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Study Unit

Elements of Design

Welcome to Elements of Design. This study unit takes you


into the world of document and online design. Youll discover
the preliminary steps graphic designers take to prepare
documents for publication before they ever turn a computer on.

When you complete this study unit, youll be


able to

Describe the factors that must be considered before a


document can be laid out in a page layout program

Identify a variety of typefaces and describe how to


select the most suitable typeface for your document

Identify the various components of a typical page

Explain how the spacing between letters, lines, and


words can be used

Identify the various components of a document

Describe how to use style manuals, style sheets,


and specifications

List key elements of a well-designed Web page

Learning the fundamentals of document design is one of the


first steps in becoming a professional graphic designer. This
study unit will not only be a valuable adventure in learning,
it will also be lots of fun. We have a great deal to cover, so
lets get started.

Preview

Its essential that you learn the basic design terms presented
in this study unit because publication design has its own
jargon and tools. Once youve mastered the basics, youll be
prepared for the more detailed treatment each element will
receive in your future studies. Youll also learn how to transfer your page-design skills to online publishing, such as
creating World Wide Web pages.

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PLANNING AHEAD

ALL ABOUT TYPE


Decisions, Decisions
Suitability of Type
Serif versus Sans Serif
X Marks the Height
Alphabets
Proportional versus Nonproportional Type
Availability of Characters
Type Measurement
Whats in a Name?

THE PAGE
Introduction
Image Area
Trim Size
Page Width Elements
Page Length Elements

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GIVE ME SPACE!

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Visual Appeal
Word Spacing
Letterspacing
Line Spacing

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TO JUSTIFY OR NOT TO JUSTIFY


Making Your Choice
Justified Text
Ragged Text

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Contents

The Importance of Planning


Getting to Know Your Document
Type of Document
Documents Subject
Intended Audience
Documents Length
Kinds of Illustrations
Tables, Graphs, Charts, and Maps
Types of Headings
Preliminary Pages
Back Matter
Special Challenges: Copyfitting
Other Challenges

STYLE
Introduction
Style Manuals and Other References
Style Sheets
Specification Sheets

GOING ONLINE
Introduction to Online Publishing
History of the Internet
Internet Applications
E-mail
FTP
Search Utilities
The World Wide Web
Intranets

PUBLISHING ONLINE
Browsers
HTML
XHTML
SGML

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FROM YOUR DESKTOP TO SUCCESS

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SELF-CHECK ANSWERS

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EXAMINATION

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Contents

Elements of Design

PLANNING AHEAD
The Importance of Planning
When an artist stands before a blank canvas with brush in
hand, he or she has already made some decisions about what
the finished painting is going to look like. A portrait painter,
for example, knows that the painting will be a person, not a
landscape, animal, or automobile. Its also likely that the
painter has drawn out and carefully studied some rough
but detailed sketches. In other words, a degree of detailed
planning has preceded the first brushstroke. Of course, all
of this planning doesnt mean that the painter cant yield to
creative inspiration or make adjustments while the work is in
progress. It simply means that great art usually isnt all that
spontaneous. Instead, its the result of careful planning and
expert execution of those plans (Figure 1).
The same is true in document design. Before you can turn on
your computer to begin working on a document, you must do
some very precise planning. This section will lead you through
the planning stages that precede actual document creation.

FIGURE 1Planning your


document before you
begin work on it is essential
for its success.

Getting to Know Your Document


Before you can begin any work on a document, some basic
questions about the document itself must be answered. The
answers given are crucial in helping you produce the most
attractive, functional, and professional-looking document
you can.
Some of these key questions are
What type of document is it?
Will the document be a hard copy such as a brochure
or mailer, or will the document be presented electronically,
such as on the World Wide Web?
What will be the documents finished size?
What is the subject of the document?
Who is the intended audience?
How long will the document be?
What kind of illustrations will be used? How many?
Will there be tables, graphs, charts, maps? How many?
What types of headings are needed?
What elements will appear in the preliminary pages?

Elements of Design

What elements will appear in the back matter?


What special problems or challenges can be anticipated?
You can see that its important for a graphic designer to
obtain this kind of information before actually creating
the document. Lets take a closer look at some of these
preliminary planning issues.

Type of Document
Before laying out a document, its imperative that you know
what kind of document youre dealing with and how that
document is to be used. Books, newsletters, magazines,
brochures, and one-page advertising fliers are all very
different. Theyre read for varying purposes by people with
different levels of interest and motivation. Is the document
going to be used to try to sell something to people, like a
mailer, or is it going to inform people about something
such as a Web page? Your job is to give each document the
highest possible chance of accomplishing its purpose
whether that purpose is to entertain, inform, inspire, or sell
a productby designing it in an appropriate, attractive way.
For example, if you create a newsletter for an organization,
active members who receive it will probably be quite interested in it. On the other hand, if you create a political
newsletter thats sent to constituents unsolicited, those
individuals will probably be much less likely to read it.
Such unannounced documents provide an added challenge
to graphic designersunsolicited mail has about five seconds
to jump out and grab the readers attention. If it doesnt, it
will just end up in the wastebasket.

Documents Subject
Although your main concern is with the way a finished document looks, its clear that you must have at least a general
understanding of what a document is about. Some questions
you must ask are, Whats the purpose of this document? and

Elements of Design

How is the reader going to use it? The answers you get will
lead to different decisions about the documents design. For
example, if a document is a fictional novel, its purpose is to
entertain, and readers pick it up voluntarily with the idea of
reading every word. Therefore, its page layout would be
geared toward legibility. The text would occupy almost all of
the available space (Figure 2).
The subject matter impacts the design of other documents
besides books. For instance, an invitation to a formal charity
benefit dinner would have a much different design than an
invitation to a high school graduation party. This leads
directly to the next issue: to whom is the document directed?
My fathers family name being Pirrip, and my christian name

Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the

Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing

river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and

longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and

broad impression of the identity of things, seems to me to have

came to be called Pip.

been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening.

I give Pirrip as my fathers family name, on the authority of

At such a time I found out for certain, that this bleak place

his tombstone and my sisterMrs. Joe Gargery, who mar-

overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and that Philip

ried the blacksmith. As I never saw my father or my mother,

Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the above,

and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days

were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew,

were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies

Abraham, Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid,

regarding what they were like, were unreasonably derived

were also dead and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness

from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my

beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds

fathers, gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout,

and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes;

dark man, with curly black hair. From the character and

and that the low leaden line beyond was the river; and that the

turn of the inscription, Also Georgiana Wife of the Above, I

distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing, was the

drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and

sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it

sickly.

all and beginning to cry, was Pip.

To five little stone lozenges, each about a foot and a half

Hold your noise! cried a terrible voice, as a man started up

long, which were arranged in a neat row beside their grave,

from among the graves at the side of the church porch. Keep

and were sacred to the memory of five little brothers of

still, you little devil, or Ill cut your throat!

minewho gave up trying to get a living exceedingly early in

A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a little iron on his leg. A

that universal struggleI am indebted for a belief I reli-

man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag

giously entertained that they had all been born on their

tied round his head. A man who

backs with their hands in their trousers-pockets, and had


taken them out in this state of existence.
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FIGURE 2The pages of a novel must be easily readable, and no special graphical effects are generally
needed to hold the readers attention. (This passage is from Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens.)

Elements of Design

Intended Audience
The subject matter, of course, relates to the documents
intended audience. For example, lets say youve been asked
to produce a document. You must know to whom the document is targeted, because knowing your intended audience
will help determine the complexity of the layout. It makes a
great deal of difference if the document is intended for
children or for scientists. A childrens book requires large
type, plenty of blank space (white space), and clear illustrations that support the text (Figure 3A). A technical manual,
on the other hand, will take a very different approach. Its
type will be smaller, and it will feature less white space and
more complex illustrations (Figure 3B). A Web page is unique
in that it can display technical matter in an easy-to-follow
form (Figure 3C).

APOLLO
SPACECRAFT

THE SATURN V
The Saturn V booster was used in Apollo missions to the moon
and to place Skylab in Earth orbit in 1973. It was 363 feet tall,
including the Apollo spacecraft, and had three stages.

THIRD
STAGE

SECOND
STAGE

363 FEET

Each stage had rocket engines to push the Saturn V


booster higher after the stage below it burned out.

LEM

The Saturn V was developed in Huntsville,


Alabama. The first flight was Apollo 4 in
November 1967. The sixth launch of the
booster was Apollo 11, the first manned
landing on the moon, on July 20, 1969.
The Saturn V flew thirteen missions:
three unmanned and ten with crew
aboard. All the flights were
successful.

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FIRST
STAGE

PRE-LAUNCH VEHICLE
GROSS WEIGHT = 6,368,064 POUNDS

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FIGURE 3AA document for children needs large, easily readable type, plenty of white space, and
clear illustrations. (Reproduced from Elementary Activities Book, published by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)

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AH-64A Technical Manual

AH-64A Technical Manual

AH-64A APACHE
ADVANCED ATTACK
HELICOPTER

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The main demand of the


Advanced Attack Helicopter
is survivavility. The fourblade main rotor of the
AH-64A is reisitant to smallarms fire, and was chosen
for quietness and to minimize
visual flicker perception.

As well as a chain gun,


the Apache helicopter
can carry up to 16 guided
missiles, 76 2.75-inch rockets
or any combination of the two
weapons.

FIGURE 3BA technical manual features smaller type and more text per page.

Its also important to know if a document is intended to be


formal or informal in appearance and mood. The level of
formality affects the typeface chosen and the basic design
of the pages. Some typefaces are more businesslike and look
better in formal documents, such as instruction booklets
for consumer products (Figure 4). Other typefaces are more
informal and better-suited for fun documents, like party
invitations and certain advertisements (Figure 5).

Elements of Design

FIGURE 3CA Web page uses graphics and text to attract viewers.

There are times when you need a middle ground between


formality and informality. This study unit, for example, uses
headings that look formal but friendly. These headings are
combined with a lighter, readable typeface for the body text.
This design lets you know that something important is being
discussed in these pages, but keeps you turning the pages
and advancing through the unit.

Elements of Design

FIGURE 4Instruction
booklets such as this
are usually set in a
businesslike typeface.

