"Typography may be defined as the craft of rightly disposing
printed
material in accordance with a specific purpose; of so arranging the
letters, distributing the space and controlling the type as to aid the
maximum the reader's contribution of the text." ~ Stanley Morison
"Look at design with an eye toward lower costs, faster schedules, and more marketing punch, as well as pleasing quality, typography, and intelligent problem-solving."
"The designer must be at all times a mediator, an interpreter: through his imagination, his experience and his knowledge of the art, craft, and science of printing he converts the typescript into a book and expresses the author's words clearly and sympathetically to the reader and yet his designed for a clear text, however good in itself, is not enough; his integration into the text of the illustrations, their print on pleasing paper, the book's insertion into a strong binding within an irresistible jacket, are needed to fuse the whole book into the harmony that seems easy and irresistible." ~ John Trevitt
"When you start thinking about a design, your first question should NOT be how should it look but rather how should it work?. ~ Daniel Will-Harris
"Designers know the idiosyncrasies of book design -- standard sizes; acceptable gutters and margins; ink tolerance; treatment for elements such as footnotes, end notes, sidebars, pull quotes, titling, bulleting, and features page counts and signatures; folios; and front and back matter. Book production is a craft requiring great skill. Why are there standards for these things? Because, as readers, we subconsciously expect books to appear a certain way -- a way that enables our brain to easily process the information we are looking at." ~ Pneuma Books
"The role of the graphic designer is to solve often subtle problems of communication, enhancing the effectiveness of images and text. The book designer must balance creativity and discipline in working with a format that has changed little in 500 years." ~ Ric Grefe
Forward is a well-regarded book design blog.
Bookmaking: Editing, Design, Production by Marshal Lee [third edition].
The Design of Books by Adrian Wilson (1993 edition).
Designing Books; Practice and Theory by Jost Hochuli and Robin Kinross.
The Form of the Book: Essays on the Morality of Good Design by Jan Tschichold.
Methods of Book Design: The Practice of an Industrial Craft by Hugh Williamson.
On Book Design by Richard Hendel.
The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst [perhaps the best one].
Book designers usually have formal art or graphic design training. Experience in designing in other formats, for example commercial art, can be an asset. Training often involves an apprenticeship-like relationship with experienced book designers. There is some disagreement over the degree to which book design is different from designing other consumer products such as packages.
The designer should have VISION or the ability to identify and consider problems and solutions. The designer should have DISCIPLINE or the ability to implement ideas in an appropriate, timely manner. The designer should have JUDGMENT or the ability to evaluate a solution objectively.
Brett Lockwood provides a good definition of book design. "Book design means the design of all elements of a publication between the front and back covers. It includes decisions on such elements as:
Curiously enough, book design does not include cover design. When the designer also does the cover that leads to a better, more integrated design.
Counting the manuscript (character count) is an extremely important part of what the designer does. This provides an opportunity for the designer to become familiar with the work in some detail and identify the various elements, and problems. The production manager will need the finished page count to set accurate manufacturing costs. This means that the designer needs to have the complete work. She will need to know if the index will be given a set number of pages or fitted into whatever pages are left over. The marketing manager will need an accurate page length to set the price and accurately describe the forthcoming book.
The designer will need to work with the publisher to see how the house handles elements such as the half-title page or permissions.
In conjunction with the editor and the production manager, perhaps also with the sales manager, the designer creates the specifications for the physical book. Importance of fitness to purpose is a key notion. How can the design contribute to the success of the book? The book needs to be seen as a whole so that design is as weak as that of the weakest part. Ideally, there should be no unimportant parts in the book. The true test of book design is how the less important parts are handled.
The designer must have a clear, accurate sense of the audience, especially their expectations and needs. The intellectual content should be made as clear and as easy to understand as possible. A classic image for the book designer is that of design as a clear window which allows the reader to see the content without noticing the design. The opposite of this would be the colored, stain glass window where the design is so visible that it steals the scene from the work's intellectual content. The more that the designer knows about the audience, the fewer questions that he will have. Who will be reading this book? What about their age and eye sight?
As publishers become more rational and bottom-line oriented, the designer must also be concerned about cost-effective book production and use ingredients which are appropriate and economical. What is the purpose or goal of the design? What kind of a book are your creating? What is the budget? How will the book be produced? With answers to these questions, the designer is well on her way.
