanywhereexcept

straightandaligned;youwantittolookalittlethrowntogether.Thistechniquelooks

especiallyauthenticinastenciledtypeface(inset),whichhintsof

cargo,military,nautical,safari,andso

on.

CopperplateGothic32BC

has tiny, straight serifs thatgive it old, industrial-eraovertones suitable for anurbanenvironment. Its clear,wide body makes it a goodchoice for panorama.Copperplate’stinyserifshelpthe eye span the gapsbetween the widely spacedletters.

Eveninverysmallsizes,apanoramicsettingprojectsawide-screenimageandconveysfeelings

associatedwithspaciousnessandgrandeur.It’squiet,too;thecentered

settingismotionless

andstately.Anycolor—likehotmagenta!—worksinpanoramabecausethere’ssolittleofit.Darkbackgroundadds

class;forapartylook,makeitbright.

Bureau Grotesque ExtraCompressedBlack

forceswordsintoblocksthatcan be fit together likemasonry. Brick-wall colorsand artistic composition areright for an artsy, jazzy,bluesy,midtownhangout.

IfyoulikeLegos,you’lllikedesigning

withBureauGrotesque,whose

denseblocksyoucanstackandrepositionendlesslyandusuallygetexpressiveresults.Payattentiontothenegativespacesthat

form(whiteblocks,aboveleft),whichareasimportantasthepositive.Light

“Urban”and“Grill”colorsrecede,sothenamestandsout;notethatbotharetintsofthebackgroundcolor(above,center).

Aboveright,artisticallysparedesignyieldsa

powerfulfocalpoint;notethecolor

emphasison“urban.”

LettrésEclatées

isamangybutoddlycheerfultypeface full of repetitiveelements that have both

patternandtexture.Thetwo-color setting adds class.Sublimelyfunky.

Thescragglytypefacehasthestreetlookyou

want,buthowdoyoukeepitfrommakingascragglycard?By

centeringitinasinglelineonrichblack.Theresultisartisticandtextured,framedlikeartinagallery;slightcolordifferenceisjustenoughtosetNagano

apartyetkeepthelineintact.

(Above)Notastraight

lineanywhere,anglesandovalsgiveLettrésEclatéesitstextureandournamesomethingofa

pattern,whichmaybeeasiertoseeifit’s

reversed.PlanetKosmos

is an alphabet of nearlyidenticalcharactersthathintsof Japanese animation. Itlooks fast (the italics), edgy(its angles), youthful(cartoons),andclean(simplelines).

RadAngledsettingisedgy,vibrant;itsays

therestaurantisfullofyoungenergybutisprobablynotaplaceyou’dgotorelax.Usetheangleoftheitalics(aboveright)ratherthanarandomangle.

FasterFormaximumspeedthename

touchesbothends;theeyemovesstraightalongthenameand

offthepage.

SlowerSmallernamecreatesanenclosingframethattheeye

unconsciouslytraces,whichslowsitdown

slightly.HTFDidot

is thelookofNewYorkcity—a l lglamour, a beautifulchoice for a chic,cosmopolitan restaurant.With its fashion-modelovertones, this would be aplacetobeseen.

HTFDidotinlipstickredonwhitewillstoptraffic,andinthiscase,becauseofthename,italsohas

Japaneseovertones.Didot’ssuperfinelinesmakethepresentationunusuallystriking.AnidealcomplementisHelveticaUltraLight,whoselineweight

matchesDidot’sserifs(inset).Didot’spatternisseeninitsrepetitive

verticals.Curvya’sandg—notethe

beautifullyundulatingthicksandthins—

sweetenthemiddleofthename.

Red,gray,black,andwhitearealwayspowerfultogether.

HelveticaNeue

imparts a look of Swissminimalism wherever it

appears.Graceful,geometric,and ice cold, it is oneof theworld’s most famoustypefaces. Expect stainlesssteelandglass.

Helveticaisthelook

ofthemodern,mechanizedworld—beautiful,controlled,andaloof.Youcanuseitforanything,aslongasit’stightly

aligned,usuallytothetopandleft.Helveticalooksbesttightlyset

andinasinglesize;differentiatewordsonlywithweightandcolor.It’sacold

typeface;you’llneedfire-on-the-grillcolors

towarmitup.

Design a flier thatcomes back to you:On a budget?Designaflierthatdoublesasits own returnenvelope!

To raisemoney fromprivatedonors to pay for its new,city-center plaza, the Lodi

Veterans Plaza Foundationneeds an attractive butinexpensive appeal.Here’s agreat solution—a flier thattells the storyand collectsthe money! It’s a letter-sizesheet suitable for desktopprintingthatfoldstobecomeits own return envelope,neatly securing the donor’scheck.

Front

Back

Foldedformailing

1. Catch the eye ofthepasserby

Whether displayed on

bulletin board or countertop,the first goal is simplyto beseen.Forthat,theflierneedsa powerful front-side imagethat’sbig.

ThedignityofageAfresh,newAmerican

flagisalwaysappealing,butit’salsocommon;weseethemallthetime.Becausetheplazahonorsveterans,anolder,

weatheredflag(right)—onethat’sseen

service—maycarrymoreweightandemotion.Visuallyricherandless

common,it’scertainlymorearresting.Thefull-pagepresentationhasrealimpactplusamarginsuitableforbudget-friendly

desktopprinting.

Front

Makeaplaceforthe

wordsCenterarectangle,andreduceitsopacitytolettheflagshowthrough.Notethatit’sslightlyoffsettowardthetop.

2. Select amonumentaltypeface

The most powerfultypography is literally set instone. Serif-style, uppercaseinscriptions convey strength,high authority, andpermanence and are correctforthisproject.

ThemajestyofstoneModernWesterntypographybegan

literallychiseledinthe

stoneofTrajan’scolumninRome20centuriesago,and

serif-style,uppercaseletteringhasconveyed

strength,highauthority,and

permanenceeversince.Toauthentically

conveythe

monumentalcharacteroftheplaza

typographically,classicGaramond(below)isanideal

choice.UnitedStatesSupremeCourtbuilding

FrontCenter,thencolorIntherectangle,centerthetypelinebyline.Note,though,thatalthoughthebigger

lineismoreimportant,sizealoneisnot

enoughtosetthetwolinesapart(above).