3. Format the cells in range C3:F5 for currency using the


Accounting Number Format with no decimal points.
4. Insert formulas in range C3:F5 as follows:
a. In the Materials column (C), enter a formula to
calculate material cost at 15 times the job size
(column B).
b. In the Labor column (D), enter a formula to calculate
labor cost at 10 times the job size (column B).
c. In the O&P (Overhead and Profit) column (E), enter
a formula to calculate O&P at 0.25 times the sum
of materials and labor.
d. In the Total column (F), enter a formula to calculate
total cost as the sum of columns C, D, and E.

Documents Length
You must also consider the dimensions, or size, of the
document before you begin your design. Documents, of
course, come in all sizes. Childrens picture books can be
as big as 11 by 17 inches or as small as 3 by 3 inches. Some
documents are almost always the same size; rsums, for
example, are usually 81/2 by 11 inches. There are many
reasons why a publisher or client may select a certain size.
Standard sizes are normally cheaper because the printer
isnt required to trim the paper.

Elements of Design

FIGURE 5Display typefaces tend to create an


informal, upbeat mood.

A client may also ask for a different size to make the


document more distinct. High school textbooks are sized to
fit easily on a students desk, while elementary schoolbooks
may be sized to fit on a childs table or lap.
Whatever the reason, its important to know the intended
dimensions of a document before you begin its design. You
must carefully plan your document so it fits into the available
space. For example, if a document can only occupy one side
of a page, you might choose a variation of a typeface to make
the text fit. Typeface variations can increase the amount of
text you can put on a line by up to 15 percent. For example,
a popular typeface called Helvetica features both a standard
and a narrow option. Helvetica Narrow is compressed to allow
more text per line.

Elements of Design

Long documents present a different challenge. Sometimes


you have too little or too much text to fit the available space.
For example, a brochure that can run only two pages sets up
definite space limitations. Your task is to distribute the text
in the most readable, attractive way possible. On the other
hand, if a client wants that brochure to run six pages, you
may not have enough text to fill the space. In such a case,
youll be challenged to apply every design skill youve learned
to produce the most attractive document possible.
Sometimes clients want to know a documents estimated
length. Its important that you know how to quickly and
accurately determine a documents length. The process of
estimating the number of pages that a document will require
when its set in a particular typeface is called casting off.
Two tools are available to graphic designers for making this
estimation: character count and word count. However, before
you can accurately estimate the amount of space that a
manuscript will require when set in type, you must know
both the typeface and the type size that will be used.
Typefaces in every point size allow a certain number of
characters per inch on a line. A point is a typesetters basic
unit of measurement equal to 0.0138 inch, or 1/72 inch. For
example, in 11-point Times Roman Regular type, there are 15
character spaces per inch (Figure 6).
FIGURE 6You can
measure the number of
characters per inch in
different typefaces.

In 11-point Times New Roman, there are 15 character spaces


per inch.
In 11-point Bookman Bold, there are 13 character
spaces per inch.
In 11-point Helvetica Narrow, there are 20 character spaces
per inch.
0

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Elements of Design

Character count involves actually counting the number of


individual characters (called ens), including blank spaces, in
the manuscript. The easiest way to do this is by counting the
total number of characters, including spaces and punctuation marks, in a typical line and multiplying that number by
the total number of lines in the manuscript. For example, if
youre working on a 25-line manuscript, its average line
might look like the following:
When they try their best, all good people do fine.
Such a line features 10 words and 50 character spaces. You
can estimate this document to be about 250 words or 1,250
characters long (50 characters  25 lines = 1,250 characters).
To make up for any margin of error in the character count of a
long manuscript, its a good idea to add an additional 5 to 10
percent to the total character number. Suppose that youve
determined the number of characters in a manuscript to be
about 30,000. Adding 1,500 to 3,000 characters will make up
for any shortfall. You can use this estimate to determine approximately how much space the text will take up when its set.
Another way to estimate manuscript length is by counting
the number of words in the total document. Almost all word
processing programs include a word count feature. To estimate your documents length, divide your word processing
programs word count by the average number of words per
line in your desktop publishing program, which will give you
the approximate number of lines in your document. For example, if your word processing program tells you a document has
1,200 words and you know that your desktop publishing program averages 12 words per line, you can estimate your
document length to be 100 lines (1,200  12 = 100).
Remember, its still necessary to know how much space
each word will take up in the typestyle being used. Every
typestyle and variation within a particular typestyle is slightly
different. For example, the following line is set in 12-point
Helvetica Regular:

When they try their best, all good people do fine.


The total line length is 22 picas. A pica is a unit of measurement equal to 12 points. There are 10 words in the line, and
the average width of each word is 2.2 picas.

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This same line set in Helvetica Bold is much wider, as you


can see here:

When they try their best, all good people do fine.


The total line length is now about 23 picas, and the average
width of each word is 2.3 picas.
Word count is less accurate than character count, because it
doesnt take spaces and other elements, such as punctuation
marks, into account.
When estimating the number of pages a document will run,
consider the fact that the text wont just run together without
any breaks. Some sections of a manuscript, such as the
table of contents, new chapters, the appendix, index, and
bibliography, must start on a new page. Take these details
into account when making your estimate.
Starting these elements on a new page also opens up extra
white space on the page, and this is needed to keep the
layout from becoming heavy and forbidding. One of your
chief goals is to create a document that people want to read.
Whether the document is a phone directory or magazine, its
your job to create a layout thats inviting and easy to read
and use.

Kinds of Illustrations
Another vital part of a designers preparation is determining
the exact number and kinds of illustrations that will be
included within a document. For example, suppose that
you set up a master layout for a 32-page document only
to find out after youve completed the project that an
additional 10 illustrations will be added. Major changes
will require substantial adjustments to the work youve
done. Although page layout programs make it relatively
easy to revise a document to accommodate such changes,
its much better to have this kind of information before you
start working on a document.
Youll also want to know what kinds of illustrations youll
be dealing with, because line drawings and photographs are
handled differently within page layout programs.

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Elements of Design

Tables, Graphs, Charts, and Maps


Photographs and line drawings arent the only nontext elements
included in documents. Many nonfiction documents, such as
textbooks, reports, and manuals, often include such elements
as tables of financial and statistical figures, line and bar
graphs, various kinds of charts, and even maps (Figure 7).
Its important to know if any of these elements will be included
and how large or small each should be so that you can
properly plan your document. This information will help
you make the right decisions about the style and size of
the type. The information will also help provide an accurate
estimate of the documents final length.

FIGURE 7Tables, graphs, charts, and maps such as these must be properly planned.

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Types of Headings
As already mentioned, very few documents consist of only
a solid block of unbroken text. To break up sections of
text and make the documents message clearer, authors
and graphic designers use headings. An important part of
advance planning is considering the types of headings to use
and the space theyll occupy.
Documents often feature more than one type of heading.
Take this section youre reading, for example. First, theres a
major heading, PLANNING AHEAD. Then, there are many
minor headings, which are subdivisions of the major head.
Some minor headings are The Importance of Planning and
Getting to Know Your Document. There can also be one or
two levels of subheadings under a minor heading (Figure 8).
Subheads can be aligned with the margin and stand on a line
of their own. A sidehead, or a run-in sidehead, begins a paragraph and is continuous with the text. Most documents are
well divided, with a maximum of three types of headings.
Notice the difference in size and style of the headings used in
this section. The major head is set in bold uppercase letters,
while the minor head is slightly smaller and set in uppercase
and lowercase bold letters. Breaking the book up in this way
gives you clues to the key content of each section and makes
the text more interesting to read.
A heading that isnt part of the main body of a documents
text is a running head. Running heads get their name from
the fact that they appear in the top margin of every page.
Often included as part of a running head is the page number,
or folio. These heads are like a road map, letting readers
know where they are in the document. Running heads can
be used to identify the current chapter or section or the main
contents of a particular page. When this type of heading is
located at the bottom of a document, its called a running footer.
Decisions about the use of running heads and footers must be
part of the advance planning that goes into a document.

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Elements of Design

FIGURE 8A variety of heads may be featured in your documents.

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Depending on the documents length, you may choose to


include the title of the document or the title of the chapter in
the running head on each page. Some documents even
feature different running heads on each page. Telephone
directories, for example, usually include the first name from
each pages leftmost column and the last name from the
pages rightmost column in their running heads.

Preliminary Pages
A long document, such as a book, generally includes three
main sections: preliminary pages, main text, and back matter.
Preliminary pages are also called front matter and prelims.
Like the rest of the document, preliminary pages are planned
in advancethey too are part of the master blueprint that
will guide construction of the document. Preliminary pages
include everything that precedes the documents main body,
such as
The title page, which lists the documents title and any
subtitles, the authors name, the publisher, and year of
publication
The copyright, or imprint page, which gives information
about the copyright owner and previous publishing history
The preface or introduction, which informs the reader
why the document was written, what it contains, and
what benefit the author hopes the reader will gain
The table of contents, which lists the major, and
sometimes the minor, divisions of the document, and
respective page numbers
The half-title page, which is the document title alone on a
separate page, and the authors dedication page
When creating a Web page, the first page or home page will
act as an index and introduction in one. Online publishing
usually combines many elements of traditional print publishing.
This is because online publishing is a faster, leaner type of
publishing designed to give fast results.

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Elements of Design

Go back and look at the first few pages of this unit. What you
see is a title page with the course name and the title of the
current study unit. Turning the page, you find the copyright
information on the left-hand, or verso, page. Facing the
copyright page on the right-hand, or recto, page is the units
preview (preface). The next verso page is blank and faces
the contents page, which appears on the right. As you move
through your unit, youll notice that recto pages are always
odd numbered, while verso pages are always even numbered.

Back Matter
Elements that appear after the text portion of a long document include such items as the appendix, glossary, index,
and bibliography. Another item sometimes found in books is
a colophon, which lists the documents production facts.
Included are such items as the name of the documents publisher, the typeface, the equipment on which the document
was set, the kind of paper used, and the names of the printer
and bookbinder (Figure 9). These terms will be covered in a
later study unit.

