***** E-Mail Desktop Publishing Design Course ***** *** LESSON 2A *** PLANNING AHEAD Your personal computer may be a very sophisticated tool, but you will get the best results from it if you know what you want to achieve before you start. A rough sketch layout can save a lot of time. Trial and error at the keyboard is expensive in time and frustration will you wait for the machine to catch up with your thoughts. The process can be made much easier by making a few tools of the trade yourself and using them. All designers and printers rely on manufacturer's type specimens and measuring systems to plan layouts for print. Anyone preparing a document for desktop publishing needs the same sort of information. There are literally thousand of typefaces available for personal computers. Because the name of the typeface doesn't really tell you very much, it is important to know exactly what each typeface you have looks like and how much space on the page each will occupy. Make your own type specimen book. 1. Keyboard a complete alphabet of each font - capitals, lower case, figures, and punctuation. 2. Print it out in every size (that you intend to use) and weight. (Such as normal, bold, italic, and bold italic). Identify each line as to name, size, and weight. 3. Keep each font on a separate sheet of paper and file them so that you can refer to them when you are planning layouts. 4. The same goes for rules and tint panels. Print out everything that is available to you on your programs and label them for future reference. Just as typeface measurements need checking, so column widths are not always what they seem. It is not unusual to find that in order to get a 5 inch line, you must set your machine to 5 1/8 inches. In any case it is wise to run off a few lines to make sure your measurements are accurate. Make your own line counter. (also called a page grid) A line counter is a great help in sketching page layouts. 1. Select the type size and line spacing you intend to use for most of the text. 2. Using an underlining rule, set up enough blank lines at that size to fill a full column, numbering each line. 3. Set a lowercase x at the beginning and ending of each line to record the x-height. SAMPLE 01x__________________________________x (make these lines the full 02x__________________________________x width of your column) ETC. With this line counter under a piece of tracing paper, rough but accurate layouts can be tried out very quickly. Make your own grid sheets. (also called layout grids) It is helpful to have two of these for each type of layout you will be using. One on heavy paper or card stock to put under tracing paper when making pencil sketches, and one on film or plastic to lay over the page printout to check alignment. ** SAMPLE of 8-1/2 X 11" page, 2 Column layout, 2 Page Spread ** 5/8" 1-1/4" 6-15/16" inside margin outside margin <컴컴text width컴컴컴�><�> <컴�> 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴쩡컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � � � head � 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � space text � � : � � � : � � 1/2" depth� � : � � � : � � � 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴孤 � 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� � 69 � � : � � � : � � lines� � : � � � : � � 9 pt.� 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴孤 � 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� � on 10� � : � � � : � � � � : � � � : � � � 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴孤 � 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� � � � : � � � : � � � � : � � � : � � � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � � � � Foot � � � space 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴좔컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 1" <컴컴컴컴> gutter 3/16"^ Each square = 13 lines column with one line separation width 3-3/8" (I hope the illustration is intact! Let me know if it isn't.) *note* As most of you are probably not professionals, I have used inch measurement throughout this course even though the standard is pica measurement. ******Continued in next message******