Nextstep,then,istosamplethetwomostdominantcolorsontheimage(left),andapplythemoredominant—inthiscaseit’sred—tothemaintitle.Theresultisthatthecolordifferentiatesonelinefromtheotherandat

thesametimeconnectsbothtothe

flag.

3. Change typestyleswhen the message

changes

Because it has no motion,centered typography conveyspermanence, but a softeningof the message requires asmall change in typestyle toless-commandingitalic.

StepuniformlydownthepageBelowthe

uppercasetitle,themessagechangestodescriptive,sentence-stylestatements,whichshouldbe

expressedbyasmallchangeoftypestyle,herefromRomantoitalic.Theemphasisisonsmall;staywithin

thetypefamilytokeepthesettingunified.Notethe

descendingtypesizestoptobottomandthatthetitleremainsalone

inred.

Sustainthetheme

Dashedbordermimicsflagstitchingandaddsahintofenclosure.Tomakeit,simplyassignroundcapsandendstoadashedline,thenapplyatinyshadow.

Agraphicalstarseparatessections.

Theruleindesignistoworkwith what’s on the pagealready (in this case, thedetails of the flag); don’tarbitrarily add differenteffects.4. Work around theenvelope

The back side is tricky. Forcontinuity, first bring all thefront-side elements—flag,colors, and typography—around, then divide yourdesignintopanelscreatedbytheflaps.

Back

Usetheflagagain

Thefull-pageflaghasmadeapowerful

impression,soonthebackittakesonlya

slivertoreestablishitspresence.Picktheslivercarefully;thisonehasstripes,stars,andthebluefieldin

pleasingproportions.

AddafocalpointUsetheirregularshapeofthePurpleHearttosoftenthestraight

edges.Itsrealismandslightoverlapaddan

eye-catchingcounterpointtotheflatpageandmarkthestartofthestory.

5. Voice modulationiskey

With a little space to tell alot of story, text handling iskey.Helpthereaderread bysetting markers—boldsubheads and italics todifferentiatethisfromthat.

Back

(1) Headline Borrowtheheadlinefromthefront—same style,same color,uppercase. Note itscap height governs

thespacebelowit. (2) Subheads Use

space-savingrun-insubheads, which youwant to blend inwhile standing out.To blend in, set attext size; to standout, use extremeweight contrast—black with regular isbetter than merelyboldwithregular.

(3) Sidebarinformation Sidepanels, which have ab u i l t - i nwidthcontrast,areidealforsidebar information.Give the sidebar adifferent texture bysetting it in italics,making it smaller,increasing theleading (linespacing), putting a

different backgroundbehind it—in thiscaseadarkerversionof the main panel—or some combinationofallthat.

Template: Flier thatcomesback

Letter-sizepage11″×8½″ (A)Returnaddressfill-

in:0.25ptlines,17.5ptapart

(B) Organizationaddress: AdobeGaramond Bold,

12.5/17pt (C) Stamp reminder:

Adobe GaramondRegular, 9.5/11.5 ptStamp box: 0.65″ ×0.75,″0.25ptline

Note:Scotchtapeworksfineasaseal,butifyouhavethebudget, have the sheetcommercially gummed.Similarly,usingpostage-paidreply mail will increaseresponse.

Small site, greatformat: This simplebeauty is ideal forprofessionals andsmallenterprises.

“But I need only a smallsite!”Howmany times haveyouthought that?Ifyou’reasoloprofessionalorpartofa

small group, the site shownhere is made for you. Itsfresh,openspaceis idealforshorttextaswellasportfolioor product images. It’sdesigned to bebeautifullysmall; it’s not a half-emptybig site. It’s easy to make,easy to maintain, andcompelling to read. Here’showtodoit.

Handsome

typographictitleinafieldofwhiteconveys

quietnessand

confidence.Itsminimalsettingsetsthetoneforthepages

tofollow.

AuniformgridIt

looksliketwosections

—onelight,onedark—butit’sreallyfour.Thetwoareasontop,logo,andnavigation

areasbeneath.1. Make thefoundation

The site is a two-column

design on a fixed-size page.Youcanuseour templateonthelastpageofthisarticle.Ifyou’ll want a different size(fairly likely), here’s how tosetitup.

Everything’sin

thirdsSetafixed-sizepagewithadepthtwo-thirdsitswidth(for

example:900×600px).Dividethespaceintothirdsbothways.You’llfillthebottomthirdwithafairlydarkcolor,thenlightentheLinksareajustenoughtobedifferent(oursis90%)andstilllooklikeonebar,not

separatesections(below).

Definethe

margins(1)Dividethethirdsintothirds.Usingthethirdasa

guide,drawyourmargins(dashedline)asshownatleft.Notethattopandbottomcomeoutnarrower

thanleftandright.(2)Widentheright

marginby150%(that3:2ratioagain).By

theway,noneofthese

measurementsmustbeexacttothepixel,justcloseenoughtore-createthelookofthe

proportions.

AlignelementsfromthebottomupThinkupsidedown.You’llaligntextandgraphics

withthegridintersection

highlightedatleft.Alltextandgraphicsmusttouchthispoint.Textintheleftcolumn

alignstotheright;textintherightalignstotheleft(below).Logo

andlinksarestationaryinthedark

bottomband.2. Place text andgraphics

Each page can carry a smallamount of text, a fewgraphics, or some of both.Themainelementsgoontheright, support elements ontheleft.

PlacethemaintextSetthetextinonesizeandtypefacebutwithboldheadlinescolored

tomatchthebottombar.Usespaces,notindents,between

paragraphsforaflushedge.Placeyour

primaryarticlesintherightcolumntouchingthebottom.Stayinsidethemargins.Don’tfudge.Ifyouhave

moretext,addpages,andplacelinkswhere

shown(below).

PlacegraphicsPlacesmallgraphicsinthenarrowleftcolumntouchingthebottom.

Noteinthiscasethatneithergraphicnor

textfillthespace.Thisisadesigntechnique.

