Good Publication Design The top ten tips for creating professional print documents
How do I create a well-designed print publication? Good publication design is an art form. Attractively presenting written words on a page involves a set of design techniques and standards that are very different from those associated with other types of visual communication mediums. Creating a high quality publication involves well-written text, suitable typography, appropriate images and graphics, and effective layout design. Whether you re producing a book, brochure, flyer or newsletter, the quality of your layout design will determine how quickly your readers are able to navigate through your publication and how easily they can read it. By understanding and following the ten basic principles outlined in this ebook you will be able to whip almost any document into shape. You will be in a better position to create print publications that look professionallydesigned and achieve their desired outcome. 1
TIP 1 Consider the purpose of your publication The best way to approach the initial design and layout of any publication is to first consider its purpose and audience. What message are you trying to convey with your document? It is important to have a clear understanding of the primary message you want to present. You are then better able to decide which section of the publication should be given visual priority. You should consider the following factors before planning your layout design: Who is your target audience? Adults or children? Specialists or laypersons? Is your publication mainly text-based or does it contain numerous graphics? What size do you want the final publication to be? Is the publication designed for black-and-white or full-colour (CMYK) printing? Do you want the publication to be printed? If so, will it be digitally or offset printed? Once you have the answers to these questions, you can start thinking about how to effectively organise the content of your document. 2
TIP 2 Prepare content before designing the layout Before you begin planning the layout of your publication, you should ensure that the text is factually accurate and completely free from errors. Get someone else to proofread your written material. It is helpful to have every text element carefully reviewed by a competent editor so you avoid the need for expensive corrections at the printing stage. An editor is able to act as a fresh set of eyes, finding mistakes and contradictions that you may have initially overlooked. Establish conformity of formatting styles for headlines, subheads, body text, and captions to ensure consistency and assist readers comprehension. Create visual interest with pull quotes, drop caps and boxed text. Recognise that when people skim through a publication, they use such elements to quickly decide whether or not to continue reading. Create quick thumbnail sketches to help you create a picture of the final result in your mind. This is important in order to create a cohesive design that looks professional and is easy to navigate. 3
TIP 3 Limit your choice of fonts The primary goal of typography is to enhance the readability of a document. It is important for the type to effectively communicate its intended message and also function well from a design perspective. Regardless of how pretty a page layout is or how unique a font selection is, if the typography makes the material on the page harder to read, it has failed to do its job properly. The choice of font can have a major impact on the professionalism of a publication. Using too many different fonts is visually confusing for readers. Likewise, highly decorative typefaces can be hard to decipher. Resist the temptation to overdesign your document. Instead,consider using only two font families in your publication: one for headings and subheads, and one for the body text. Research shows that serif fonts especially at smaller sizes (8-11 points) are easier to read that sans serif fonts. This is because your eyes track across the serifs ( little feet ) of each letterform, thereby making the document easier to read. Serif fonts are often associated with tradition and can lend an air of authority to the text. In contrast, sans serif fonts can look more informal or friendly than serif type and are often used for headlines, advertising and display signage. San serif font Serif font 4
TIP 4 Consider the impact of colour When designing a publication layout, colour can be used to convey mood, create images, and attract readers attention. Our reaction to colour is almost instantaneous and has a profound impact on the choices we make everyday. Colour helps to tie a layout design together, emphasising important information, and leading the eye through a design. If different colours are randomly used throughout a publication without regard for how they influence the audience s expectations, they can detract from the design rather than enhance it. Therefore, it is good policy to ensure that the emotional qualities of your colour scheme are appropriate to the publication s content and target audience. For example, a predominantly red colour palette within a design usually represents strong emotions love, anger, passion while blue or green can make a design seem calm, cool and peaceful. Likewise, gender can have an impact on colour preferences with females typically liking pink or purple whereas males often prefer navy blue or brown. 5
TIP 5 Follow a simple grid layout A grid is an effective way of providing balance and proportion to document design layouts. It supplies an underlying structure or a transparent framework for determining where to align graphic elements and text in a publication. Using consistent margins or columns in your layout design creates a basic structure that unifies a document, so ensuring the publication is clean, readable, and logically ordered. A simple grid layout utilises wellproportioned column widths, gutter margins and starting points for repeating elements. A well-designed grid encourages variations in the scale and placement of visual elements in the publication without relying wholly on arbitrary judgements. The grid offers a rationale and a starting point for each print composition by converting a blank area into a structured field. Lack of structure and a clear visual hierarchy is the reason many designs fail to attract and hold viewers attention. It is important that one visual element is dominant to provide a focal point for the reader s eye. There should also be an underlying order of emphasis for other elements in the design. 6
