Publishing Design / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Task 1: Exercises
INSTRUCTIONS
LECTURES
Lecture 1: Formats
The book
- Oldest format of publishing, and one of the most important and influential formats
- A medium to document and transmit ideas, knowledge, records, history, and many more.
Format
- Constitutes the type of paper, type of binding, size, etc.
Historical Formats
1. Mesopotamia
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| Fig. 1.1 Pictography on clay |
The progression from simple and complex tokens to bullae set the
stage for the early form of pictography writing on clay.
2. Indus River Valley Civilizations
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Fig. 1.2 Cuneiform on clay |
Cuneiform was one of the earliest systems of writing, and it was
written on soft clay tablets using sharp pointed tools.
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>Fig. 1.3 Palm leaf manuscripts |
Dates around 800-900 CE, Palm leaf manuscripts were a medium that was common across South Asia. An old stylus with a steel tip was used to scribe on the leaves.
3. Egypt
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| Fig. 1.4 Hieroglyphs on papyrus |
The Egyptian scribes wrote on a special paper called papyrus, and
would also write on tomb walls. The papyrus refers to a thick type of
paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant.
4. Han-China
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In the early period, Chinese characters were written in vertical
columns. Each column is made of a thin strip of bamboo, and to create
a longer document, two lines of thread link each bamboo strip to its
neighbor.
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The earliest known printed book was discovered in a cave at Dunhuang in 1899. It is in a scroll format made of paper, which was invented in 179-41 BCE.
5. Turkey, 'The West'
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Parchment was first invented in Turkey and is made from animal hide.
With leather, it was not possible to make scrolls as it is too thick
and heavy.
The folding format was introduced in Turkey at the turn of the
century. First with wooden blocks with thread sewn to hold them
together, then with parchment, and later with paper. The paper was
then sewn, bound, and glued together.
Lecture 2: History of Print
2nd- 8th century AD
Confucian scholars laid sheets of paper on engraved slabs and rubbed
all over it with charcoal or graphite, taking away a text in white
letters on black ground.
Korea and Japan: AD 750-768
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The world's earliest known printed document is the Dharani sutra
printed on a sheet of paper in Korea AD 750.
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Japan also made a bold experiment in mass printing a document, which
had its own packaging. The Hyakumanto Darani is a famous large-scale
woodblock printing, the earliest recorded uses of woodblock printing
in Japan.
The first printed book: AD 868
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The earliest known printed book is Chinese, from the end of the T'ang
dynasty. It is a scroll that is 16 feet long and a foot high, formed
by sheet of paper glued together at their edges. It is also the
world's first printed illustration.
Moveable type: from the 11th century
Separate ready-made characters or letters that can be arranged in the
correct order for a particular text and then reused. It was
experimented in China, but it was unpractical as Chinese script has so
many character. Chinese printers also cast their characters in clay
and then fire them as pottery, but it was too fragile to be
used.
Type foundry in Korea: c.1380
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| Fig. 1.11 Moveable Type in Korea |
In the late 14th century, the Koreans established a foundry to cast
moveable type in bronze, which is much stronger for repeated printing,
dismantling, and resetting for a new text. Although the Koreans were
still using the Chinese script at the time, they solved it in 1443
when they began inventing their own national alphabet known as
'Hangul'.
Saints and playing cards: AD c.1400
In about 1400, the technique of printing from wood blocks is
introduced in Europe. As in the east, the images are printed by laying
a piece of paper on a carved and inked block, and then rubbing its
back to transfer the ink.
Gutenberg & western printing: AD 1439- 1457
Gutenberg's great achievement is his development of the printing
press. More significant are Gutenberg's skills with metal which
enabled him to master the complex stages in manufacturing individual
pieces of type.
Lecture 3: Typo Redux
Typography
- The most important area in graphic design to master
- The art of arranging and composing text
- Also serves as a medium for expression and also communication
Characters in a Typeface
- Small caps
- Numerals
- Fractions
- Ligatures
- Punctuations
- Mathematical signs
- Symbols
- Non-aligning factors
Legibility
To ensure the type is legible, choose typefaces which are
open & well-proportioned. Make sure the typeface is
easily readable when designing a book.
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Underline: It should be lowered and not touching
the characters as it will affect the readability.
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Small Caps & All Caps: Small capitals are
good for subheadings and short headlines. Capital
letters are a punctuation that marks the beginning of a
sentence.
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Special-Purpose Style: Formatting styles for
making footnotes, references & mathematical
formulas. Usually embedded or nested within tools
sections that normal users are not aware of.
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Text Scaling: Some programs allow for the
creation of pseudo-condense or pseudo-extended font, by
horizontally or vertically squeezing or stretching as a
font. Distorting the font will make it look cheap and
ugly.
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Outline & Shadow: Outline should not exceed
1pt. Shadows should not go too far away from the main
text.
Text that flows naturally when read is achieved when type
size, line length, and spaces between lines of type are
harmonious.
In a column type, there should usually be about 50-65
characters. If the line of type is too long or short, it
will tire the reader out and ruin the pleasant reading
rhythm.
Lecture 4: The Grid
Raster Systeme
- Usage of grids as ordering systems is the expression of a certain mental attitude.
- It showcases how a designer produces their in constructive terms.
The Purpose of the Grid
- Used by designers to solve visual problems.