Special Challenges: Copyfitting


Earlier, you learned how to estimate the number of pages a
document will occupy. Another task youll face as a designer
is making the copy fit the space on each individual page. This
is called copyfitting, and it presents a special challenge when
a page contains illustrations or other nontext elements, such
as tables or graphs.
If you have a difficult time making copy fit on a page, you
can solve this problem in one of three ways (Figure 10).

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FIGURE 9A colophon is
useful for letting readers
know how a document has
been produced.

1. Adjust the size and spacing of the type. In most cases,


odd copyfitting situations can be solved by moving the
letters of a few words closer together (kerning), or by
loosening the letterspacing or word spacing.
2. Alter the size of the illustrations or other graphic
elements. Sometimes decreasing the size of graphical
elements can open the amount of space you need.
You may even find yourself increasing the size of such
elements to close up extra space.
3. Edit the text. Sometimes the only way out of a difficult
copyfitting situation is performing minor surgery
on the text. You may have to eliminate unneeded words
or rewrite sentences so that they take up less space.
However, this is something designers should never do
without express permission from the author or other
person responsible for the document.

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Elements of Design

FIGURE 10There are several ways for you to solve


odd copyfitting situations.

Other Challenges
You should always be on the lookout for any special problems
that may appear in particular projects. For example, if youre
limited to a certain number of pages, you must fit all of the
documents elements into those pages. This means you must
skillfully and creatively use the available space.
Sometimes, the document in progress calls for an unusual
page size. Oversized documents, such as the one shown
in Figure 11, challenge graphic designers to lay out the
elements in such a way that readers are kept interested and
their eyes are drawn from one important piece of information
to the next.

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Other special considerations that may come up deal with


those items that must follow a precise format. Bibliographies,
for example, follow a definite style that designers cant
tamper with (Figure 12).

FIGURE 11Special-sized
documents challenge
publishers to use space
creatively.

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Elements of Design

FIGURE 12Certain items


in a document, such as the
bibliography, must be
presented in a standard,
approved format.

In the next section, youll learn some of the basic terms used
in typography. Before advancing, however, review what youve
learned by completing Self-Check 1.

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Self-Check 1
At the end of each section of Elements of Design, youll be asked to pause and check
your understanding of what youve just read by completing a Self-Check exercise.
Answering these questions will help you review what youve studied so far. Please
complete Self-Check 1 now.
1. In (casting off/copyfitting), a publisher estimates a documents length when its set in a
particular typeface.
2. Text that appears at the top of every page is called a _______.
3. The copyright or imprint page is most commonly found in the (front/back) matter of a long
document.
4. What two tools can you use to determine a documents length?

__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Check your answers with those on page 83.

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Elements of Design

ALL ABOUT TYPE


Decisions, Decisions
Youve learned that typography involves the selection of
appropriate typefaces, type sizes, and type spacing for
specific types of documents. This process requires both
technical training and artistic instinct. A graphic designer
not only develops the document design and layout, but also
must be able to use type creatively and properly to best serve
the clients project needs.
The typeface selected has a major effect on the way a
document looks and feels. This means that you must
decide which typefaces will work best in your documents.
There are two major considerations you should take into
account: (1) the suitability of the typeface for the document
in question, and (2) the availability of the characters required
by the document within the chosen typeface.

Suitability of Type
There are hundreds of different typefaces available for use on
desktop publishing systems, and more are being made available all the time. All typefacesfrom the plainest to the
fanciestare attractive and useful in their own way. When
selecting a typeface for a document, you must ask yourself, Is
this the most suitable typeface for this particular document?
Since publishing is a form of communication, every printed
document has something to say to those who will read it.
That message is carried out in text and graphical images.
How these elements are combined and presented on the page
is vital for successful communication. Each typeface creates
its own mood or atmosphere. Some, such as Helvetica, present
the documents message in a no-nonsense, businesslike
manner, which is why the Internal Revenue Service uses it
on tax forms. Others, such as Bookman and Avant Garde,
are more friendly and inviting.

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23

Helvetica is a no-nonsense, businesslike type.


Bookman is more friendly and inviting.
Avant Garde is another friendly typeface.
Typefaces used for the documents main text pull the reader
along from paragraph to paragraph. Still other kinds of type,
such as display type, can be flamboyant and fun. Good
examples of flamboyant display types are Funhouse, Harlow,
and Traffic.

Page layout programs also let you play tricks with type as
shown in the following samples.
You can fill up a line with a few words by stretching the
characters out across the available line length, like this:

You can choose to stretch your characters vertically:

You can tighten up the letters to make words fit into a


confined space:

You can even a add drop shadow, attach to a path, place in


an shaped area, add a gradient or rotate, flip, and reverse.

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Elements of Design

Seeing the differences in just these few typefaces and special


effect samples makes an even stronger case for the information
presented in the first section of this unit: To choose an appropriate typeface, designers must understand the purpose of the
document theyre working with.
Although selecting typefaces for documents isnt an exact
science, there are some general guidelines that you can follow.
To understand these guidelines, you must first learn the basic
distinctions between one group of typefaces and another.

Serif versus Sans Serif


Typefaces can be separated into two general classes: serif and
sans serif. Serifed typefaces feature finishing strokes (serifs)
at the end of their stems, arms, and tails. Sans serifed typefaces dont have these finishing strokes (the name sans serif
is derived from the French sans, meaning without or lacking).
As you can see in Figure 13, the difference is quite noticeable.

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25

FIGURE 13Examples of Serif and Sans Serif Type

Serifed type is generally preferred for body text. Sans serif


type, which is sometimes more difficult to read, is commonly
chosen for headlines and subheads. For example, in long
legal documents, the text is usually set in serifed type and
the headings in sans serif type, as such documents must be
carefully read by all parties concerned. Of course, this is only
a general rulecomplete books can be set in sans serif type.
What all of this means is that theres no absolute right or
wrong type choice. Instead, the choice of type is based on its
suitability for the document at hand.

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Elements of Design

X Marks the Height


Each letter or character is a unit. When you look at the letter
A, for example, it seems so simple. But this A, like all other
characters, is made up of distinctive partsmore parts than
you would imagine at first glance. The characters depicted in
Figure 14 appear within three imaginary horizontal lines
familiar to typographers. The top line is called the cap height
line, or cap height, because all of the capital letters in a
typeface extend upward to meet it. The middle line is called
the x-height line, or x-height, because its the height of the
lowercase x in any typeface. The bottom line is called the
baseline. The main part of every character rests on this line.
The main part, or body, of lowercase characters fits
between the baseline and the x-height.
The part of a character which extends to the cap height
line is called an ascender (the upper part of the letter h,
for example).
The part of a character which falls below the baseline
is called a descender (the lower part of the letter p,
for example).
The main vertical stroke of a letter is called a stem (the
vertical line of the letter D, for example).
The horizontal line that connects the two legs of a
character is called a bar (the horizontal line of the
letters A or H, for example).
The peak of a character that meets the cap height line is
called the characters apex (the upper tip of the letter A,
for example).
The empty space within a character is called the characters
counter (the inside of the letter g, for example).

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27

x-height

serif

ascender

cap height

counter

Graphic Design
descender

stem

baseline

FIGURE 14There are many parts to each character.

Alphabets
When typographers speak of the alphabet, theyre talking
about more than the letters A through Z. Theyre also talking
about all of the characters in a particular size and style of
type. Each typeface generally has five separate alphabets:
1. Full-sized upright (roman) capital letters and characters
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ!#$%&*()
2. Roman lowercase letters and characters
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz!#$%&*()
3. Slanted (italic) uppercase letters and characters
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ!#$%&*()
4. Italic lowercase letters and characters
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz!#$%&*()
5. Small capitals (slightly smaller than full-sized)
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ!#$%&*()

Many typefaces also include boldface characters and letters,


and some also add boldface italic characters and letters.
However, most typographers prefer to work as much as possible with the five standard alphabets. They use bold and bold
italic type, but sparingly. Before selecting a typeface, make
sure it includes all the characters you need.

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Elements of Design

Proportional versus
Nonproportional Type
Youre probably familiar with the appearance of a typewritten
or word processed page. Looking at the word processed text
on the left in Figure 15, its plain to see that every character
is evenly spaced out across the line. Each character takes
up the same amount of space, whether it needs that much
space or not. An i, for example, takes up the same amount
of space as an m, even though the i is much smaller. This kind
of character spacing is called nonproportional or monospacing
because it doesnt make allowances for differences in width.
The Courier type thats standard in word processing software
and most computer system printers is a typewriterlike,
nonproportional typeface.
When the same text is set using whats called a proportional
type, it takes up much less space as shown on the right in
Figure 15. As a result, fewer lines are needed, and more text
fits on a page because the characters use only the amount of
space they really need. Besides using space and paper more
economically, proportional spacing gives documents a truly
professional look. Page layout software uses proportional type
almost exclusively.

FIGURE 15Nonproportional spacing gives each character the same space (left), while the same text
set in a proportional typeface requires much less space (right). The sample on the left is 10-point
Courier with 12 points of leading, while the sample on the right is 10-point Helvetica with 12 points
of leading.

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29

Availability of Characters
The second major factor in the selection of a particular typeface for a document is the availability of all characters that
the document will require. A typeface can have several hundred possible characters. For example, there are the standard
English-language letters in both upper- and lowercase. There
are also punctuation marks and numbers 09. Thats just
the beginning. In addition, documents can use bullets (),
directional arrows (), fractions (1/2, 3/4), mathematical and
scientific symbols (, ), dingbats (, , ), Greek letters
(, ), and various types of lines. This isnt even a complete
list. Its a fact that its almost impossible for a single typeface
to provide all of the possibilities. However, its important that
the typeface you choose has all of the characters your
document needs.
Once a suitable typeface has been selected for a document,
the designers next challenge is to decide what size of type is
appropriate. The next section introduces you to the language
of type measurement.

Type Measurement
One of the key skills in page layout is the ability to measure
type. Type measurement is about points and picas. A point is
the basic unit of typographic measurement. How large is a
point? Well, 72 points equals 1 inch (2.5 centimeters), so a
single point measures 1/72 inch (0.0353 centimeters). To
demonstrate how small one point is, heres a line thats one
point thick:

A pica is twelve points or 1/6 inch (0.415 centimeters). Picas


are also called ems. The line shown below is 1 pica in length:

There are 6 picas to 1 inch (2.5 centimeters). Figure 16


shows ruler measurements in inches, picas, and points.
To obtain the vertical size of type, designers generally
measure in points. To obtain the horizontal length of a
line or block of type, they measure in picas (Figure 17).