Theresultisabeautifularcofopenspacesurroundingthematerialthatmakesreadingeasy(below).

3.Makeagallery

Its open space makes thisformat excellent fordisplaying single andmultipleimagesforcatalogs,portfolios, and so on. Placeimagesontheright,captionsontheleft.

Smallobject,big

impactLetthewhitespaceworkforyou.Asmallimageplacedin

alargespacehasmoreimpact(andmoreclarity)thanalargeimage;thespace

capturesyoureyeanddrawsittowardtheimage.Thesamecanbesaidofthelogo.Thegreenspacepushestheeye

upward,amplifyingitspresence.

MultipleimagesThe

designcanaccommodatetwo,three,four,ormoreimagesperpage.

Arrangetheimagesinarectangle.Repetitivedivisions—allonesizeorshape—lookbest.Ifyouwantdifferent

sizes,makethemvery

different(left).Stayinsidethemargins.Don’tfudge.

4.Thedetails

Except for the logo, whosestyleisuniquetoyou,setallthe type on the site—text,captions, links, everything—in one style, size, and line

spacing.

Avoidtextwraps

Workinstraightlines—up-down,left-right.Usethecolumns;putimagesononeside,textontheother.

Verdanaisa

universallyavailable,sans-seriffontwhoseminimallinesareidealforthisminimalistsite.

Size11px,linespacing16px,color50%(orso)gray.Setheadsinbold;forcontrasttheycanbeblackorcoloredtomatchthebar.

Template: Smallformatwebsite

Pagesize720×480pxMeasurementsareinpixels(px)

Design a beautifulWeb header: Createan effective headerthe easy way. Justthinkinsections.

The header of a simpleWebpage is its most importantvisual element. On manyblogs, it’s theonly visual

element.Soithasabigjobtodo! It must identify the siteand set its visual tone. Itmustconveyataglancewhatkindofsiteitisandwhatitsattitude is. The header mustalsoprovideeasynavigation.All of this is easy to do bybuilding three sections, onefor each function, andunifying them with visualsimilarities. Here’s how toputthattogether.

1. Start by divvyingupthespace

AWebheaderspansthepage

and is extremely shallow.Divide it into three sections:name, image, and navigationlinks. Work on each oneseparately.

Notideal:Halves

Better:Asymmetrical

Howbig?Asarule,thenamegoesintheupperleftandthenavigationatthebottom.Don’tlosesleepoverexact

divisions;thesizesofthesectionswill

dependonyourname(shortorlong)andimage.However,

avoidsplittingthetopspaceexactlyinhalf,whichtendstodrawattentiontothe

sectionsratherthanto

thecontent;asymmetricaldivisions

arebetter.2.Findanexpressivephoto

Abeautifulphotoiskeytoabeautifulheader.Lookforanimage that conveys itsinformation in just a sliver.

Thesurpriseishoweasythiscanbetofind.

Captureasmuchinformationasyou

canThepastoralscenehastrees,grass,

mountains,andsunlight—andlook,allofitisinonesliver!That’swhatyouwant,alittleofeverything.What’sinterestingishowlittleittakestoconveymeaning—a

branch,abladeofgrass,abitofsky.Lookespeciallyfordepth,whichisoftenexpressedwithdark-lightvalues(farright);inthisimageyoucan

seeforeground,midground,andbackground.

3.Colorthesections

Sample a range of colorsfrom the photo, sort fromdark to light, then apply acolor to each section. Payattentiontocontrasts.

HighcontrastishighenergyAcommoncolorpaletteunifiesthethreesections.

Becauseallthecolorsexistinthephoto,the

sectionswillworktogether(usually)

regardlessofhowyoumixandmatch.Thehigherthecontrastbetweensections,thehighertheenergy;lowcontrastsaremorepeaceful(butusuallylessmemorable).

4. Set the name andnavigation

Ifyouhaveachoice,setyourtype in a face thatcomplements your photo:busyphoto/quiettype;classyphoto/classy type; plainphoto/showytype.

Alternatingcolors—greentypeongoldandgoldtypeongreen—

helpunifythesections.

Keepthesetting

simple(1)Averylong

namemustbesetintwoormorelines.

Withnoascendersordescenderstocollide,uppercasetypeisidealforthis.Inthiscase,aquiet,eleganttypefaceisagoodcomplementforthebeautiful,

painterlyimage.(2)

Avoidentertainingbutscene-stealing

typefacesand(3)typefaceswithgoodbutincompatible

styles.5. Use the oppositecolor

Here, a semi-abstract photoconveys D&T’s style ofarchitecture,butitsblue/graycolorsaretoosubduedforthelogo. The solution is to usetheoppositecolor.

Bluefromthephotolookscorrectbutdoesn’tconveytherightcharacter.

High-energy

oppositesThephotoisfullofcold,corporate

bluesthatdon’tconveytheenergeticcharacteroftheyoung

designfirm.Thesolution:Retainblue’sinfluencebyusingits

opposite,orcomplement,forthe

logo.Locateblueonthecolorwheel,thenmovestraightacross(left).Complementary

colorshavenoundertonesincommon(unlike,forexample,greenandorange,whichshareyellow)andthereforehave

veryhighcontrastandenergy.Violetandyellowhavethe

highestvalue(dark-light)contrastonthe

colorwheel.6. Design to the logoorothergraphic

Fairweather Downs has usedits logo more or lessunchanged for five decades.That’s a classic! The bestthing to do in this case isdesignnottothephotobuttothelogo.Fairweather and DOWNScontrastalot—script/Roman,small/large,lowercase/uppercase, yettheir line weights andexcellent craftsmanship are

similar.

Greenandbeigearesecondarycolors,one

cool,onewarm.Borrow the logo’scharacteristics(Below)Double-line borders andscallopedcornersofthelogoare easy to transfer to theother sections and make aclassic look. Because thelogo determines the look,photoscancomeandgo.

FancybordersinInDesign(1)Drawarectangleandapplyastrokethetotalwidththatyouwantthe

doublelinetobe;hereit’stwopoints.(2)IntheStroke>Typepulldown(right),

selectThin–Thin(in

thiscase),whichconvertsthesinglelinetodouble.

(3)IntheObject>

CornerEffectsdialog,selectInverse

Rounded,specifyasize(here0p9),and

clickOK.

Design simplepresentations: Visualbrevity will help agreattalk.

Do you have a speech togive? Slide-making softwarelike PowerPoint or Keynotemakes it easy to add visualinformation to accompanyyour verbal presentation.

Your slides can include thecompany logo and colors,headlines, bullet points,photos, video clips, charts,andmore.Transitionscanbemade with cinematicdissolves, wipes, and othereffects.Allofthisishelpful.Butthemost important thing toremember is thatyou, notyourslides,aretheshow.Thepurpose of having slides is

not to make a documentarybut tosupplementyourstorywith easy-to-rememberpoints.Herearefivebasics.

Aslideisawayfortheaudiencetolearn—andremember—apointthatyou’ve

made.Memoryiskey,sokeepeachslide

verysimple.1. Use a plainbackground

A plain background willshow your information best.Soft, neutral colors areeasiest on the eyes. Avoidbright, busy, complicatedbackgrounds.

Useaplain

backgroundTheylookgoodonapage

oftemplates,butaddyourwords,andthegratuitousgraphics

impairreadabilityandsendgoofymessages(left).Asarule,useplaindarkorsoft

neutralbackgrounds,andavoidpurewhite(above),whichona

slideisblinding.

Useadarkbackground

Useaneutralbackground

Useasoftgradient

Useafaintlytextured

background2. Use a clear

typeface

Use a simple typeface thatcan be read easily fromacross the room. It shouldhave clear, basic shapes andlittle or no detail. Thinkplain. Avoid allembellishments.Whattolookfor

Whattoavoid

EmbellishmentsOutlines,shadows,andotherdetailsreducereadabilitywhileaddingalotof

visualnoise.

CondensedandboldfacesClarityrequiresdifference;condensedlettersaretoomuch

alike.Boldlettershaveopeningsthataretoosmallforgood

legibility.

ExtremeweightvariationsLarge

differencesinstroke

weightdazzletheeye.Superthinlinescan

disappear.3. Make one pointperslide

Remember,youaretheshow,and your slides are memoryprompts.Highlightonepointthat sums up each part of

your outline, put it on theslide, and speak everythingelse.

Before

ToomuchinformationLookatthisslidefor30

seconds,thencoveritandseewhatyouremember.It’stoomuch,isn’tit?Youraudiencewon’t

rememberiteither,andtheyespecially

won’trememberadozenofthese.Divideyourinformationinto

briefmemory“hooks.”

After

JustenoughPutonlythememory“hook”on

theslide,andspeakeverythingelse.Thiskeepstheaudienceattentivetoyouandtheslideshow

moving.Chooseyourhookscarefully,butuseasmanyasyouneed.Lotsofsimpleslidesarepreferableto

afewcomplicatedones.

4. Add points one...at...a...time

Alternatively,whenyouhavemanypointstomakeunderacommon heading, keep youraudienceon trackbycyclingin successivepointsone at a

timeonasingleslide.

Onasingleslide,successivepoints

appearasyougettotheminyourspeech.Thestandinghead

(“KeyMarketFacts”)helpsyouraudience

rememberwhatyourpointsrelateto.Thisshouldbeunnecessaryforashortlist,butit’shelpfulforalonglist.Notethataseachnewpointcyclesin,thepreviouspointfadesback.Allarebrief.

5.Unifywithlayout

Content—especiallygraphical content—can varya lot. Hold it together withrepetitive color, typestyle,and layout. Divide the slideinto zones, and stay withinthosezones.

Alignthephototothetopleftgridcorner

(yellow),andextendittothebottomifyoucan.Notetheleft

marginalignswiththeheaderaboveit.

Alignthechartinthesameway.

Rectangularobjectssuchaschartsandphotosarebestatholdingtogetherarectangularspace.

AlignthetypeUnlikerectangles,funnyshapedobjectswith

indefiniteedgesneedyourgoodeye.Inthiscase,thecenter-

weightedlogolookscorrectonlyinthe

centeroftheslide;thehead(“Ournew

look”)remainsalignedtotheleft.Onepointperslide,evenifithas

graphics.

Picture yourpresentation:Photographs giveyour audience anemotional connectiontoyourwords.

We lovedata!Fifty-twobasehits, 23 abandoned children,Class 3 hurricane. We track

data,weanalyzeit,wegraphit—andwecheerfullypresentit to snoozing audienceseverywhere.What’s funny isthatdata alonehasnovalue.Only in the context of reallife does it have meaning.Andreallifeisconveyedbestnotwithdatabutwithstory.So put away your text andgraphs. To tell a story, youneed the help of photos.Photos communicate on

many channels. Theywordlesslydrawtheaudienceinto your world, makeemotional connections, andprepare your listeners forwhat you have to say. Let’sseehow.

It’seasytofindgenericallyhappy

images,buttheunseensadnessthateveryone

bearswillrattleyouraudience’ssoul.Whenpitchingaprogramliketheproposedshelterabove,thinkfirstnotintermsofdollarsor“socialunits”orother

statisticaldatabutaboutwhoyou’re

helpingandwhy,thenfindanimageto

expressit.1.Youaretheshow

The first thing to understandisthatyouaretheshow;youraudience has come to hearyou, not read slides. Use aslide to fill your listeners’

minds with an image, thenfillinthedetailsorally.

Before

ToomuchstuffThis

slideisbasicallyyournotesandvisually

useless.Theinformationisfine,butitshouldcomefromyou(below),whereitcanbeaccompaniedbyyourpersonality,bodylanguage,andnuance.Thecorrect

useofaslideistomakeavisual

statementthatwordsalonecan’t.

After

UseametaphoricalimageManytopics—federalinsuranceregulations,say—don’thaveliteralimagerythatcanbe

photographed.Inthesecases,youmighttry

usingvisualmetaphors.Thinkof

yourtalkashavingchapters,anduseanimagetointroduceeachone.Theimageprovidesavisual“hook”forthe

audience,whowillrelateeverythingyousaybacktoit.Avoidcornyimages.Keep

texttoabareminimum,andusenaturalsentences.

