Tips Text

Tips Text Using a powerful desktop publishing program doesn’t guarantee that you’ll turn out graphic works of art. Graphic is an art and a craft; mastering it requires experience and an innate visual sense. Still, learning a few basics can help you on your way. Plan Ahead Your progress will be smoother and your publication more polished if you plan the entire job. Use Scoop’s thumbnail viewing mode and reduced magnification scales to help visualize the publication as a whole,working to achieve unity and consistency throughout. Don’t design one page at a time—design each story or article as a unit and maintain its characteristics throughout the publication. Recurring elements such as rules or department titles (in the same type and place on their pages) can help tie a publication together and form a visual pattern. Establish specifications not only for body text, but for headlines, subheads, bylines, and captions. Specify the vertical space between heads and subheads, subheads and bylines, illustrations and captions. To tie a subhead to its body text, make the space above it larger than the space below it. True Grid Develop a layout grid to give your publication a unified visual pattern. The most common grid arrangements are two- and three-column designs, but a four or five column grid can provide interesting effects. You can combine columns in a variety of ways while maintaining consistency by adhering to the basic grid. The illustration on this page shows the visual variations that a four-column grid can provide. White Space or Rye? White space can be graphic element in itself. Wide swashes of white space dramatize your layout, while small chunks scattered sparingly look like you ran out of things to say. Another way to spice up a page is with a “pull quote,” which is a key sentence or two from the text and set in a larger size. An effective pull quote makes the reader want to explore the rest of the text, and is a great way to add interest to a page that lacks graphics. Justify Your Actions Flush left, ragged right body text and headlines look more lively and informal than justified text and centered headlines. Ragged-right text also improves the appearance and legibility of type, since letter and word spacing doesn’t have to be altered. It also gives type a more airy look than do the rigid constraints of justified text, and that often translates into less eye fatigue. Captivating Captions The type in captions should be lighter or smaller than the body copy. Use the body type in a smaller point size, italic, or an otherwise discreet type. Align captions flush against the left edge of the figure or photograph. Don’t Go Font Crazy Restrain yourself! If you follow only one of these guidelines, make it this one. Nothing screams “amateur” louder than, say, shadowed Helvetica followed by outlined Times Roman with bold New York thrown in for emphasis. While the judicious mixing of contrasting fonts can distinguish elements of text, many graphic …