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Elements of Design

FIGURE 16In this


enlarged illustration, you
can easily see that there
are 12 points to 1 pica and
6 picas to 1 inch.

FIGURE 17The height of


type is usually measured
in points, while the horizontal width of words is
usually measured in picas.

There are also times when designers must convert inches


to picas or their metric equivalents. For example, the dimensions
of paper are usually given in inches (or in metric figures).
If you use picas to determine the margins of your page,
you may find it useful to convert those picas to inches (or
centimeters). These measurements and conversions can
seem confusing at first, but actually theyre quite easy
to understand.

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31

Suppose that youre designing the layout for this series of study
units. You chose to place one column of text on each page, but
you dont want that column to stretch from one side of the page
to the other. So, instead of a 6-inch (15-centimeter) column, you
chose a 41/2-inch (11.25-centimeter) column. How many points
and picas does this column width equal?
Hint: Since there are 6 picas to an inch, multiply 41/2 (4.5)
by 6 to get the equivalent column width in picas.
If youre working with two columns that are 15 picas wide, its
useful to know that each columns width is 2.5 inches (6.35
centimeters) wide (Figure 18). That same column is 180 points
wide (72 points per inch  2.5 inches, or 15 picas  12 points
to the pica). Try measuring it in Figure 18 yourself.
Making conversions from inches or centimeters to picas
(and vice versa) is much easier when you use an E-scale
(Figure 19). E-scales, also known as typeset rulers, were a
common tool for designers before the advent of sophisticated
page layout software. They are a specialty item that will have
to order from an art supply store. You may only be able to
find a pica ruler, which is helpful if you cant get an E-scale.

FIGURE 18This page features two columns that are each 2 inches (6.35 centimeters) wide.

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Elements of Design

FIGURE 19An E-scale


(Typeset Ruler) Used by
Typographers

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33

If you can find either tool, they are handy to have when the
occasional need comes up to match type, leading or line
length measurements on a printed document. Lets take a
closer look at this handy measuring tool.
Hold the E-scale so that the inches ruler is on your right.
At the scales right edge youll see a 101/2-inch ruler. Along
the scales bottom edge is a point ruler, and this begins at
zero (on the left) and increases all the way to 324 points
(on the right).
Just above the point ruler is a set of bullets and boxes,
which range in size from 6 to 24 points. The line of bullets
and boxes is lowercase. These bullets and boxes are useful
aids when setting up lists and checklists. This part of the
scale helps you visualize and select the appropriately sized
bullet or box.
On the left side of the scale is a pica ruler that measures 63
picas in length. The measuring marks appear at the 6- and
12-point positions along the ruler. (The 6-point marks are
half picas, while the 12-point marks are full picas, designated
by the numbered lines on the pica scale.)
In the top center portion of the scale, youll find a small vertical
point ruler that you can use to determine the space, or leading,
between lines of type. Leading is measured in points. This scale
begins at the 0-point mark, which is the bold horizontal line and
increases by increments of two points to 70 points. To use
this portion of your ruler, line up the 0-point mark at a lines
baseline (illustrated in the previous section) and measure the
vertical distance to the baseline of the line of type immediately below it (Figure 20). The point marker will indicate the
leading in points. Try measuring the leading of the type on
this page. Youll find the leading is 10.5 points.
From the left side of the scale, moving toward the middle,
youll find a series of rules that begin with a 6-point leading
distance between lines, and increases to 7, 8, 9, and 10
points. On the right, youll find similar measurements for 15,
13, 11, and 12 points. You can use these rules to find out
approximately how many lines of text you can fit on a page.

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Elements of Design

FIGURE 20Leading can


be determined by measuring from one baseline to
the baseline below it.

The uppercase Es running down the left side of the scale give
this tool its name. These Es represent the point sizes 6
through 72 in Helvetica font, and are useful for comparing
and measuring the size of text of the same font on a printed
page. The best way to do this is to find an uppercase roman
E (or other block-shaped, nonbolded capital, such as H or T)
in the text and match it as closely as you can to an E on the
scale. Use this tool to measure the point size of the type
youre reading right now. They wont match exactly because
this text is printed in Palatino and the Es on the E-scale are
in Helvetica, but it will give you practice using the E-scale.
Youll find endless opportunities to use the E-scale as you
pursue your career in graphic design. Practice measuring
different types of documentsbooks, newspapers, fliers, and
so on. This tool will serve you so well that youll always want
to keep it within arms reach.

Whats in a Name?
Youre already aware that every typeface has a name. Some
names relate to the style of the type. Brush, for example,
features characters that look as if they were created with
the broad stroke of a paintbrush. Other typefaces get their
names from the persons who designed them, such as Goudy
Oldstyle, which was created by the famous printer and
typographer William Goudy.

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35

Because of the variety of typefaces available for purchase


through the various type foundries and the different operating
systems for Mac and Windows, theres a bit of confusion
in type naming. To honor copyrights, type designers must
slightly alter popular typefaces and give these new versions
different names. This means that there are now many typefaces that look identical but have different names. Some
examples include Optima and Omega, Times and Times
Roman (also called Dutch), and Arial and Helvetica (also
called Swiss). Keep this in mindespecially when talking
with clients or others in the industry. You may find that,
although the typefaces youre talking about have different
names, theyre essentially the same. Figure 21 gives some
common examples.

FIGURE 21Although some typefaces are called by different names, theyre essentially the same.

Youve greatly increased your knowledge of typefaces and


sizes in this section. You know the steps to follow before
starting work on a document, and you even know how to
measure type. This information will serve you well when you
enter the industry. The next step is learning some basic
terms relating to page layout. Before advancing, however,
take some time to review what youve learned by completing
Self-Check 2.

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Elements of Design

Self-Check 2
1. True or False? Every typeface features a complete set of all printable characters.
2. Finishing strokes at the end of characters indicate that a type is (serif/sans serif).
3. The imaginary line on which the main part of every character rests is called the _______.
a. cap height
b. baseline

c. descender
d. x-height

4. A page features two columns of text. Each of these columns is 3 inches (7.5 centimeters)
wide, and the space between the two columns is 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) wide.
a. How wide is each column in picas? _______
b. How wide in picas is the combination of the columns and the space between them?
_______
5. What is the point size of a letter if it is one inch high?
Check your answers with those on page 83.

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37

THE PAGE
Introduction
In publication design, the basic unit of any document is the
page. Strictly speaking, a page can be defined as one side of
a sheet, or leaf, of paper, or one screen of data displayed on
the computer monitor. There isnt any set size that a page
must be. You can create documents that are as small as
business cards or as large as posters (called oversized
documents). Some documents occupy only one side of a
page, while others are many pages in length. Regardless of
a documents size, the basic layout form is called a page.
Its common to see online documents that are many printed
pages long, but as you can scroll down on online documents
they are still just one document. Lets examine the various
elements in a page. Keep in mind that your readers should
never be consciously aware of the separate elements of the
pageevery page should look like a complete unit.

Image Area
Deciding where the text will appear is
one of the first steps in planning your
document. The area on the page where
the text, headings (including side headings),
and running head or footer appear is called
the type page, or text area (Figure 22).
The image area is the actual working
area where text and graphics can be
placed. Traditionally image area has
been measured in picas but now with
current page layout software, inches is
the standard for most print publications
with the exception of newspapers. The unit
of measurement can easily be changed within
the preferences of any graphics software to fit
the particular job at hand.
FIGURE 22The image area of this study
unit is 6.5 inches wide and 9.75 inches deep.

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Elements of Design

After deciding how to set up these elements, you can


determine the placement of those items that dont appear
on every page, such as illustrations or other graphics.
Discovering fresh and exciting ways to present graphics is
one of the graphic designers greatest challenges. Graphics
are often simply placed in the text. For variety and interest,
however, try letting graphics extend, or bleed, into the
margins or off the page completely (Figure 23).

FIGURE 23Positioning illustrations in new and exciting ways is a challenge for graphic designers.

Trim Size
When designers speak of a pages trim size, theyre referring
to the size of the completed documentincluding all margins
after it has been printed, folded, bound, and cut to size.
Trim size is always measured in inches in both the United
States and Canada, although publishers catalogs sometimes

Elements of Design

39

give the approximate page dimensions in centimeters. The


pages in this study unit have a trim size of 81/2 inches wide
by 11 inches deep.
Next, lets see how designers break down the elements that
make up the width and length of a page.

Page Width Elements


There are three things to consider when discussing the width
of a page:
Margins
Columns
Line length

Margins
The white space that appears between the image area and
the edge of a page is called the page margin. Page margins
act as buffers between the documents printed text and the
edges of the page. Just because the area in page margins is
blank doesnt mean its wasted. Margins actually make a
page more attractive, interesting, and readable (Figure 24).
In multipage documents, the white space closest to the binding on the inside of a book is called the inner margin, or
gutter. The white space on the outer edges of the text is called
the outer margin. In single-page documents, margins are simply called the left margin and right margin. Margins can be
measured in either inches or picas.

40

Elements of Design

FIGURE 24Well-designed
page margins improve the
pages appearance.

Online documents are automatically displayed with a margin.


This margin can be expanded, but usually needs no additional manipulation. Trim size also is automatically set as
the online document is loaded. The basic page elements are
handled automatically with online documents, making life
easy for the desktop publisher.

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41

Columns
Columns are the vertical areas on a page where text and
graphics can be placed. Depending on the kind of document
and its intended audience, designers can choose a page
layout that features anywhere from one to four columns.
Figure 25 illustrates basic one-, two-, three-, and fourcolumn layouts, which are the most commonly chosen layouts.

FIGURE 25One-, Two-, Three-, and Four-Column Layouts

In single-column layouts, the column doesnt have to be


placed in the exact middle of the page between equal
margins. In fact, moving the column off-center makes a
page more interesting. This study unit, for example, features
an off-center, single-column layout thats interesting and
appealing to the eye.
When a single column is off-center, desktop publishers
often like to use what are called side headings. Major and
minor headings are placed to the left or right of the text
column, rather than on top of or within the column.

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Elements of Design

Figure 26 demonstrates what this unit might look like if


its headings were placed exclusively off to the side. You
can also use this margin area for other items, such as
quotations, figure captions, or illustrations.
FIGURE 26A SingleColumn Layout with Side
Headings

Another possibility is the two-column layout. A two-column


layout with equal column and margin widths is easy to manage
and can be used for many different kinds of publications,
such as manuals, newsletters, textbooks, and so on. Like the
inner margin, the space between columns is also called a gutter.

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43

If you choose a two-column layout, you may want to make the


two columns different widths. In this option, its recommended
to make the narrower column half the width of the wider
column. Figure 27 shows this layout on an 81/2  11-inch page.
FIGURE 27In this twocolumn layout, one
column is wider than
the other.

A three-column layout gives you the opportunity to create an


especially active page. Headlines and graphical elements can
easily cross over from one column to another, breaking up
the solid flow of text (Figure 28). This type of layout allows a
great deal of text per page, but usually requires fairly small type.

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Elements of Design

FIGURE 28A typical


three-column page allows
a great deal of creative
freedom.

Its even possible to lay out a four-column page. Four-column


pages can accommodate large amounts of text and are best used
for catalogs, dictionaries, directories, some magazines, and other
similar publications. For other types of documents, however,
its generally recommended to use a one-, two-, or three-column
layout. Figure 29 shows a sample four-column layout.

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45

FIGURE 29Four-column
layouts are best suited
for documents such as
catalogs, dictionaries,
directories, some magazines, and other similar
publications.

Line Length
The full width of a line of text is called line length, which
usually conforms to the width of the column and margins
of the page grid. To be pleasing to the eye and easy to read,
the line length of a document shouldnt be too wide or
narrow. The ideal line length will accommodate 65 to 70
characters depending on the type size chosen.

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Elements of Design

Page Length Elements


One of your first and foremost concerns when laying out
documents should be visual appeal. An essential detail
of visual appeal is balance. To achieve visual balance, the
elements on a page must live together comfortably. This
means that there must be a sense of harmony between
the image areas length, width, and surrounding margins.
Length-related margins are simply called top margins and
bottom margins, although theyre also referred to as headers
and footers when they include both the white space that runs
to the edge and any running heads or footers.
When determining top and bottom margins, its a good idea
to follow the standard traditionally used by book publishers.
This standard states that (1) a books bottom margin should
be twice the size of its top margin, (2) the width of the outer
margin should be half the sum of the top and bottom margins,
and (3) the inner margin should be half as wide as the
outer margin.
Lets apply this standard to a page that has a trim size of
6  9 inches. This imaginary page features a single column
approximately 4.9 inches wide and 7.5 inches deep (including
the running head and page number). The bottom margin is
1 inch, so the top margin should be 1/2 inch. To get the outer
margins width, add the bottom and top margins (1 inch + 1/2
inch = 11/2 inch). Divide this sum by two to get the average
of the top and bottom margin, and thus the width of the
outer margin3/4 inch. The inner margin should be half of
the outer margin, so divide 3/4 by 2 to get just under 3/8
inch. Figure 30 illustrates this classical standard in a typical
book spread.
Although it isnt necessary for modern publishers to adhere
exactly to this standard, its general principle is sound and
can be followed to maintain a sense of balance and proportion.
If the bottom margin of a page is significantly narrower than
its top margin or vice versa, the page will seem unbalanced.
The text will look like its falling off the page (Figure 31).

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47

FIGURE 30Standard Book Margins

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Elements of Design

FIGURE 31Graphic designers must preserve a sense of balance and proportion in their page layouts.
The text in this example seems to be slipping off the page. (This passage is from Great Expectations, by
Charles Dickens.)

GIVE ME SPACE!
Visual Appeal
An important aspect of the visual appeal that should characterize every page you produce is the proper use of space.
Youve just learned how page designers use the image area
and the margins to create eye-appealing pages. Now, lets
look inside the image area to see how space can make
printed text look more attractive and readable. In this
section, youll consider issues related to spacing between
Words
Individual letters
Lines of text

Elements of Design

49

Word Spacing
The distance that separates individual words within a line is
called word spacing. Four points is considered a normal
amount of space between words, and this is one-third of an
em (one em = 12 points). Lines with word spacing thats
consistently less than four points are called close lines. Lines
with word spacing thats consistently greater than four
points are called open lines. When the space between words
starts to open too much, readability and visual appeal suffer.
Figure 32 illustrates a segment of text in which some words are
so far apart that jagged gaps are plainly visible. These unsightly
separations between words are called rivers. Designers must
be careful to avoid these large separations, particularly when
choosing justified text. (Justified text is discussed in detail
a little later.) Using high-end page layout programs, designers
publishers may gain control of word spacing and letter-spacing
by setting minimum and maximum spacing values.
FIGURE 32The word
spacing in this block of
text is so wide that
unsightly rivers are plainly
visible.

Letterspacing
Sometimes letters, especially in display type, appear too
close together or too far apart. This happens most frequently
when using lines of all capital letters. Extra space can then
be added or subtracted between the letters. This is called
letterspacing (or tracking). Letterspacing may also be used
to achieve special effects.
In certain letter combinations, such as To or WA, the space
that normally appears between the letters can seem too wide,
and this must be fixed. Designers can tighten the space

50

Elements of Design

between letters in words with a feature called kerning.


Kerning is important because it aids in visual appearance,
which is a high priority in document design (Figure 33).
When large display type is being used, designers are often
guided by their own visual sense of the type. They may
tighten or widen particular combinations of letters and
not others. This is called visual spacing, or optical spacing.
Almost all other type (body text and subheads) calls for
normal spacing.
FIGURE 33Designers can
use kerning or letterspacing
to manipulate the amount
of space between letters.

Line Spacing
Youve already learned that leading refers to the space
between lines. This name is derived from the strips of lead
that were used by early printers to separate lines of text.
Adding spacing between lines is called leading it or leading
it out. Reducing the space between lines is called closing up
lines or deleting leads.

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51

Leading is closely related to type size. Like type size, leading is


measured in points. A comfortable standard for leading is 2
points greater than the type size. So, if your point size is 12,
then your leading should be 14. In the language of typography,
this setting is called 12 over 14 or 12 on 14, and is
written 12/14.
In choosing the leading for a document, keep the following
key factors about the document in mind:
The subject
The intended audience
The readability
The economy of space within the document
A documents subject and intended audience certainly affect
the decisions you make about type size and line leading. As
you saw earlier, a technical manual aimed at scientists or
engineers will be set in relatively small type with minimal line
leading. A logical choice for this type of document is 10-point
type and 12-point leading, or 10/12.
On the other hand, if that document was geared toward
young children, it would feature a much simpler format,
including significantly larger type and a greater amount of
leading. These choices would make the text more inviting
and easier to read. A logical choice for such a document
would be 14/20.
In general, maximum readability requires added leading as the
type size increases or as the line length gets longer. In either
case, the reader needs more white space to compensate.
Sometimes space or financial constraints require the use of
slightly tighter leading than the usual two points. Reducing
the leading by even one point can sometimes make a significant
difference in a documents length.

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Elements of Design

In contrast, leading can be increased to make a document


longer. Figure 34 presents examples of the same block of text
set in 10-point type, but each example is set with different
leading. In the first example, the leading is set at 10 points
(setting the type and the leading at the same point is called
setting solid). In the second example, the leading is set at
12 points, and in the third, 14 points. You can easily see the
difference in the texts appearance and depth.
FIGURE 34These text
blocks have been set
10/10, 10/12, and 10/14.
Which do you find easiest
to read?

Elements of Design

53

TO JUSTIFY OR NOT TO JUSTIFY


Making Your Choice
As a graphic designer, youll have to make yet one more
decision about your documents appearance before you can
begin working on it. How will you set your text? Basically,
you can choose either justified or ragged text.

Justified Text
You can choose to make your text align with the left and
right margins of the image area so that every line is equal in
length. This is called justification, or justifying the text. Your
publishing software provides for lines of equal length by
adjusting the spacing between the words in each linethe
space between words varies from line to line as needed.
Earlier in this study unit, you were alerted to the potential
problem of riversexcessive white space appearing in the
middle of text. Generally, the shorter your line length, the
more likely your text will include unsightly rivers. This is
because your software wont be able to comfortably adjust
the word spacing. Carefully editing the text and skillfully
using your kerning feature can overcome this problem in
most cases.
Justified text has historically been the norm in formal
books and documents, whether fiction or nonfiction. Today,
however, many publishers are choosing not to justify their
text. Instead, they choose a less formal look with ragged text.
Figure 35 presents samples of justified and ragged text.

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FIGURE 35These examples show an identical


block of text set justified,
flush left/ragged right,
flush right/ragged left,
and centered.

Ragged Text
Text that isnt justified is said to be ragged. In ragged text,
the ends of the lines dont align at one or both margins.
Instead of being equal, line lengths vary. One advantage
of ragged text is that word spacing remains constant; your
publishing software isnt forced to artificially fill the word
spacing as it must in justified text. Another advantage is
that the number of hyphenated words is generally reduced.
There are actually three kinds of ragged text: flush left/
ragged right, flush right/ragged left, and centered. The text
on this page is set flushed (set even) to the left margin and
ragged on the right (flush left/ragged right). Many publishers

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feel that this format is the friendliest and easiest to read. The
eye readily accepts the straight edge at the left side of the
column and the irregular ending at the right.
The opposite of flush left/ragged right features straight edges
on the right and ragged ends at the left (flush right/ragged
left). This format is rarely used, however, because its too
difficult to read comfortably. A long document set flush
right/ragged left will probably go unread. However, certain
small items, such as figure captions, short quotations, and
two-line headlines can be effectively set flush right/ragged left.
The third type of ragged text is centered. When a line of text
is placed in the center of the image area, it has an equal
amount of space on both the right and left sides. This results
in the left and right margins appearing ragged. Lines most
commonly centered are titles, title page text, headlines, and
sometimes subheads.
Very often clients specify how the text in their document
should appear. However, at times this decision will be left up
to you. Be prepared to make it.
In the next section, youll learn about additional aids available to desktop publishers in designing documents. First,
however, review this section by completing Self-Check 3.