2. One thought at atime

As stated in the previousarticle, make one point perslide,even ifyouhave roomfor more. This gives the

viewer room to think and“own” what you’re saying,keytogoodcommunication.

Before

Planes,trains,buses,taxis,589,000;

377,800;320,900;218,600—quick!Gotallthat?It’susefulinformation,butwhowillbemovedbyit,muchlessrememberit?Putthedataonfourslides,onetopicper

slide,eachaccompaniedbya

descriptive,full-screenphoto(below).Thisgivesyourviewer

roomtothinkandownwhatyou’resaying.

After

3.Usesurprise

Our minds naturallycategorize experiences into

manageable, “been-there,seen-that” compartments,afterwhichwevirtuallystopseeing. (“Oh, that’s anapple.”) Surprise gets pastthose categories and re-engagestheviewer.

Before

NotengagingThecompaniesmaybe

different,butthisslide

isonlyafancylistofnotes.Visualeffectscannotsubstitutefor

creativity;themulticolorrectanglesandshadowedtypeaddonlybusy-ness,notcommunicationvalue.Timetostartthinkingaboutthat

nap.

After

EngagingOrange

insidetheappleissurprisingandfamiliaratthesametime.Thesimplequestion—notastatement—getstheaudiencethinkingandreadyforwhatyou’llsaynext.Familiarityisimportant;merely

weirdoroffthewall

doesn’twork.Surpriseisingivingthe

familiaranunexpectedtwist.

4.Befunny

Everyonelikestolaugh.Fewtechniquesaremoreeffective—or more enjoyable—thangoodhumor,whichcanmake

your point faster than amountainofdata.

Before

AgoodslideAlthoughithasnophoto,thisisagoodslidebecause

thechartissimpleandclearlyshowsatrend.Butoyvey!It’sbeenaterribleyear!Itstartedbadandgotworse,and,well,it’snowsobadthattheonlything

todoislaugh...

After

Madebetter...whichiswhatacarefullyselectedimagewill

haveyouraudiencedoing.They’ll

rememberthispicturelongafterthey’ve

forgottenyourcharts,andbecauseit’sfunny,you’llhavetheirsympathyifnottheirhelpinsolvingyourproblems.

5.Findbeauty

Beauty can convey ourdeepest aspirations.All byitself, a beautiful image canlift the audience out of thedaily humdrum and intoworlds rich with wonder,inspiration,possibilities. Nomatterwhat your topic, lookforwaystousebeauty.

Before

TryingtoohardIt’sanartisticimageonanasymmetric,two-tone

background,butitwouldmakeabetterpagelayoutthana

slide.Beforedoingallthiswork,remember:story,notdata.Ratherthantalkaboutyourtopic,findawayto

showit.

After

BeautifulThephotoaloneconveysaworld

ofsensory

information,andit’seasiertodesign,too!Thelushimageimmersesyouraudienceinthe

presenceandfeeloftheforest(“Sothisisbamboo!”).Asinglelineofbeautifultype

labelssimply.

6.Dramatize

Drama istheater. It’s animage intended to create aneffect—exciting,unexpected,impressive. To dramatize ist oproject—make themotions grander, thecontrasts sharper, thedifferencesgreater.

Before

GratuitousgraphicsTheproblemwithastocktemplateshould

beobvioushere.Theglobeandskygradientmaylooknice—bythemselves—butonyourslidethey’relike

stagehandswhowanderedinfrontofthecameras;theydistracteveryone’sattention.Lostinthe

graphics,yourpointisbarelyvisible.

After

DramatizePutthe“know-your-goal”pointcenterstage.Impossiblewitha

templatebuteasywithaphotograph,notewhat’shere:highvantagepoint,darkdarks,lightlights,

everylinepullingthe

samedirection—cameraangle,shadow,

lighting.Thisistheater—alittlebigger

thanlife,slightlyunrealistic,effective.

Tryit!7.Showfaces

Morecanbereadinahumanface than in a thousandbooks.Itisthemostfamiliarof all images and central toallpowerfulstories.There issimply no substitute. Lookforfacesthatconveyemotion—joy, sorrow, tension,suspenseandsoon.

Before

Justthefacts.It’sacutecartoon,andthedata’sthere,butthe

graphicsaddnothingtothestatement;you’dbebetterjusttellingyouraudiencehowmanydogswere

adopted.Conflictinggraphicalstyles—dark,sophisticatedgradientvs.bright,goofycartoon—

weakenitfurther.

After

Facestellastory.

There’slessactualdatahere—SPCAisnotmentioned—butmuchmorestory;everyoneinthe

audiencewillrelatetothisimage!Insteadofmerelyduplicatingyourwords,thisslidestrengthensyourtalk

withitsemotionalcontent;theaudiencewillnowfeelwhatyou’resaying.

Design a panoramicbooklet: A crossbetween book andmagazine, thislandscape format isunusually easy to layout.

The problem with ordinary,letter-size pages is that

they’rebig, and designingonecanfeellikefurnishingacastle—stuff sprawls,disconnects, doesn’t work.This landscape-formatbooklet solves that. On itshalf-sizepages,storiesneatlyr u npicture-text-picture-text,one after the other, all theway through.This simplifiesdesign. Even better, it’s anatural way to presentmaterial; the reader followsthestoryanddoesn’twander.

Here’showtomakeit.Open...

Wide,linearformat

isexcellentfornarrative-style

presentations,histories,

documentaries,catalogs,andsoon.Andwithamodern,tabloid-sizeprinter,itcanbefinishedonadesktop.Itsmonitor-shapedpagesarealso

idealforonline

viewing....intoapanoramicspread

1.Formatbasics

The format is simple.Setupfacingpages,half-lettersize,

landscape orientation, twocolumns per page. Twospreadsexactlyfit,oneabovethe other, on a 17″ × 11″sheet. See the end of thisarticle for the exact set-upspecs.

Facingpages,

landscapeorientation,twocolumnsperpage.

Placeaphoto...

...andflowcopy.Repeatthroughout.

