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The Program Works. Design. Design: One of the easiest tasks in producing a yearbook. Mastering good design skills. Simplicity and consistency are essential yearbook design skills Design skills achieve clear communication & visual appeal. Mastering good design skills.
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The Program Works Design
Mastering good design skills. • Simplicity and consistency are essential yearbook design skills • Design skills achieve clear communication & visual appeal
Mastering good design skills. • Good yearbook design is like good building design • An overall plan is necessary before you begin • Establish exterior margins • Even “unfilled” areas of a yearbook are planned • Yearbook design centers around “spreads” • Spreads are two pages that face one another • Columns define space on a page • Columns are equal-width vertical spaces that act as guides to start and stop the elements placed on spreads
Mastering good design skills. • Repetition is a key design element • A good yearbook designer uses repetition in: • Exterior margin width • Standard column/internal margin widths • Shape of photographs • Size of copy blocks • Patterns of typography • Other distinctions • Initial caps • Gray or color screens • Repetition gives strength and appeal to effective design
Establish a column plan and exterior margins. • This eight-column yearbook spread illustrates common design terminology • Outside margin • Page-framing white space • Top margin • Bottom margin • Single column • Gutter
Establish a column plan and exterior margins. • Certain elements define areas on the page • Photos • Type • Graphics • Screens • White space is another element that must be planned
Establish a column plan and exterior margins. • Most traditional yearbook elements are rectangular • When a photo or other element is not rectangular, it is done for effect • Limit non-rectangular photos to one per spread
Dominant elements. • The design’s dominant photo • Is two to two-and-a-half times larger than any other photo on the page • Helps define the spread’s exterior margins • Generally runs on or through center of spread
Dominant elements. • Note the photo “sticks” to the column edges vertically, establishing the internal margins • Remember — the readers don’t see the columns and margins in the book • Only the designer’s placement of elements establishes margins for the reader • The spacing left between elements is generally one pica (1/6 inch)
Dominant photo. • The next graphic shows the potential placement of a horizontal element • Note it still defines the margins on the top of both pages and on the side of the right page
Dominant photo. • The horizontal dominant photo need not run to the margin on the right, but be sure it remains a true dominant • See how a smaller photo could define the outside margin and the larger could be pulled back to the next column
Continue adding elements. • Good designers provide visual variety in size and shape • Rectangular photos should vary — some taller, some wider, some square and always getting smaller in size • Note how the second photo is a horizontal, the opposite shape of the dominant, touching the exterior edges of the column
Varying size and shape. • Note how additional elements are placed • Always place elements one pica from the surrounding elements • Always vary the sizes and shapes • Keep open space to the outside corners
How all this works together. • All the elements are added from the center out, one pica away from the next • White space is in the outside corners • Space is left for captions • Center pictures touch bottom and top margins at the gutter • Use the six-pica-or-more rule for alignment of elements horizontally
How all this works together. • As with the top and bottom margins, photos should touch the side margins at the center rather than at the corner • Avoid placing photos so they are barely out of alignment • Photo placement at the bottom of the graphic illustrates this concept
Bleeds. • A bleed is an element that goes through the exterior margins and off the edge of the page • The bleed must go all the way off the page once it crosses the exterior margin • Never place a person’s face near the edge of a bleed photo • Bleeds should be limited to one per side
Common design errors. • The first example shows the placement of the larger photos to the outside, creating a “well” or “tower” of unplanned white space within the spread
Common design errors. • Undesired white space occurs when elements are not placed one pica from one another on all sides • Avoid placing captions toward the inside area of the spread • Leave white space and caption placement to the outside of the spread
Common design errors. • Avoid placing photos so they stairstep horizontally across the spread • Align them on a horizontal line • The alignment is called an eyeline if it goes from margin to margin and a broken eyeline if it is interrupted by an element • This graphic shows a near-miss eyeline — one that misses aligning the photos by only a few picas
Common design errors. • This example shows how a near-miss eyeline is avoided by aligning elements on a horizontal line • The stairstep shown on the last slide is corrected in this example • The photos are aligned horizontally across the page except where the dominant breaks the alignment
Creating a design with a horizontal dominant. • Let’s finish the horizontal design by adding photos, one pica away from the dominant • Think vertical — don’t add too many horizontal elements • Plan for caption placement as you design the spread
Dressing up a design. • Column-based designs do not have to be boring • You can introduce an element that breaks the rules • In this example, it’s an oval-shaped photo • While the design needs to be consistent within each yearbook section, the “differences” can be repeated to create a consistency within the section
Dressing up a design. • Continue adding photos, varying the shape and placing one pica between elements • Remember to leave room for captions
Adding copy and captions. • With good basic design, with a clear awareness of shapes and spacing, a headline and a story can easily be added • Think of each element as an interchangeable piece • Each rectangle could be a photo, a copy block or another story element
Adding copy and captions. • Here’s another version of the vertical dominant where the element area becomes a team picture and scoreboard
Adding copy and captions. • Here’s the horizontal design with a headline and story added
Let’s review the steps for good design. • Establish a column plan and external margins. Start with a dominant elements that establishes exterior margins and is placed on or through the center of the spread. • Add additional elements in a variety of shapes and sizes, always placing these elements one pica away from all surrounding elements. • Work from the center of the spread. Elements should be clustered so they are away from the corners. This places any white space to the outside and allows room for caption placement.
Let’s review the steps for good design. • Place copy and headline so they appear to be a single rectangular unit. Headlines should read into the copy. • Place captions one pica away from the photos they identify and to the outside of the spread. • Keep white space in the outside corners.
Typography as a design element. • Typography is one of the most important parts of design • It allows each book its own look and style through choice of fonts, which are kinds of typefaces • Most typefaces or fonts are part of a larger font family — meaning it comes in bold and italic versions as well as others
Typography as a design element. • For body copy and captions, go with a highly readable, clean font such as Times or Garamond • Most desktop publishing programs have an “auto” leading feature that adds 20 percent leading — or spacing between the lines of text • You can adjust the leading for a different look, but do so consistently throughout each section of the book