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Self-Check 3
1. What is the standard that traditional book publishers have followed for determining the size of
margins?

__________________________________________________________
2. When designers speak of the (image area/trim size) of pages, theyre talking about the outer
dimensions of the pages after theyve been printed, folded, bound, and cut.
3. _______ are the white spaces between the type page and the trimmed edges of a page.
4. Choose the letter that best describes the following block of text.
Math teacher Joe Jackson, left, has been chosen to
receive the Most Respected Teacher Award from
School Board President Leslie R. Paulson, right.
a. Centered
b. Flush left/ragged right

c. Flush right/ragged left


d. Justified

Check your answers with those on page 83.

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STYLE
Introduction
When graphic designers speak of style, they can be referring
to any of a documents major elements. Style relates to the
documents text and the way its visually presented on the
page (typeface, fonts, point size, leading, justified, or ragged).
Style also relates to the placement and integration of graphical
elements in a document.
When it comes to document design, its importantespecially for
newcomersto know that help is available. Its not necessary for
you to reinvent the wheel every time you want to design a
new document. First, a large body of reference material on
all aspects of document creation is available at local libraries
and bookstores. In addition, many page layout software
programs provide template layouts that you can use. Third,
this course will give you fantastic ideas for designing your
documents. Finally, as soon as you begin using your publishing
software, you can start putting together and saving your own
library of page layouts and design specifications.
Lets explore the style aids that will help you become a better,
more professional publisher.

Style Manuals and Other References


A style manual is a reference book that helps readers apply
the prevailing and accepted style for a specific field. For
example, in the writing field there are several accepted style
manuals, such as the classic The Elements of Style by
William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, and The New York Times
Manual of Style and Usage. Theres one style manual, however, thats a gold mine for publishersThe Chicago Manual
of Style. Not only does this volume deal with the proper use
of language, it covers virtually every aspect of document
design and publication. For more than 100 years, this manual
has been a guiding beacon for the publishing industry. Its
just as valuable to todays electronic publishers as it was
to past generations of traditional publishers. Although an

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excellent source, the Strunk book is a bit outdated when


dealing with online documents. Luckily, the basic attributes
of style still apply to both traditional and online publishing.
After all, a document still needs to look good, whether its
printed or displayed on a monitor.
In addition to style manuals, there are other resources that
designers should keep close at hand. For example, although
a documents written text isnt a designers primary concern,
every stage in the publication process should be geared toward
effective communication. Because of this, your personal
library should include a professional-level dictionary.
Such a dictionary is an extraordinary resource for accurate
spelling, capitalization, and the proper hyphenation of words.
Websters Tenth Edition Collegiate Dictionary is one dictionary
that serves designers well.
Another good reference is Websters Biographical Dictionary,
which is useful for finding the correct spelling of proper
names of prominent persons. Suppose that youre working on
a document which mentions former Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev, and youre uncertain how to spell this name. You
can use a biographical dictionary to find the correct spelling,
including a persons first and middle names.
Most standard dictionaries contain some, but not all, words
that are unique to particular fields. If you find that the documents youre producing are technical in nature, its a good
idea to purchase technical dictionaries related to those fields.
There are dictionaries on medical, scientific, and electronic
fields, to mention just a few. Lets say youre working on a
document that deals with computers, and you need to know
what a membrane keyboard is. Your standard dictionary
probably wont list this term. Barrons Dictionary of Computer
Terms, however, will.
Another valuable reference manual is a thesaurus, which
lists alternate terms (synonyms) for commonly used words.
Rogets II: The New Thesaurus is an excellent choice. Such
a reference can help you express your thoughts with greater
precision, color, and variety. For example, lets say youre
creating a document that discusses graphic aids available
for book design. Youve already used the adjective graphic

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59

a hundred times, and you want another term to use interchangeably with it. If you look in Rogets, youll find the
synonyms illustrative, photographic, pictographic, and pictorial.
You can also purchase a thesaurus for a particular field, such
as the computer field or medical field.
The key message here is that graphic designers must
surround themselves with the kinds of reference materials
that will make their jobs easier and their work more accurate
and effective.

Style Sheets
One of the greatest challenges facing graphic designers is
maintaining a consistent style throughout a document. One
of the tools that publishers use to ensure consistency in the
way things are said and done in a document is a style sheet.
This is important to both text editors and designers.
Text editors use two different kinds of style sheets. There are
house style sheets that outline a particular organizations
rules of punctuation, spelling, capitalization, hyphenation,
and so on. The individuals who work on documents for that
organization must follow such house rules. For example, an
organization may have a particular policy toward the use of
contractions. Will documents use the formal it is or the
friendlier its? Whatever the editorial decision, the usage
must be consistent throughout the document instead of
bouncing back and forth between the two options.
Another type of style sheet is an editorial style sheet thats
kept by editors as they review and edit manuscripts. Editors
use an editorial style sheet to make notes on the way certain
words, phrases, and punctuation marks are used. These
notes are indicated in an alphabetical format so they can be
easily verified. Editors use this style sheet to bring uniformity
to the text.
When designers talk about style sheets, they arent concerned
so much with the text of a document, but rather with the
consistency of the page design. Designers want to make
sure that their pages are laid out in a uniform way. Of
course, this doesnt mean that all pages have to look exactly
alike, as that would result in some pretty boring documents.

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Instead, page layout style sheets give publishers a model to


follow. Page layout style sheets allow flexibility and some
variety without losing continuity. For example, designers
should keep all headings throughout a document at standard
sizes. Although the size of each different kind of heading will
be different (say, major heads as compared to minor heads),
the size of each type of heading wont change (for example, all
major heads may be set at point size 20, while all minor
heads can be set 18 or 16).
Page layout style sheets can either be electronic or printed on
paper. An electronic style sheet is a computer file thats stored
on disk as part of a page layout software program. When a
publishing software program features style sheets, this file
contains such things as
Page layout information (margins, column widths, and
ruling lines)
Typographic selections (typestyles and point sizes for
headlines, subheads, and body text)
The use of built-in software style sheets simplifies the process of
laying out documents, as style sheets can be used over and
over. This makes it easy for designers to achieve uniformity,
consistency, and a professional layout throughout a document
or series of documents.
Even if a built-in style sheet is used, designers can customize
the page layout and typographic elements for particular
documents. The software style sheet for this study unit is set
up to lay out a page with the following features:

Trim Size:

81/2  11

Column Width:

39 picas

Element

Size

Leading

Face

Style

Alignment

10.5

12

Palatino

Normal

Left

None

Bullet

12

12

Palatino

Normal

Left

Bullet

Caption

8.5

9.78

Av. Gde.

Bold Ital.

Left

None

Reverse Head

26

30.28

Palatino

Bold Ital.

Left

Rule

Body Text

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Special

61

Finally, designers can save their customized or newly


created style sheets for future use in other documents
(Figure 36).
FIGURE 36A Model Page
Layout Style Sheet

For example, many organizations want their logo, company


name, address, or other identifying marks to look identical
on every document. By storing corporate identity details in
electronic style sheets, designers can make sure that their
business cards, stationery, envelopes, business forms,
and all publications and promotional materials have a
uniform look.

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A nonelectronic, publishing style sheet is one that a


publisher prints out on paper. It usually includes such
details as the exact placement of
Running heads/footers
Headlines
Subheads
Bullets
Indentations
Illustrations
Captions
Body text (including the maximum allowable line length)

Specification Sheets
A companion aid to the printed style sheet is a printed
specification sheet, which details
Typefaces
Point sizes
Column widths
Margin dimensions
Heading and subhead settings
Creating a specification sheet for a document ensures that
nothing about the documents type and format is forgotten,
and is especially important if more than one designer will be
working on a document. Saving specification sheets also lets
designers repeat the same formula on similar documents in
the future.
There are many ways to prepare a specification sheet. Some
designers set up model pages containing all of the elements
that can appear in the document. For example, where a main

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63

heading appears, that line of the specification is printed in


the typeface, font, and point size of the actual document.
The text will read something like this:
MAJOR HEADINGS: UPPERCASE, BOLD, FLUSH LEFT
Another form of printed specification sheet is a report of all
possible type and layout details. Items listed can include title,
author, overall dimensions, typeface, text size, full page
depth, full page width, column widths, margins, chapter
titles, chapter starting lines, heads, subheads, page number
position, and captions. Where appropriate, samples of the
actual type, point sizes, and line spacing are shown.
Figure 37 illustrates a sample specification.
Remember, there are other ways to set up a specification
sheet. Experiment and find the method that works best
for you!

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FIGURE 37A Sample Printed Specification

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65

GOING ONLINE
Introduction to Online Publishing
Throughout this study unit weve discussed online documents.
This section will help you to understand just what an online
document is and how it works. Youll learn the basics of
creating and viewing online documents. Creating online
documents is just one facet of publication design, but it
has become an integral part of the field.
Youve no doubt heard the Internet referred to as the information superhighway. What is the Internet and how will it
impact you in your career? Well talk a little about how the
Internet developed and how you can use this vast computer
network. Before you begin to create online documents, lets
take a look at the history of the Internet and become familiar
with some Internet applications.

History of the Internet


In 1969, a group of computer programmers was formed by
the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Collectively known as
ARPAnet (Advanced Research Projects Agency network), they
began work on the DODs request for a series of communications lines to tie strategically important sites together. The
DOD wanted to create a computer network that could survive
even if some of the networks basic lines were destroyed. The
network had to be able to automatically reroute signals so
communications could continue among strategic sites.
To accomplish this communication network, a flexible
computer language was devised. All data traveling on the
network was placed in packets with a destination address
and a time stamp. When the packets arrived at a computer
on the network, they were either accepted or sent along to
their intended site. The Internet Protocol, or IP, method of
transferring data formed the basis for the worldwide network
of networks called the Internet.

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Internet Applications
Once the basic networking protocols were set, the early
Internet programmers needed to create a group of programs
to take advantage of this new medium.
The driving reason behind the Internet was to keep communication open among sites. To accomplish this interconnected
communication, an application was devised, and electronic
mail, commonly called e-mail, was born.