2. Layoutconfigurations

The key to a handsomedesign is uniformity andrepetition. Headlines,deckheads, and text stay thesame throughout, and photosare always one to threecolumnswide.Thebookletiseasytolayoutand read because everythingmoves horizontally. Thereare a few rules:A columnmay contain a photo or text

but never both. The photoscan touch the edges (asshown) or not, but stick towhichever style you use.Copy fills the columns in asequence—headline, thendeckhead, then text. Staywith your style; if you usedeckheads, use themeverywhere. If you captionone photo, caption them all.Captionsgoatthebottom.

3.Typesoftype

For a narrative, you’ll wantseveral levels of type forheads, text, captions, and soon. To coordinate theseeasily, use one type familythathasan italicandseveral

weights.Our booklet is set in ITCCheltenham, a square-proportioned type family ofRoman and condensed stylesinweightsfromlighttoultrabold,allwithitalics.

Headline (A) is set inthe biggest, boldesttype. A headline thatspans two columnsshould be only one linedeep. Its color, if youchoose to use color,should be the samethroughout.

Deckhead (B)elaborates on theheadline. It’s sizedbetween the headline

andtextinacontrastingitalic.

Subhead(C)istextsizebut set in attention-getting bold. Generallyused to flag thebeginning of a newthought or section,subheads can double asaway to break up long,uninviting expanses oftext. Note that one fullline space is left empty

aboveit.Don’tindent. Body copy (D)

Generally set in 9- or10-pt size, body copycan be aligned left as itishereorjustifiedlikeabook. Whichever youchoose, be consistentthroughout.Don’tindentfirstparagraphs.

Caption(E)isgenerallyset one or two pointssmaller than the body

copy and usually initalics or bold,depending on thecontrast you want.Captions are important;theywillusuallybereadbefore the text. Notethat two full lines areemptyaboveit.

4. Single-storyspreads

Single-storyspreadshavethespace all to themselves. Astorycanstartandendononespread, or it can easilycontinuetothenextspread.Generally speaking, a storylooks best when its leadphoto is on the left. Thisgives you three possibleconfigurations, as shownhere. Three or moreconsecutive columns of text

should be broken up with asubhead(firstexample).

One-columnlead

photo

Two-columnlead

photo

Three-columnlead

photo5.Two-storyspreads

Two-story spreads containthe end of one story and thebeginning of another. Thephotos can belong to eitherstory but as a rule look bestplacedinbetweenasabuffer.

One-columnend,two-columnlead

photo

Two-columnend,one-columnlead

photo

One-columnend,one-columnlead

photo

One-andtwo-column

headlinesHeadlinesinasmallbookletmustbebrief—twolinesmaxforone-columnleads(firstandsecondexamples)oronelineforatwo-columnlead(thirdexample).Writeshort.Putimportant,

descriptive

embellishmentsinthedeckhead.Thisgivesyoutwo“voices”

insteadofone,whichwillengagethereader

more.6.Spacefillers

A story that’s only a few

lines shortor longshouldbeedited to fit exactly; don’tcompensate by fudging theformat, and don’t leave onlya few lines dangling atop acolumn.Even with careful planningand editing, though, you’llusually have some leftoverspaces to fill. Pull quotes—useful passages pulled fromthe story—make easy,flexiblefillers.

For bigger spaces, pullquotesmakeexcellent fillersandcanevenbeusedinsteadof photos. Because theycreate valuable breaks, pullquotes can also be plannedin, especially in longerstories.A reader will perusephotos (and other visualstuff)firstandgenerallyreadthe headlines, captions, andpull quotes before readinganytext.Acarefuleditorcan

take advantage of this bycraftingabrowser-levelstoryusingtheseelementsalone.

Template:Panoramicbooklet

Flat size 17″ × 5½″ Finalsize8½″×5½″

Columnguidesare

fortext,andrulerguidesareforphotosTextcolumnshave1p6(quarterinch)between;textand

photosshouldhaveahalf-inchspace

between.Todothis,usethecolumnguides(purple)toplacetext,

andtherulerguides(blue)toplacephotos.

InDesignIntheNewDocumentdialog,

specifythefollowing:

CheckFacingPages

PageSize:Letter-Half Orientation:Landscape Width:8½″(51p0) Height:5½″(33p0) Columns:2 Gutter:1p6 Margins: Top:4p6 Bottom:3p0

Inside:3p0 Outside:3p0 ClickOK

Design below theline: Simpletechnique creates areport that looksopenandinviting.

Reports arrive on thedesigner’s desk piecemealfrommultiple sources, oftenwithtoomanywordsandtoo

few photos. It’s your job toconvert that stackof randomclutter into a cohesive,smoothlyflowingpublicationthat feels open and inviting.Howdoyoudoit?Take a visual tip frommuseum displays. Start withone long, horizontal line—ahangline—and suspendeverythingbelowit.Thiswillgive the page its flow. Theopen space above the line

gives the page its airy,invitingfeel.Havealook.

Whatisahangline?

Thinkclothesline;it’sawaytosuspend

everythingmid-air.Ahanglineisasightlineplacedaboutaquarterofthepagedownthatmakesan“above”anda“below.”Thewidetopmargin—the

“above”—isreserved

forheadlinesonly.1.Makethelines

The hangline is the masterhorizontal line. Columnsprovide the verticalguidelines to work a varietyof elements into a smooth,page-to-pageflow.

Placethehanglineaboutaquarterway

down.

Setupaseven-column

grid.Placetheheadline.

Startattheline,and

hangthepageelements.

Fillinfromleftto

right.2. Design below theline

Vary column widths toconvey differing pace oremphasis. Keep the textflowing from top to bottom.Don’t leave gaps in themiddle or jump overelements. How wide shouldcolumns be? Look foroptionsbelow.Forside-by-sidestoriesuseabackgroundcolortounifytheparts of each story while

keeping the two layoutsseparate.Besuretocolortheentirepage,notjustpartofit,to maintain the consistencyandtheopenfeel.

How wide should the textcolumnsbe?Rulesofthumb:

Two-column is newsy. Bestforlegendsandsidebars.

Three-column is the easiesttoread.Acomfortablewidth.

