10 Things Publication

For this brief I first determines my paper size which I chose to be A5, and then I went on to determine the layout. I made a few digital examples to get an idea of which layout would be most appropriate.

It was important to me that I made it very readable to make the readers job as easy as possible so I spent a lot of time determining my layout.

I used guides to determine my grid format (rule of thirds) and highlighted the content with boxes.

This layout ideas helped me determine which I wanted to use and which were most effective and constructive. Similarly, using the grids allowed me to make easy decisions based on how the boxes coincided with each other, and I knew that with an existing order and format to the design, that I could lead the reader across the page in the manner I intend based on my content.

For my first design, I planned on keeping it simple, one image per double page accompanied buy a small amount of to-the-point text, and wanted to keep the whole style quite minimalist.

I chose to use Helvetica Light to remain in touch with the minimalist theme, and also to use as a reference as an ideal typeface to use throughout the publication.

I varied the designs on each double page while maintaining the same grid. I thought that since the layouts were so simple, to keep them the same throughout might make the whole thing seem a bit tedious towards the end.

I used mostly images from blogs to use as an ideal reference to what the content is referring to, so that the viewer could recognise the correlation between the two. This would make the importance of the point much more evident and if the reader found the text unclear, the image is a substitute

To lead by example, I chose to only use colour for images and keep the layout and colour scheme of the text black and white, exaggerating the 'less is more' them I was exhibiting.

By dissecting the pages with a single straight line I was able to break up the content and add a slight informality to prevent the publication from appearing very stiff.

When I finished the final digital version I had concerns that it had become a bit too dull, instead of minimalist. So since I had my content I decided to play around a lot more with structure, and explore making it a little more relaxed.

I looked into some of my previous research and explored the idea of using colour (still in-keeping with my 'rules') and to break up the layout to make it more relaxed. I kept the same type but lowered the size and made the actual graphic design principle much more evident. I spent some extra time finding the appropriate images while also trying to incorporate some of my own examples, and added a title and contents page.

Below is the final digital version of my spread after I had made these alterations:

I was much more satisfied with me second version that with the first. I haven't ventured too far from the minimal approach but have made the dynamic more interesting in itself.

Design Principles Research

1. What are points, pixels and picas?

A Pica is a typographic unit of space, 6 of which approximately equate to an inch.

There are 12 points in a pica and 6 picas in an inch, so there are 72 points to an inch. 72 point type is 1 inch high, 36 point is half an inch etc.

A pixel is a point and smallest element of an image on a screen and the image is composed of lots of pixels, and are normally represented in dots or squares. Each Pixel is considered a sample of the original image, with more of them providing a more accurate representation of the original. The colours in each pixel are usually represented in either RGB or CMYK.

The context of a pixel can highly alter the definition of the image, and being printed on a page, carried electronically, represented digitally, or on a display device or digital camera will make the image appear slightly different. The term 'pixel' refers usually to the unit of measurement when defining resolution.

The more pixels used to represent an image, the more accurate a representation of the original it will be and less pixels will blur the image slightly, sometimes referred to as the resolution.

This image shows how pixels can vary in terms of shape and is not always represented as a square. It shows how an image can be reconstructed differently, using dots, lines, or filtering.

What are grids, columns and gutters?

Grids are crucial when designing the layout of a design. They are made up of straight horizontal and vertical lines that can be easily altered, and when used on the page of a digital design, they are not printed with the design. Grids can be narrowed down into different types; rule of thirds, Golden Ratio, baseline grid or columns.
Columns run vertically down the page to break it up and to form the layout of the page in association with the grid, and are ordinarily filled with text of image.
A gutter is the inside margin of the page and is kept blank in between two facing pages and allows a designer to appropriately space their layout


What are rulers, boxes, folio numbers and drop caps?

The term 'folio number' refers to the page number. Drop caps is the name of a style to layout text in which the first letter of a paragraph is enlarged and the other text wraps around it.

What is DPS and what does it do?