TIP 6 Use white space effectively White space is the distance or area between, or around, the different visual elements of a publication. It separates or unifies, highlights, and gives a design some breathing room and provides the eyes with a place to rest. White space often provides balance to the layout design of a publication. Ineffective use of white space (or possibly overly planned use) can make the layout design feel crowded and claustrophobic. Claustrophobic publication layouts occur when columns of text crowd each other and the edges of a page. However, too much white space can make the design seem unfinished; as though it s missing something. You should always try to make use of graphics (photos, artwork, charts, logos etc) to give readers a visual break from long blocks of text. Once you have an awareness of the rules with regards to white space, you can also experiment with breaking them in order to create a different emotional response in your audience. 7
TIP 7 Focus on readability of your publication Designing print publications for readability involves a delicate balance between text and graphics, visual weight and white space, structure and spontaneity. Unlike audiovisual media that flows over, around and into the brain in an alpha state, the act of physically reading a printed page requires the reader s eye to engage in both rest and motion while information is actively processed. An understanding of how readers absorb information is helpful when deciding how to structure your printed work. Reading is learned top-tobottom, left-to-right. Good publication design follows that basic premise by guiding the reader from the opening paragraph to the last line of the publication with as little distraction as possible. Effective publication design engages the reader by using creative text elements, along with carefully selected images which support comprehension of the written content. Important factors to consider in relation to a publication s readability are the context in which the information is presented, the audience s attention span, the style of the text, and the purpose of the illustrations. 8
TIP 8 Pay close attention to image selection Images help to attract readers to the text in a document. They can also communicate information that is difficult to describe succintly in words. When selecting which pictures to incorporate into a publication, it is best to choose those images that have a consistent point of view, colour palette or visual attitude. The images used throughout a publication should look as though they are part of a set, even if they are from different sources. An audience often reads a picture sequence before reading the text. Therefore, you should pay close attention to the images you decide to incorporate in your document to ensure they convey the story effectively and don t cause readers to make false visual connections or assumptions. In situations where you want to include two or more images on the same page, you will need to decide whether to group them or arrange them separately. A group (or cluster) can create an interesting interplay between the images. 9
TIP 9 Create a well-balanced heading hierarchy A logical heading hierarchy shows your audience the relative importance of different textual elements in your publication. As a result, headings act like an effective road map by guiding your audience through the publication. Readers find it hard to remember too many separate items within a single section of text. By using different heading levels, you can effectively break up the information into subsets. This greatly assists with reading comprehension by preventing your audience concentration flagging and feeling overwhelemed by a large amount of unbroken text. The typographical distinction between different levels of a heading hierarchy usually called level 1, level 2 and so on should be very clear. Readers also benefit if the content is divided into readily understandable chunks within the heading hierarchy. The optimum heading length is determined by the content and style of the publication. In general, headings should be reasonably short (usually less than one line) since longer headings are more difficult to read. 10
TIP 10 Ensure consistency of design elements Use headers and footers, rules, sidebars or other repetitive motifs to unify your publication design and give it a unique identity. Generous margins and distinctive design elements along the top and bottom of each page will make your layout more appealing. In addition, they will actually encourage your audience to engage with, and read more, of your written content. Intuitive linear thinking begins with how the eye associates the principles of proximity (the way in which nearby objects are related); similarity (objects of similar colour and shape are related) and continuation (how a common path unites objects). Good publication design presents a visual whole that takes these fundamental elements of human perception into account. The reader doesn t necessarily know why the layout works but a skilful designer understands the underlying reasons. By pay attention to the underlying principles of human perception that readers use to interpret the relationships of objects (text and graphics) you will be able to create simple yet powerful layout designs. 11
This ebook was written and designed by Kirsty Ogden For personalised information and advice about publication design and editing, book a complimentary 20-minute phone consultation TODAY. Call Kirsty on 1300 737 798 to book your appointment Website: www.epiphanyediting.com.au Email: kirsty@epiphanyediting.com.au Facebook: www.fb.me/epiphanyediting Twitter: www.twitter.com/epiphanyediting 12