Four-column is book-like.One-column is reserved forcaptions.

Five-column is elegant butslower to read. Use widerleading.

3.Hangthepictures

Like text, photos hang fromthehangline.Forthecleanestlook, enlarge photos enoughto run top to bottom or sidetoside.Don’t“float”aphoto

mid-pageorwraptextaroundit.

Toptobottom...

Sidetoside...

4.Wheretohangthenextstory

Start all stories at the top,none at mid-page. The opentopspacegivesall thepagesa sense of continuity andconnectedness, even whenthe information or topicschange.

Distributelineendingsacross

multiplepagesRunalongstorypagetopageuntilitends.Inmostcases,itwillstopshortofthebottom,leavinganemptygap.

Ifthegapislarge(above,left),avoidstartinganewstory

here.Instead,maintainalooseclothesline

effectandredistributethecopy,leavingallthebottomedges

slightlyragged(aboveright).Startthenext

storyatthetopofthefollowingcolumn.

5. Hangline connectscovertoinside

Cover and first spread set asceneofopen,flowingspace;hangline maintainscontinuity. Dramatic againstblack, the minimal text

seems to hang like thesatelliteindeepspace.Cover

Thecoverandfirstinsidespreadwill

neverbeseentogetherastheyarehere.Butnotehowasimplehanglinevisuallyconnectstheseseparateobjects.

Thintailoverlappingthehanglinedoesn’tinterruptthevisualflow,becausethe

massoftheimageis

belowthehangline.Firstspread

Blackplaystworoles1)Likethehangline,theblackbackground

connectsthefrontcovertothefirst

spread.2)Inaddition,blackworksjustlikewhiteandcreatesaninvitingsenseofspaciousnessandvisualflow.

Index

A

AachenBoldtypeface,51Addlayermask,73AdjustmentLayer,74Adobe Garamond typeface,174,177

Alignment effectsof,101,142 optical,48Analogous colors,25–26,30,31,60,124Analphabeticmarks,49Anchors, establishing visual,15Apostrophes,49Arms,50Ascenders,50,51

Avant Garde typeface,173,174,176B

Backgrounds blurring,69 colorfor,67 forslides,200Banners, photographic,66,100Bars,50

BauerBodonitypeface,39Beauty,powerof,209Bleedarea,162Blur,69Bookmantypeface,46Borders,94–101Bowls,50Brochures columnwidth in,135,

140,144 common rectangular

approachto,132–34 continuitywithin,146 cover image for,136,

142,149 creating theme for,

132–40 pocket-size,148–52 roleofpanelsin,136 story-style,141–47Bureau Grotesque typeface,178Businesscards

colorsfor,165 envelopeas,130 logotypeson,176–80 objectson,166 photos on,125, 160,

162–67 relationship of Web

siteto,167 silhouette logo on,

129 two-sided,163

typeon,125,161,164 vertical-format,165C

Cameratilt,65Captions balanceand,106 oncenterstage,107 colorof,145 at the end of a line,

105 improving photos

with,108,110–11 movementand,104 multiple, on one

photo,109,112 overlaying photos,

105,108 oversized,111 in raw, ragged style,

108 shapeof,102,103

whispering,103 with wide leading,

103Century Expanded typeface,46Charts,159Chicago Manual of Style,The,45Colorpalettes creating,30–31 editing and applying,

32–34

ofphotos,28–30 typesof,25–26Co l o r s .See also Colorpalettes;Colorwheel analogous,25–26, 30,

31,60,124 for business cards,

165 choosing,6–7 incommon,23 complementary,25–

26,31,61,197 coolvs.warm,7,29 importanceof,27 matching, for

identification,72 organizing,7 for photo gallery

backgrounds,67 primary,23,26 relationshipsbetween,

25–26 secondary,23,26

split complementary,25–26,31,85,124

tertiary,23 typeand,43,145 on Web pages,114,

116,117,123,196–98Colorwheel basichueson,23 definitionof,22 shades and tints on,

24

Columns segmenting images

into,96 width of,46, 118,

135,140,144Complements,25–26,31,61,197Complete Manual ofTypography,The,49Contrast,creating,42–45Copperplatetypeface,178Counters,50,120

Covers for brochures,136,

142,149 condensingdesignof,

79 with grid of photos,

77 narrow,78 with negative space,

80 withone-linetitle,83,

99

picture-frame,84 with recycled photo

backdropfortext,81 relationship of inside

pagesto,86–93 withsinglephoto,85 sleeve-style,82 ofsquares,76Cropping,63–66Curves,75,140D

Descenders,50,51Desktop printers, limitationsof,94Directmail,168Dramatization,210Dropcaps,133E

Ears,50

Edges,aslines,150Empty space, power of,101,166,190,191Energy,creating,97,100Envelopes asbusinesscard,130 flierswith,181–87F

Faces

cropping,64 powerof,211Fillets,50Fliers imagesfor,182 with return envelope,

181–87 typefor,183,184Focalpoints creating,68–75 endofalineas,105

ateyelevel,19,98 phantom,3 primary,3 secondary,3 single lineof typeas,

99,104Folding,18Fractions,47Fullbleeds,94FuturaBooktypeface,174

G

Galliardtypeface,11Garamondtypeface,46,183Gargoyletypeface,40Georgiatypeface,120–21Glyphatypeface,9Goldenrectangle,17GradientFeatherTool,164Graphs,photo,159

Grids natural,5 photosin,77,88–89H

Hairlines,50Headlines incolor,139,190 placementof,13 recycling,186

typefacesfor,9,10Helvetica Neue typeface,42,43,150,177,180Hierarchy,visual,170Horizons,leveling,65HTFDidottypeface,180Hues,23Humor,208I

Images.SeealsoPhotos artistictiltfor,65 for brochure covers,

136 creating themes with,

139 evaluating,36 forfliers,182 focalpointsof,3 giving new meaning

to,55,63,66 horizontal,98

leveling,65 making connections

with,157 multiple, from a

singlephoto,54–62 multiple, on cover,

84,85 with overlapping

frames,62 onpostcards,126–27 scaleof,56

segmenting, incolumns,96

selectingatypefacetocomplement,35–41

simple,136Impressumtypeface,145Inventory,takingvisual,3–6L

Landscapeview,19,98Layout,stepsin,12–15

Leading tight,137 wide,103,118,143Letterhead,168–71Letterspacing panoramic,115 tight,46,127 wide,116,170Lettrés Eclatées typeface,179Ligatures,46