Publishing houses vary on the degree to which there is a house style for book design. This approach, the macro one, eliminates much of the design work for individual titles and can produce notable economies. It works well for books in a series or for professional and scholarly books. The micro approach features a relatively unique design for each work. This is more demanding and less economical, but does allow the designer to capture the unique character of each work. Traditionally, each book has been designed separately.
Good book design can make a substantial difference. Good design should:
Like an architect, the designer creates a plan that determines the size and shape of the product to meet particular needs, selecting the elements and materials, and putting them together into a unified, pleasing whole. This can be especially difficult if some one else in the publishing house has already decided on format and ingredients.
In doing this, the designer encounters certain mechanical problems such as the trim size of the paper, the number of pages, the number and kind of images, and how the work will be printed and bound. Editorial problems would include the nature and purpose of the work, the subject, the unique contribution, the audience, and likely use. Commercial concerns include the list price, marketing/sales approaches, how it will be sold, and the nature of the competition.
The heart of book design is the two page spread, the verso and the recto, since readers almost always see two pages as a single symmetrical unit.
Audience needs must be considered. For example, "Many people over the ripe old age of 40 are starting to have trouble reading, and reading mass market books has become very difficult. [Jane Friedman]. In response, publisher are making these books larger and increasing print size. Books will be .5 inch taller and will be printed on higher quality paper.
Since the codex format and the printed book have changed little since the 16th Century, book design is reasonably traditional. Mainstream book typographic design has changed little since the 18th Century. For example, the margins used today are based on the standards of the hand written book. Since the printed book is a manufactured product, book design (the book arts) is both an art form and the creation of an industrial product.
While the physical book appears to be much the same as those issued many years ago, book manufacturing has changed dramatically. In nearly every aspect, from composition to printing, the technology has changed. In particular, we are well on our way to books that are created digitally, edited digitally, designed digitally, and printed digitally. Technology allows books to be made cheaper and quicker, but not necessarily BETTER. Good book design imposes quality.
A book is to be sold. It must attract the buyer and lead to a positive purchase decision. Even the least inexpensive mass market paper book must have a cover to attract the buyer. Many coffee table books are sold primarily because of design. With effective design, the book will be worth owning and not merely worth borrowing.
A book is to be used. There are two categories of books: (1) Those read in the lap and (2) Those studied at the desk. There are also books read from beginning to end and books where only bits and pieces are read. Books should be designed to be easy to open, hold, and carry as they are likely to be used. They should be flat when opened. Weight and bulk should be appropriate for use. A book likely to be heavily used should be designed to be durable.
A book is to be read. Design should clarify the structure and order of the content. Appropriate "sign posts" should tell the reader where she is and where content may be found. Pages should be clear and readable with ease, speed and accuracy.
Books are usually read from a distance of nine to eighteen inches depending on whether it is read on a table or desk or held in your hands. Reading should be comfortable at that distance for most readers.
John D. Berry notes that there are three types of books:
Many variables affect book design and some of these were mentioned above. Here is another short list of variables that the designer will deal with in pre-layout planning:
Unless the author is a big name, she will have little say in the design of her book. The editor plays a crucial role since she identifies problems in the manuscript and characterizes the work for the designer. In some cases, the designer will do the book and a jacket designer will do the jacket or cover. The production manager has a role in encouraging specifications that are cost-effective. The sales manager, reacting to comment from the field, may suggest cover or jacket art likely to enhance sales.
While typography is considered separately here, it is very much part of what the designer does. "The first thing your reader sees is not the title or other details of the page, but the overall pattern and contrast of the page (its color). The reader's eye scans the page first as a purely graphic pattern, then begins to track and decode type and page elements. The regular, repeating patterns established through carefully organized pages of text and graphics help the reader to quickly establish the location and organization of your information, and increase the overall legibility of your pages."
If you had to rank the book attributes mentioned above from most to least important, what would your list be like?
Select an audience for a book. Identify and be able to discuss audience attributes or characteristics that should be considered in book design.
Bring to class a book that is well designed and be able to identify aspects that qualify as good design.
Which of the design responsibilities mentioned above seems
most
important
to you? Why?