E-mail
Electronic mail, or e-mail, is the king of all Internet applications. In fact, its the oldest application used on the Internet.
E-mail lets one Internet user send a message to another
Internet user anywhere in the world. Besides sending
messages, e-mail allows online users to attach files to their
e-mail. Users can write a document with a word processor
and send the document files right along with the e-mail to a
friend half a world away.

FTP
Sharing resources is a hallmark of computer networks.
Resource sharing, when more than one individual is working
on the same data, is best done when those sharing resources
can exchange data quickly. In the early days of the Internet,
sharing data meant trying to e-mail data or use an ancient
form of data transfer called UUCP (UNIX to UNIX Copy
Protocol). UUCP proved to be cumbersome and difficult to
use. File Transfer Protocol (FTP) became a standard that all
computers connected to the Internet use to transfer data.
FTP allows a user to access files on a remote computer
and download those files from (or upload files to) the remote
computer. With the standard of FTP, computer scientists who
were developing the Internet could finally share resources.
With the development of FTP, vast amounts of programming
work became available to anyone with Internet access. College
students all over the world became a driving force in developing
the Internet. To this day, colleges and universities are some

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of the best resources for source code (original programming


language) for any programming field. The Internet is a massive
network of computers running different operating systems that
communicate over a large area. The different computers can
communicate with each other because each application used
on the Internet follows very specific rules of communication.
These specific rules of communication are dictated as the
application is being created.

Search Utilities
Archie
As the Internet grew, more and more data became available.
The many different servers housing information had no
indexing systems other than the host FTP servers list files.
This left Internet users trying to find the proverbial needle
in a haystack. There was no good way to catalog the vast
information accumulated on the many servers.
Programmers developed an application that could find a file
or program on a remote FTP server without having the end
user slowly searching from server to server. The programmers
named their search utility Archie (a derivation of archive).
A system was devised whereby FTP servers generated a list of
programs, files, and documents that were housed on each
server. This information was then sent to central computers
that formed a database that informed users where files could
be located.

Gopher and Veronica


With the advent of FTP and Archie, the amount of information
available to users became overwhelming. Unless users knew
the specific filename to use for an Archie search, they were
out of luck.
Computer scientists at the University of Minnesota created
an indexing system to search for files on the Internet. They
called their new system Gopher, because this application will
GO FOR data. (Or perhaps they named it Gopher because
their universitys mascot is a gopher!)

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Gopher is a text-based utility, with a list of information displayed for the user. By choosing an option from the list on
the Gopher screen, the user is taken to a more specific range
of choices. This continues until a specific piece of data is
chosen and automatically transferred to the end users
terminal. Gopher became the star of the Internet for many
years. In fact, until recently, Gopher data transfers made
up the bulk of the Internets data packet traffic.
Gopher achieved what all previous Internet utilities could
notbrowsing. When users browse their way through
Gopherspace, the Gopher servers transfer the user from
one server to another. This transfer is transparent to the end
user with, at most, a short lag between screens. When the file
is found, the information is transferred to the local computer,
once again, seamlessly.
The immense popularity of Gopher led to some very interesting
innovations. When it became difficult to find specific information
using FTP, computer scientists began to work on a new utility
that was designed to work in concert with Gopher. To use
this new utility, the user would enter a search word(s). The utility would search the Internet and display a series of hits. The
hits were files that the search utility found to have sufficient
similarities with the search word to be worth looking at. This
search utility was named Veronica, an acronym for Very Easy
Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives.

The World Wide Web


The early part of the 1990s saw a boom in the Internet of
incredible proportions. The World Wide Web was created as a
way to easily transmit and receive data, whether it was text,
graphics, or any multimedia file.
The Web is designed to be easy to use. In fact, you dont need
to know anything about Gopher, FTP, or most other Internet
utilities. The basic document on the Web is called a Web
page. All Web pages should adhere to the basic style rules
that are included in this study unit.
Using the mouse makes the Web easy to navigate. You simply
point your mouse at something that interests you and click.
When you click, data from another computer is transferred to

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your screen. Hypertext, or hyperlinking, allows you to point


your mouse at a hotspot and click. Youll know when youve
found a hotspot because your mouse screen pointer will turn
into a little hand. When you click on the hotspot (usually
text thats underlined in a bright color or graphic), data on
another computer is transferred to your local computer. At
one moment you can be looking at information on a computer in England, and one click later you can be looking at
data on a computer in Australia.
This easy navigation is what makes the Web so very useful
and popular.

Intranets
Besides the Internet, there are smaller groups of computers
connected to each other. These small groups are local area
networks, or LANs. When information is transferred from one
LAN computer to another using Internet protocols, the LAN
is called an intranet. Actually, an intranet is just a very small
version of the Internet. Intranets are usually used by organizations or corporations that want to have an easy way to share
information among their branches or subsidiaries.

SCREEN RESOLUTION AND SIZE


You must keep in mind that theres a difference between how
information is displayed on the computer screen and how its printed.
For traditional print publishing, a standard document is 81/2 by 11
inches. When dealing with online documents, the final document
size can vary, depending on the users computer screen. Computer
monitors display information in what are called pixels, or little dots
that make up the picture. Video resolution is the ability of a video
monitor to render tone, color, and detail. When a video monitor has
a resolution of 800  600 dots per inch (dpi), the picture you see
will be made up of 800 pixels across and 600 pixels down. Images
displayed on a monitor will appear smaller on a higher resolution
monitor and larger on a monitor with a lower resolution.
Figures 38A and 38B show the difference in a graphic of a set size at
various resolutions. Figure 38A shows a graphic with a resolution of
1280  1024 while Figure 38B shows the same graphic at 800  600.
Can you see the difference in the size of the graphic? This is a good
example of how graphics and resolution are interconnected.

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FIGURE 38AGraphic with 1280  1024 Resolution

FIGURE 38BGraphic with 800  600 Resolution

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71

PUBLISHING ONLINE
Now that you know a little about intranets and the Internet,
lets take a look at what an online document is and how to
create one. This section will introduce you to browsers and
the language of the Web, HTML. Then, youll learn a little
about the potential of XHTML and SGML.

Browsers
The program you run to navigate the Web is called a browser.
A browser displays all the text, graphics, and multimedia
special effects and makes sure that when you click on a link,
or hotspot, youll be connected to the correct information.
There are a variety of browsers available such as Internet
Explorer, Firefox, and Safari. Internet Explorer is most
popular with Windows users and Safari with Macintosh
users. Firefox has emerged as the most consistent and
secure browser across both platforms and is increasingly
popular with users. Opera is another popular browser as
it best supports the latest updates in HTML. All of these
programs perform the same function of allowing the user
to surf (browse) the Web with ease.
All browsers have the same basic features, a large area where
the information from the Web is displayed, a pointer that lets
you click on links to view more information, and a series of
buttons on the main interface area to let you navigate with
ease. Lets look at the Web page in Figure 39.
You can see a home page by using a browser. The home page
has the basic information that you want an initial page to have.
It serves as both a welcome page and an index of the pages
included in a Web site. The basic Web page usually has both text
and graphics. Much like a brochure, an initial Web page needs
to grab the users attention to get them to continue looking.
There are normally some standard elements on an introductory
Web page. The title of the page is usually shown at the top of the
browser. Some other common elements of a Web page follow.
The main heading. Web pages can display one of six header
default settings, which are set at different point sizes in boldface.
With more advanced coding, larger point sizes can be used.

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FIGURE 39A Typical Home Page

The subheader. The subheader is usually a slightly smaller


header that follows the main header.
The main body of the document. The body contains
information usually in paragraph format.
Graphics. Graphics are often used to attract users to a
Web document.
A variety of links or hotspots. The links or hotspots on
the home page take the user further into the document.
An e-mail link. An e-mail link is usually included so users
can access e-mail automatically.
Unlike the title page of a printed document, an online home
page has many links to instantly take the user to many
places within the electronic document. Figure 40 illustrates
the easy movement within an online document.

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FIGURE 40Reading a printed page is a serial process. Using hypertext, a user can easily shift from
one document to any others and back again.

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HTML
The layout of an online document is designated by Hypertext
Markup Language, or HTML. An online document is usually
coded in HTML. Coding is a set of instructions for a computer
to follow. Lets take a look at Figure 41, which shows a very
simple HTML document.
HTML lets the online publisher start with a text document and
add format commands to it. These commands are called tags,
and when the page is loaded into the browser, the tags are
translated and style attributes such as italic, bold, justification,
and line breaks are revealed. Most tags have two parts, the
first element and the second element. The first element simply
starts the tag, while the second element, or terminating
element, finishes the tag. For example, <p align = center>
Hi there! </p> will display the phrase, Hi there! centered in
the page. The first tag, <p align = center>, is read as
Center all the text until the terminating element is reached,
and the second </p> tag is the terminating tag. When the
terminating tag is reached by the browser, whatever
special attribute it sets up no longer applies.
Lets take a look at this example in detail by seeing what the
HTML file itself looks like. Youll see several different tags
used in this example. There are, in fact, over 300 standard
tags you can use. Some are as simple as making text bold,
while other tags will create special characters.
The text which follows will show the full HTML document
used to create Figure 41.

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The first tag seen is the <HTML> tag. This tag opens the
document. The rest of the document will be nested, or
contained, within the starting and ending tags.
The <HEAD> and <TITLE> tags work together to give
the HTML document a title that will be displayed on the
browsers. The main information in the HTML document
is bound within the <BODY> tags.
The next few tags well discuss are used to customize the HTML
document, and they have some very interesting features.
When text is written with no tags, it will simply default to the
standard typeface, point size, and justification. Note that this
default is Times New Roman font, or typeface, 8-point size,
and left justified/ragged right.
To force a line break, the <BR> tag is used. As stated earlier,
the <p align = center> tag centers the text. Head tags <H1>
through <H6> display the text bold and with different point
sizes to create a range of head elements.
Weve reached the end of the sample HTML document.
To see how this text would appear as an online document,
see Figure 41. See, it was pretty easy wasnt it?
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Elements of Design

FIGURE 41This document is very simple, but it showcases some elements that you can build into an
online document.