Lines curving,75,140 edgesas,150 endof,asfocalpoint,

105 ofsight,107Links main,116 sub,117,192 intypography,50Logos

on business cards,176–80

controllingspace,99 functionof,160,172 photosin,128 silhouette,129 text-only,172–80 typecoordinatedwith,

97,116 on Web pages,114,

115,116,119,198

Loops,50M

Margins printer,94 varying,98 widthof,20–21Minimalism,87,124,192Monochromatic palettes,25–26,30,116

Mosaicfilter,6–7Movement, creating visual,6,96,97,104,125,179Mugshots,cropping,64MyriadProtypeface,10N

Negativespace,80,178Newsletters,153–58O

Optical Margin Alignment,48Outlines,68Overshoots,50P

Pages folding,18 orientationof,19 perceptionof,17

proportionsof,17 sizeof,17–18 with unprintable

borders,94 visualcenterof,19Paper aligningto,15,142 rectangular nature of,

14 textureof,130ParkAvenuetypeface,51

Photos.SeealsoImages background color for,

67 blurring background

in,69 “breakout,”149 on business cards,

160,162–67 captions overlaying,

105 connections between,

156

oncovers,84–85 cropping,63–66 fadingpartof,73,164 focalpointsof,68–75 graphswith,159 inagrid,77,88–89 improving, with

captions,108,110–11 leveling horizons in,

65 inlogos,128

with multiplecaptions,109,112

natural color paletteof,28–30

powerof,204 recycling part of, for

textbackdrop,81 replacingpartof,with

outline,68 spotlightsin,70 taking multiple

imagesfrom,54–62

on Web pages,191,195

Picture-framecovers,84PlanetKosmostypeface,179Pointsize,51Portraits,cropping,64Portraitview,19Postcards,126–27Posters,124Presentations.SeealsoSlides beautyand,209

dramatizationin,210 humorin,208 role of slides in,199,

205 surprisein,207 typefacesfor,201Primarycolors,23,26Primes,49Printermargins,94Punctuation alignmentand,48

apostrophes,49 properstylefor,45 quotationmarks,49Q

Quotationmarks,49R

Rectangles

avoiding,134 golden,17Returnenvelopes,181–87Rivers,46Rulers,designingwithout,2–15S

Secondarycolors,23,26Secondpages,designing,86–

92Serifs,50,120,170Shades,24Shapes ofletters,173 observing,6 organic,93Shoulders,50Sidebars,186Silhouettelogos,129Slides.SeealsoPresentations

backgroundsfor,200 highlightingonepoint

in,202,206 with metaphorical

images,205 multiple points in,

202,203 photosin,204–11 roleof,199,205 typefacesfor,201 unifying,203

Slooptypeface,175,177Spines,50Split complements,25–26,31,85,124Spotlights,70Spreads,designing,21Spurs,50Stems,50Storybookformat,141,149Stress,intypography,50Strokes,50

Subheads,run-in,186Surprise,207Swashes,50T

Tails,50Tear-offpanels,168,171Terminals,50Tertiarycolors,23Texture

observing,6 ofpaper,130 of typefaces,11, 14,

174Themes,creating,132–40Times Roman typeface,38,51,125Timestypeface,120–21Tints,24Titles in all caps,83, 170,

184 one-line,83,104Trajantypeface,38Trixietypeface,108Type.SeealsoTypefaces aligning,48,101,142 badly set,

intentionally,108 blackvs.white,44 colorand,43,145 contrastin,42–45

coordinated withlogos,97,116

highlighting ideaswith,138,186

justified,46,143 leading for,103, 108,

118 ligatures,46 onpostcards,126–27 setting correctly,45,

49 sizeof,51,101

spacing,46 stacked,44 weightof,43Typefaces(general) to complement a

graphic,35–41,97 conveying energy

with,97 identifying,50 forletterheads,170 meaningand,176

“seeing,” by turningupsidedown,10

selecting,8–11 forslides,201 stenciled,177 textureof,11,14,174 viewingdistancesfor,

9 for Web pages,115,

120–21,196Typefaces(specific)

AachenBold,51 Adobe Garamond,

174,177 Avant Garde,173,

174,176 BauerBodoni,39 Bookman,46 Bureau Grotesque,

178 CenturyExpanded,46 Copperplate,178 FuturaBook,174

Galliard,11 Garamond,46,183 Gargoyle,40 Georgia,120–21 Glypha,9 Helvetica Neue,42,

43,150,177,180 HTFDidot,180 Impressum,145 LettrésEclatées,179 MyriadPro,10

ParkAvenue,51 PlanetKosmos,179 Sloop,175,177 Times,120–21 TimesRoman,38,51,

125 Trajan,38 Trixie,108 Verdana,192U

United States GovernmentPrintingOfficeStyleManual,45V

Verdanatypeface,192W

Webpages

d e s i g n i n g ,113–23,188–93

footerson,119 headers for,115,119,

123,194–98 hierarchyin,119 logos on,114, 115,

116,119,198 mainlinkson,116 mainstageof,118 open space in,190,

191

photoson,191,195 relationship of

businesscardsto,167 sizeof,114 for small sites,188–

93 structureof,114,188,

189 sublinkson,117,192 typefaces for,115,

120–21,196 use of color in,114,

116,117,123,196–98welcoming,122–23White space, power of,101,166,190,191Wordmarks,172WordsintoType,45X

X-height,50,51,120

[*]Onesquaremeterinarea[*] Because the wheel isdeliberately basic, you willrarelymake an exactmatch.It’sonlyaguide.[*] How old is old? Trajan,one of today’s most popularserif typestyes, is based onthe engraved text at the footofTrajan’sColumninRomeinscribed nearly 1,900 yearsago! Many other everyday

serif typestyles are 100 to300 years old. Talk aboutstandingthetestoftime!