New Trends in Design Adding unity, balance, structure and dominance to your layouts

The rule 10% of our readers will skim the book for their picture and not read it at all. 80% will read only the pages of interest, the pages they are on. 10% will read cover to cover You only get one shot to keep the reader. It is the designer’s job to make the reader want to stay on the page and in the book.

What is Good Design? It is intentional, it has purpose It is NOT decoration It uses white space effectively to draw the reader in to the text and photos. It is the architecture on paper and it must have structure. A good designer will make the reader want to stay on the spread.

Elements of Good Design Good design is CRAP – Contrast, Repetition, Alignment & Proximity. Mulitple Points of Entry – Readers should have several ways to visually enter and leave each page. More Coverage – Secondary Coverage is a must for today’s generation of multi- taskers.

Let’s see how is used in design…

Contrast adds visual interest to your design. In order for it to be effective, it must be obvious. Don’t be a wimp, make it strong so it doesn’t look like a mistake. Size - BIG small Color Shape Font – use a serif and sans serif

Contrast in magazine design…. Color, shape, size.

Contrast in yearbook… Color, shape, size (photos, text, white space)

Repetition of a visual element on a spread unifies and strengthens design by tying together otherwise separate parts. Elements should repeat on a spread, possibly in these areas: Folio Caption Header Fonts Graphic design elements

Repetition in magazine design … Boxes, shape, & color repeat. Also, good contrast here.

Repetition in yearbook… Color, stroke and shape repeat. Also note the contrast.

Alignment – Items should touch the same horizontal or vertical lines. Nothing should be placed arbitrarily on the page. Alignment helps the reader’s eye flow naturally through the spread. Use your guide bars Modular design, use white space. New trend is to use grids. Align both vertically and horizontally.

Alignment in magazines… Text is aligned, captions are aligned to photos

Alignment in yearbooks… Text is aligned, captions are aligned to photos

Proximity – group related elements together so your spread looks organized. Group like things together to unify the spread Use the three levels of white space to group items and add distance between packages. When several items are in close proximity to each other, they become one visual unit, or package. Separate units means more coverage.

Proximity in magazines… Secondary stories are grouped together.

Proximity in yearbooks… Quotes, side story, main story and captions are all grouped together

What’s OUTDATED in design? Traditional design was limiting. Designers used equal pica space to align elements on a page, which made layouts static and one dimensional.

Today designers use three levels of white space to make more interesting layouts. Level 1 – zero to one pica groups like elements together for packaging. For example, you may use a half pica between photos and their captions to group or package them together. Level 2 – one pica spacing provides consistency on a spread. You may use this between two columns of text for example. Level 3 – 3 or more picas creates a rail of isolation that visually distinguishes verbal packages or secondary coverage from other content.

By adding third level white space, we can get more coverage on each spread. The previous spread with only 1 pica of white space used told one story. This spread uses third level white space and now three stories can be told about the same topic. That means more coverage, more books sold.

Using white space correctly means you get more coverage. More coverage means you sell more books. Notice all the points of entry here for the reader.

The readers should know where to start on the page, so a good designer uses hierarchy and gives the reader several spots to enter and leave the page. Think of your design grids as a Pacman game. Give your readers a place to both enter and leave the page.

Notice the three levels of white space… Where can the reader enter and leave the page? What elements of hierarchy draw the reader to first, then second….

Where does the reader start in this spread? It is confusing and the eye doesn’t know where to go…

Dominance and Hierarchy – show the reader where to start Start with a dominant photo Use larger text for most the important information Every design should have a primary area of interest or focal point that serves as a way into the design.

Where does your eye start on this spread? Why? Where does it go to next? Why?

To use white space well you must start by setting guides.

Add a break of 3-5 picas to separate your packages. Where your pica lines cross you should have a perfect square

As long as you keep your packages within these grid lines, you will have good control over your design.

A good designer ALWAYS… Matches the font to the theme of the book/story/layout. Chooses colors that unify the spread, uses the dominant color from main photo. Uses white space on the outside of your spread to push the reader into the story. Never traps text, always gives text more than one way to exit a page. Never starts a design until the grids and columns are set and visible on the page. Makes it easy for the reader to flow through the spread naturally without wanting to leave it.

You are trained, now lets get designing. 1. Open a spread on Edesign 2. Set your columns, make your grid visible 3. Create a neon colored bar 3-5 picas wide to easy mark your third level white space between packages 4. Your spread must have at least four packages – a main story, a secondary story,a sidebar (graph, Q&A, timeline, info. graph, etc…), and a photo package.