- Able to favourably place texts, photographs and diagrams in a functional matter when arranging in the grid spaces.
Modular
- Allows for flexibility, if the designer is able to see a multitude of combinations.
- A limit must be set to maintain an amount of continuity and coherence in its outlook & navigation.
- Allows for systemising the information so that it becomes easy to read & understand.
Lecture 5: Elements
3 major elements in all publications
- Type
- Colour
- Image
Holding these 3 together are format and grids. The
page will look interesting and will also increase in
readability for audiences if there is a variation to
the pages. Certain areas that should be fixed
include: hang line, typeface, colour, image styles
and more.
TASKS
Exercise 1: Text Formatting
For this exercise, we are required to write or source 3000 words. Below is
my original writing and text formatting.
Fig. 2.1 3000 words content generation, Week 1 (8/9/2023)
Exercise 2: Book Mock-up
Our in-class exercise today was to determine the size of our book, which
had to be smaller than A4 and bigger than A5.
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| Fig. 2.2 Book size options, Week 2 (15/9/2023) |
First, we have to draw out A5 size on the paper, and then measure out 3
possible sizes that we want our book to be. After much consideration, I
ended up choosing 160 x 220mm because I thought it was a good size to
hold for a book.
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Fig. 2.4 Book Mockup Open, Week 2 (15/9/2023) |
Exercise 3: Signature Folding System
For this exercise, we are required to fold our A3 papers into 8 parts
and label them 1-16. This exercise is to help us understand how the
pages are printed out and stapled/stitched together to make a book
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Fig. 2.5 Folding System (Front), Week 3 (22/9/2023) |
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| Fig. 2.6 Folding System (Back), Week 3 (22/9/2023) |
Once we had labeled the folds, we went onto InDesign and inserted a
B&W image and the text from Chapter 1 of our story. After that,
we have to export the individual pages and rearrange them according
to the numbers determined using the Signature Folding System.
We then printed them out on an A3 paper, double-sided, and then folded them according to the template we made. Next, we stapled them and cut the edges of the paper so that it can be flipped.
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| Fig. 2.7 Zine Text for Printing, Week 3 (22/9/2023) |
We then printed them out on an A3 paper, double-sided, and then folded them according to the template we made. Next, we stapled them and cut the edges of the paper so that it can be flipped.
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| Fig. 2.8 Printed Zine sample, Week 3 (22/9/2023) |
Exercise 4: Van de Graaf
We were guided on how to create the Van de Graaf grid structure
from scratch. It is helpful to determine the margins we want to use
when doing our layouts.
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| Fig. 2.9 Van de Graaff grid, Week 4 (22/9/2023) |
Exercise 5: Determining Grids
For this exercise, we are required to look for 'cool' layouts
that would suit our book. We also have to go onto InDesign and
decide on three possible margins and column grids that would work
best with our book. After that, we were told to fill our text from
the top to the bottom of the margin and print it out on an A3
paper to see if our font size works well for the size of our
book.
Fig. 2.10 Testing out 3 possible margins, Week 4 (22/9/2023)
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Title Font: Century Gothic
Body Text Font: Source Serif Variable
Pull-Quote Font: Pally
Font size: 10pt
Leading: 12pt
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Final
Title Font: Acme
Body Text Font: Source Serif Variable
Pull-Quote Font: Acme
Font size: 8pt
Leading: 10pt
FEEDBACK
Week 2
I was told that my text formatting is correct. I just have to add a references section and add in the links of all of the sites I have visited to write my 3000 words.
Week 5
Font size can go smaller for the body text font. Use a more serious title and pull-quote font to contrast the playful visuals.
REFLECTION
Experience
As we did the exercises in class, I realised that I really
missed doing hands-on work with papers, markers and cutters. The
exercises were very fun, and we definitely spent a lot of our
money on printing papers due to trial and error. We were met
with a lot of problems, but it was a good learning experience as
we all tried to solve the problems together.
Observation
Although the exercises look rather simple, it never occurred to
me how much time we spent to complete them. Time seems to fly by
so fast as we are working on them in class. Sometimes, we even
need to stay back just to complete our exercises. However, I
believe the time spent on it was worth it because we were all
very determined to solve the printing issues and at the end of
the day, we get the results we expected.
Findings
I have always preferred reading physical books compared to
e-books, all because I get to really touch the book and I feel
more attachment to it. I was really excited to learn the process
of publishing a book and printing it physically. While doing the
exercises, it really brought me back to my primary school days
when we used to staple the papers together to make a book.
Although we finally learned the proper way in this class, I
guess our creativity at that age still got us somewhere.
FURTHER READING
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| Fig. 3.1 About Grids https://grids.obys.agency/ |
A very cool website to learn about grids. There are mainly 3 types of grids covered: columns, Van De Graaf, Rectangular and others.
Column Grid
- Can be used without gutters and margins
- Can be adapted to different screen easily
Van de Graaf
- Also known as Golden Canon grid.
- Usually good for unusual designs
- This grid is very easy to adapt to other screens
- Sometimes the grid itself can give you a design decision
- Select the power lines where the blocks are based, they are your grid.
Rectangular
- Very structured and offers wide variety of using.
- Resembles the Column Grid.
Others
- Grids can be asymmetric, round, diagonal, etc.
" A grid is just a set of rules and guidelines for posting content, don't take it too seriously"
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