You now know basically what online documents are and


how they work. At the end of the last section, you learned
about specification sheets for traditional publication design.
Because of the rapid growth and constant change of the
Internet, there are no real spec sheets for online publishing.
The main point that you need to remember is that just like
printing a brochure, its the planning that makes the document!
As you create documents for online distribution, youll meet
with some frustrations. Unlike the myriad of fonts available
for print content, HTML has limited typographical capabilities.
New technology offers tags that create style sheets comparable
to Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress. The drawback is that
visitors might not have the fonts installed on their systems.
These limitations will be eliminated with the advent of a
universal font format that embraces many typefaces. The
end result is that users will see the type that the page designer
intended, whether they have the specified type installed or not.

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One way to get ideas for your online documents is to simply


surf the Web for interesting, eye-catching home pages. Some
are very cleverly created with a good mix of text, graphics, and
multimedia effects. Others are a nightmare of overdone blinking
text or pages of boring run-on text. Many special effects, when
used sparingly, can attract viewers to your home pages. Blinking
headers can attract attention, but paragraphs of blinking text
are annoying and difficult to read.
Page after page of run-on text will probably send the user
surfing to someone elses concise, easy-to-read home page.
If you do have long sections of text to include in your pages,
you can list the section heads like a table of contents with
hotspots to link the viewer to the meatier sections of text.
This produces a home page with less clutter and allows
the viewers to get where they want to go without scrolling
through hundreds of lines of text. You might also display the
topics of your document within a frame, using a graphical
hotspot to link the viewer with the textual information.
When updating or adding information to your online document, you can insert new headers or graphics with hotspots
to connect the viewer to the related text. To highlight the
latest updates, you can create a graphic that identifies the
sections that are new.
As you investigate sites on the Web, youll see more and more
sophisticated home page designs with various multimedia
presentations allowing for rich interactive experiences. One
of the most important software applications to bring these
features to the Web, is Adobe Flash. Flash allows you to
create anything from a simple animation like a slide show
to designing a complex interactive game. You can build an
entire Web site in Flash without the use of HTML, complete
with animated buttons, scrolling text, forms, video and sound.
Flash uses a programming language called Actionscript that
allows Web developers to write code to create this exciting
interactive experience for the Web and beyond. These Web
pages, as well as HTML Web pages, can be and are repurposed for display on mobile devices such as your phone.
Video and sound clips also can be embedded in your pages
using other types of multimedia applications such as
QuickTime and RealPlayer. Both applications allow sound

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and video to play directly on the Web and the full software
versions allow online designers to create and embed their
own clips.

XHTML
XHTML, Extensible Hypertext Markup Language, is a reformulation of HTML 4.0, the most current version of HTML used
on the Web. As you know, HTML is the markup language that
allows a page to be displayed on the World Wide Web. XHTML
is basically the follow-up version of HTML 4. However, unlike
HTML, XHTML can be extended by anyone that uses it.
New elements and attributes can be defined and added to
those that already exist, making possible new ways to embed
content and programming in a Web page. In appearance, an
XHTML file looks like a somewhat more elaborate HTML file.
The standard for Web markup is a cross between standard
HTML and XHTML and is referred to being transitional.
The code that appears at the top of a Web page looks like
the following, rather than the standard <HTML> tag you were
shown previously:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0
Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
The advantages of extensibility means that as new ideas
for Web communication and presentation emerge, they can
be implemented without having to wait for the next major
version of HTML and browser support. New tags or attributes
can be defined to express new possibilities for your Web
page that youve never seen before. This also means that
complicated Web pages can be made simpler than before
so that mobile devices with smaller microprocessor chips
and memory can use them.

Elements of Design

79

SGML
Standard General Markup Language, SGML, is an application
that allows you to publish the same information in several
different formatsin print, on the Web, or on a DVD. HTML
and XHTML are simpler versions and a subset of SGML.
SGML encodes information for a document and defines the
rules for how the tagged elements fit together.
SGML allows huge amounts of information to be archived.
This information can then be searched, extracted, and
recompiled for several avenues of publication.
Suppose you work at a company that publishes college textbooks and you need to publish a book about a specific topic.
With the companys database stored in SGML, you would be
able to pull all of the information you need right from one
source. Since its already tagged in a hierarchical structure,
you can compile a text, complete with headings, within a
few hours.
Its exciting to know that the entire process of planning and
creating print and online documents is practically the same
its only the end product thats different. Knowing how to
create documents for both print and online distribution offers
you many publishing opportunities. Now take some time to
review what youve learned by completing Self-Check 4. Once
youve completed the self-check, youll be ready to move on to
your examination.

80

Elements of Design

Self-Check 4
1. A reference book that guides the reader in applying principles of good usage in a specific field
is called a _______.
2. True or False? The graphic designers primary concern with any document is the accuracy of
its text.
3. A software tool that ensures continuity in the way things are said and done in a document is
called a (specification sheet/style sheet).
4. What does HTML stand for?

__________________________________________________________
5. What does BR do?

__________________________________________________________
6. True or False? XHTML is the newest version of HTML.
Check your answers with those on page 84.

Elements of Design

81

FROM YOUR DESKTOP


TO SUCCESS
Congratulations! Youve certainly come a long way. Youve
been introduced to many terms related to document design
that will come in handy when youre working in the industry.
Youve learned the importance of determining your documents
details before you start laying it out electronically. Youve also
learned quite a bit about typography.
You now know that there are many aids available to help
you create effective, attractive documents. Without a doubt,
youve accomplished a great deal. Keep up the good work!

82

Elements of Design

Self-Check 1
1. casting off

3. front
4. Character count and word count

Self-Check 2
1. False
2. serif
3. b
4. a. 18 picas
b. 42 picas
5. 72

Self-Check 3
1. Traditional book publishers have followed this standard
for determining margins: A books bottom margin is twice
the size of its top margin, the width of its outer margin
should be half the sum of the top and bottom margins,
and the inner margin should be half as wide as the outer
margin.
2. trim size
3. Margins
4. a

Answers

2. running head

83

Self-Check 4
1. style manual
2. False
3. style sheet
4. Hypertext markup language
5. Its the first element of a tag to center text.
6. True

84

Self-Check Answers

Elements of Design

05305801
Whichever method you use in submitting your exam
answers to the school, you must use the number above.
For the quickest test results, go to
http://www.takeexamsonline.com

When you feel confident that you have mastered the material
in this study unit, go to http://www.takeexamsonline.com and
submit your answers online. If you dont have access to the
Internet, you can phone in or mail in your exam. Submit your
answers for this examination as soon as you complete it. Do not
wait until another examination is ready.
Questions 120: Select the one best answer to each question.

1. Study the following sentence, then select the answer that


best describes it.

THE COW JUMPS OVER THE MOON!


A.
B.
C.
D.

Italic serifed type


Bold roman sans serif type
Bold italic sans serif type
Bold roman serifed type

2. Which one of the following statements about page columns


is true?
A. Page columns are vertical spaces on a page into which
text and graphics can be placed.
B. Page columns are horizontal spaces on a page into which
text and graphics can be placed.
C. When a single-column layout is used, the column should
always be placed in the exact middle of the page.
D. When a two-column layout is used, the columns should
always be the same size.

Examination

EXAMINATION NUMBER

85

3. What is the space between the lines of type called?


A. Points
B. Gutter

C. Leading
D. Margin

4. What does 12/15, or 12 over 15, indicate?


A. 12 point leading, 15 point type
B. 12 point type, 15 point leading

C. 12 pica type, 15 pica leading


D. 12 pica leading, 15 pica type

5. An ideal line length would include how many characters?


A. 4055
B. 6570

C. 100
D. 100125

6. John wants to share resources and move a large volume of data quickly over the
Internet. John should use which of the following to transfer his information?
A. UUCP (UNIX to UNIX copy protocol)
B. E-mail

C. FTP (file transfer protocol)


D. Google

7. The process of selecting typefaces, type sizes, and text spacing for a particular
document is called
A. desktop publishing.
B. type processing.

C. typesetting.
D. typography.

8. Estimating a manuscripts length if its set in a particular typeface is called


A. typography.
B. casting off.

C. leading.
D. letterspacing.

9. A/An _______ is the basic unit of typographic measurement.


A. pica
B. em

C. point
D. inch

10. A style manual can be described as a/an


A. reference book that guides the reader in applying accepted principles of usage in a
specific field.
B. electronic tool that assures consistency in the way things are said and done in
desktop publishing documents.
C. printed sheet that details a documents typefaces, point sizes, column width,
margin dimensions, heading, and subhead specifications.
D. dictionary containing terms for particular fields, such as science, computers,
engineering, or medicine.

86

Examination

11. Which of the following statements about document pages is true?


A. The page on the left-hand side of a document is the verso page, while the
right-hand page is the recto page.
B. The page on the right-hand side is the verso page, while the page on the left-hand
side is the recto page.
C. Recto pages are always even-numbered pages, while verso pages are always
odd-numbered pages.
D. Good design dictates that recto pages always be blank to avoid the overdone look.
12. Graphic designers sometimes must adjust the spacing between letters so that the result
looks right to them. This is called
A. optical spacing.
B. closing a line.

C. justifying.
D. leading it out.

13. If a line of type measures 5 inches (12.5 centimeters) in length, how many picas
long is it?
A. 15
B. 25

C. 30
D. 60

14. HTML documents are created by adding what to text?


A. Tables
B. Graphics

C. Tags
D. Links

15. A pica equals _______ points.


A. 1
B. 6

C. 12
D. 72

16. Computer files designed to simplify the layout process and stored electronically as part
of a page layout software program are called
A. style manuals.
B. style sheets.

C. reference files.
D. specification sheets.

17. Which of the following page-related terms refer to the same thing?
A. Type page/text area
B. Trim size/text page

C. Type page/trim size


D. Open line/leading

18. Unlike _______, XHTML can be extended by anyone who uses it.
A. SML
B. HTML

Examination

C. XML
D. SGML

87

19. A long document, such as a book, can usually be divided into which of the following
three main sections?
A.
B.
C.
D.

Copyright section, main text, appendix


Preliminary pages, main text, back matter
Preliminary pages, main text, index
Preliminary pages, main text, and front matter

20. Which of the following must a designer be aware of when planning the design of
a document?
A.
B.
C.
D.

88

The
The
The
The

person who wrote the document


intended audience
professional printer to be used
retail and wholesale prices of a document

Examination

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