DPS is an abbreviation of 'double page spread' and it is used mostly for function, guiding the reader around the spread, but for aesthetics. It is a format used for books/booklets/magazines etc.

What is the Golden Ratio?

The golden ratio refers to the quantities in which something is divided into two sections. It requires the longer length divided by the shorter length to equal the whole length divided by the larger length. This equates to the ratio being approximately 1:1.61803...



In this session we received some feedback on our own layout designs, and I showed the Indesign brief we were given as part of Design Practice. This is the feedback I got:

'Really clever use of image interacting with title. Good use of half tones that compliment but don't interfere with image. Maybe try setting body copy justified to fill the text box. Maybe make title a little bigger?'

'Good idea to overlay the image with text. Text could benefit from some subheadings or part of it highlighted - consider drop caps.'

'Very well though out layout. Good use of grids. Good use of opacity in text box. Maybe there needs to be more space at the bottom of text.'

'Maybe look into altering the size of the type.'

'I like the full image background. The overlaying text on a washed out screen works really well in contrast with the zebra stripes - interesting composition'

'The use of image as background really stands out and makes the page appealing. Nice use of half tones to make text stand out. Consistent colour scheme. Consider page numbers and text size.'

'Good use of point size, hierarchy guides viewer to important text. Consider aligning text on both pages.'

'Good striking image to use to create interesting spread. Complimented by simple and strong grid structure.'

Design Principles - Constructing Grids

When applying a grid to a design it is important to know what is needed from the grid and how it is required to be produced. It is best to know all other details concerning the design before constructing the grid so that when making it the designer can take into account the typeface, stock etc. Creating proportionate thumbnails and examples is a good way of experimenting to ensure that the one you chose fits the criteria best.

When creating the thumbnails, think about columns and how these will be impacted by an image on the page, and the size this image can be.

When applying type to your layout, the first line must fit to the top of the grid and the last line must sit on the bottom.

Type and Image

8 field grids are used frequently for advertising purposes and brochures, which can often be subdivided into 16 grids. These grids allows for variation in sizes of illustration, but you need to have a good and clear idea of the composition of what you are designing, the grid is only a tool that aids the creation of balanced designs.

We created some grids in Indesign in a couple of different ways. Under 'Layout' you can select 'Margins and Columns' and can use that to add columns into the page to create a grid.

This can be achieved just as easily by choosing 'Create Guides' under 'Layout' and using that to divide the page into columns and rows:

The simplest way to make grids is by using the rectangle tool, which allows you to create evenly proportioned columns and rows simple by up and right arrow keys. this will produce grids that you can then adjust if necessary:

Design Principles - Grids and Cannons

A Van de Graaf cannon is constructed in a way that is supposed produce proportions that are particularly aesthetically pleasing, and is thought of as a method used in book design.

This is how a Van de Graaf cannon would be proportioned on a double page spread. It allows for two text boxes to be places in the middle of each page ensuring that the reader is still able to see all the text properly.

We drew out this method to help us gain an understanding of the proportions of the layout.

Column Width and Margin Proportions

Both the column and margin widths had a larger effect on legibility than expected. It is considered that there should be approximately 7 words per line of text for any length of body copy, and to make the open space appear beter it is important to consider the leading (the distance between each line). Both particularly long and particularly short lines of text can be quite strenuous to read, as a lot of energy is used in maintaining sight of a single line for a long period of time, when reading should be made as effortless as possible.

Margins make a big different to the impact of the page as a whole, when they are too narrow, the text can seem very overwhelming, whereas when they are too wide they appear exaggerated when compared to the text. It is required for the margins on either side, top and bottom of the text to be well balanced in order to create a relaxed layout for the reader.

However, more interesting page designs are not symmetrical, and they aren't required to be to be pleasing

We designed a few small layouts to look into how they are created and which are considered most effective, allowing us to develop an understanding of layouts that work well and those that don't.

We digitalised each of these layouts to give a clearer view of them and allow us to compare: