These guidelines should assist you in evaluating books in some detail. Responses to the questions raised here should appear in your written response. Respond using the numbers listed below.
Evaluating the quality and the utility of the physical book is a subjective, artistic activity. Many variables might be considered and many approaches might be taken. This is not a definitive list, but was designed to meet student requests for specific guidelines. Book critiques may not be reliable since different critics will have different perspectives, tastes, and values.
Several books are helpful in preparing for this type of assignment or for reference while doing it. Sources helpful for answering queries about terminology include: Bookman's Glossary [Ref Z 118 .B75], Glossary of the Book [Ref Z 118 .G55], and Bodian's Publishing Reference (Z 282.5 B63 1988].
Dair's Design with Type [Z 246 .D23 1967] remains an excellent introduction to typographic design and my favorite work in this area. The two standard guides to book design and production are now quite dated, but remain useful for the basic principles: Lee's Bookmaking [Z 116 .A2 L44] and the British equivalent Williamson's Methods of Book Design [Z 116 .A3W5 1983]. A more contemporary approach to book design with discussion of particular examples is found in On Book Design by Richard Hendel [Z 116 .A3H46 1998]. A less detailed treatment is Wilson's Design of Books [Z 116 .A3 W55]. Thoughtful reading and browsing in books such as these will result in a much better effort in the book critique.
There are many works on type identification but there appears to be no single standard scheme. I like Rookledge's International Type Finder [Z 250 .R66 1991]. The best rule book for typographic design is The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst [ Z 246 .B74 1992]. It is more detailed that what you need here, but it is an excellent guide to effective typographic style. I recommend it highly.
Remember that the purpose of this assignment is to provide some evidence of your knowledge of book design and typography. Be certain that your response includes thoughtful, critical comment and not just description. Focus on what works well or poorly and why.
1.1 Evaluation begins with characterization of the spirit of the work. Design should be appropriate for the nature of the intellectual content. Characterize the spirit of the work and then relate it to the design. For example, you many consider such attributes as the active-passive nature of the content, geographical, chronological, and color associations, and the like. The book should capture the work's mood in such a way that the various design elements can be related to it. This does not mean that every work on Ireland needs to be in Kelly green. However, the spirit of the content should give the designer and the potential reader appropriate cues. Are appropriate, interesting colors used to attract interest and represent the work's content?
1.2. Remove the dust jacket from your book if one is present. Open the flaps so that all printed parts of the jacket face you.
1.3 Does the jacket capture the essence, the character, or the mood of the intellectual content? Is it apparent that the designer read the book with care?
1.4 Would the jacket attract the impulse buyer? Would the jacket stand out among similar books on a table? Is the art work and the lettering legible from several feet away?
1.5 Are the design elements on the flaps, front and back covers and spine integrated? Has an attempt been made to treat the jacket as a whole or do you see five different boxes?
1.6 What design elements are used and how effectively are they used? Does appropriate illustrative material add interest?
1.7 What style of lettering or typography is used? How appropriate and attractive is it in shape, size, and color?
1.8 How is space used? Is the jacket crowded with text and illustration or it is it relatively open and uncrowded?
1.9 How appropriate and interesting is the intellectual content in the jacket text? Using size as a proxy for importance, which front cover text elements are most important?
1.10 Does the jacket contain visible brand or maker identity? Does the jacket clearly indicate what category or type of book this is?
1.11 If the book was shelved spine out, how visible would it be?
1.12 Is the jacket aesthetically pleasing and desirable to own for the life of the work?
2.1. Several aspects of binding are important. The following are representative and are not ranked.
2.2. Texture and pleasantness to the touch can be important. How does the binding feel?
2.3. How would you characterize binding workmanship? Is the work well and neatly made? Does the book open satisfactorily and stay flat? Is the cover free from signs of warping? Are head or foot bands used? If so, do they add to the quality of the binding?
2.4. The colors should be agreeable. Does the binding color match the mood or the character of the work? Is the color used in the binding and the jacket later found in the interior of the book? Does the color appear to be fast?
2.5. If there is design on the binding, its appropriateness and its attractiveness should be evaluated. Are these designs hot, cold, or blind stamped? Is the design attractive and appropriate? Are design elements used here repeated in the interior of the book?
2.6. The appropriateness of the style of lettering used on the binding should receive attention. Is this lettering used in the interior of the work? Is the spine legible and readable? Is lettering on the covering legible, properly centered and arranged, and deeply and uniformly impressed?
2.7. Are the end papers an appropriate color? If they contain pictorial matter, is it appropriate and attractive? Is the paper durable? Are the end papers firmly attached to the case and to the signatures? Are they neatly cut and pasted?
3.1. Accurate typographic identification can require much study, time, and experience. Here, we hope to learn just enough to be able to note the major characteristics of a typeface and then place that type face in one of a small number of classes. A reasonable effort is expected, but the emphasis should be on character attributes and not a "right answer."
Different typographers have quite different classification schemes. The first step is to go through your chosen book and identify the different typefaces used, ignoring those that are different merely because of size or style. Comment on the degree to which different typefaces complement each other to form an effective whole.
3.2. Typefaces may be divided into two major classes: standard faces and special faces. Standard faces look like printed letters. Special faces are decorative or used for display purposes. Special faces include letter shapes based on the hand lettering styles of the pre-print era, including cursive scripts, letter forms of an experimental sort, and letters that are decorative because they are enhances, embellished, floriated, textured, shadowed, etc. Non-Latin alphabet letter forms would represent another special face category.
3.3. Familiarize yourself with the parts of type so that you can better describe what you find. A magnifying glass may be helpful to more clearly see distinctive characteristics.
3.4. Identify the shape of the serif. Standard faces are either serifed or non-serifed.
3.5. Characterize the width of the thickness of the lines of the letter form. Typically, width ranges from ultra-condensed to ultra-expanded.
3.6. Characterize the weight to the thickness of the lines of the letter from extra-light to ultra bold.
3.7. Characterize the contrast of heavy and light strokes. This may be called the contrast between thick and thin strokes.
3.8. Characterize the cross strokes on letters, for example the A. Are they high or low, slanted or straight, short or long?
3.9. Characterize the length of descenders and ascenders.
3.10. Based upon these characteristics, you should be able to place the letter form in one of the major letter face families.
3.11. Identify the size of the type used in points.
3.12. Comment on the readability of the text face. Does the type make reading easy? Do letters appear light, dark, dull, sparkling? Is the tone one of authority, richness, modernity, simplicity, etc.?
4.1. The front matter includes all those pages before the first page of the first chapter. Ideally, design elements, typography, color, etc. used in the jacket and on the binding will continue in the front matter so that a visual theme or image is established and implemented. "Fitness to purpose" is frequently used in evaluating the physical book. In book design, there are no unimportant parts. The true test of effective book design is what has been done with the seemingly less important parts.
4.2. As Lee says, the front matter is the entrance to the book and should be revealing and interesting. The front matter begins with the end papers. There should be good transition between the exterior and the interior of the book. Does an effective, attractive linkage exist between binding design and end paper design? Is there good linkage between the end papers and the other front matter pages?
4.3. The first page with print on it is likely to be the half-title page. The style of type used and its position on the page should establish a design precedent which should be followed on later pages. If a half-title page is included, does it establish a design precedent in typeface and position? {Note that the arrangement of front matter pages in your books may differ from the order here. Evaluate the pages in the order that they appear in your book.}
4.4. Some books will next have a page that advertises other works by the author or other works in the series. This page is called an advertising card. Is it tastefully designed? Is the design related to that of preceding and following pages?
4.5. In older times, virtually all books contained a frontispiece that should be inviting, attractive, and appropriate. Note that the frontispiece faces the title page and that these two pages should fit together into a harmonious whole. If there is no frontispiece, should there be one?
4.6. The title page is the page most likely to receive considerable design attention. The title page establishes the character of the book. It should establish a visual, typographic identity to be repeated later in the chapter openings. How is available space used? Does the page have balance? Is the typeface appropriate? If other design elements are used, are they appropriate and attractive?
4.7. The verso of the title page is frequently the weakest page in the book from the design viewpoint. Is there evidence that this page has been designed? Is the page reasonably attractive and legible?
4.8. The dedication page is less frequently found today, but can be an attractive, telling part of the book's design. Is this page attractive, appropriate, and part of the integrated design?
4.9. The forward is the first page with substantial text and usually establishes a pattern for the text pages that follow. Effective use of white space is important. The legibility of the text is important.
4.10. The preface is evaluated in the same manner as the forward.
4.11. Acknowledgments may have their own page or be part of another page. This page is similar to the dedication page.
4.12. The table of contents page should be attractive, but it should be easy to use, especially in finding chapter and page numbers. It should be easy to distinguish between different elements. Is this page pleasing? Is it easy to find particular parts? Does it repeat design approaches found earlier? The list of illustrations is evaluated in the same manner as the table of contents page.
4.13. The quotations page is infrequently encountered today. It can add an aura of elegance to the book. Design should be integrated with other pages, especially the similar dedication page.
4.14. The introduction is the last part of the front matter and is evaluated in the same manner as the forward.
5.1. Characterize the color of the paper. Does it facilitate reading? Does the paper have a natural finish or is it coated? Does it absorb light well?
5.2. Is the paper strong and durable?
5.3. Is the paper flexible? Does it turn with ease? Does the weight of the paper seem right--neither too light nor too heavy? Is the paper thick enough so that there is no "see through"?
5.4. Critics sometimes speak of the character of paper. Character includes texture, color, and weight among other attributes. What sort of character does this paper have?
6.1. Although the text constitutes most of the book, it has relatively few parts to design and evaluate unless the book is well-illustrated. Important design decisions have already been made and you should expect to find the design elements established in the front matter continued in the text. Is the text page design integrated with the front matter design?
6.2. The chapter opening is the part of the text that receives the most design attention. The chapter opening should divide the intellectual content in an appropriate manner while emphasizing unity of theme or content. What design elements are used here and how effective are they? How is the text positioned on the page? Is it effective? Why?
6.3. Since the reader will spend considerable time with text, legibility of the print on the page should receive primary emphasis. Is the type large enough? Is it clear, distinct, and dark enough for easy reading? Is the style appropriate for content? Are capitals, small capitals, italics, and the like used to divide intellectual content into smaller, logical units? White space enhances readability and makes the page more pleasing. Are the margins adequate? Is there enough white space or leading between the lines?
6.4. The placement of page numbers can be evaluated aesthetically and functionally. Are the numbers attractively placed, legible, and easy to use?
6.5. Many books have running heads at the top of each page; one for the chapter title and one for the book title. If running heads are present, are they well-done?
6.6. When books contain illustrative material, consider the degree to which illustration and text are appropriately and attractively integrated. How would you characterize the quality and the utility of the illustrations? Are illustrations framed or do they bleed off the page? Is this appropriate and well-done? How are captions handled? Is appropriate, adequate explanatory caption material visible and easily used? Does it appear that the captions were designed? Do they complement the visual material? Is text and illustration attractively integrated?
7.1. The intellectual content in the back of the book is there because it is less important or less likely to be used by the typical reader. This means that the back matter is less likely to receive design attention. Typically, back matter design is simple and functional.
7.2. Does back matter design integrate with that of the front matter and the text to form a pleasing, harmonious whole?
7.3. The appendix contains supplementary material that is useful but not necessary. Is this material legible, attractive, and easy to use? Any evidence of design?
7.4. Notes or references are likely to be batched at the end of the work rather than at the foot of the appropriate text page because of the reduced cost. Are these bibliographic references legible and easy to use? Are the various bibliographic elements clearly distinguishable?
7.5. The bibliography should be evaluated in a manner similar to what you did with the table of contents page.
7.6. The index is the most frequently used part of the back matter. It needs to be designed to facilitate retrieval of particular information. Ease of retrieval is facilitated by a clear, legible type face that is large enough to be read and with enough white space to eliminate confusion. Are sub topics, see references, see also references, page numbers, and the like designed for ease of use?
7.7. The colophon statement appears in few books, but it is traditionally the final part of the book. It states the ingredients used in the book and the person who designed the book. Its presence indicates that the publisher took some special care in creating the physical book.
8.1. Briefly summarize the strongest and weakest aspects of the design and manufacture of this book.
8.22. Your summary thoughts on contemporary book design and manufacture assuming that this was a reasonable sample.
Last major revision: July 2007.
