Book design
Choosing a trim size before laying out a book
Trim size affects the page, the reader’s experience and the production file. Choose it with the book’s content and printing route in view.
The subject index / 26 articles
Book design
Work through type, pages, covers and the different demands of printed books and ebooks.
Book design
Give the page margins room to work
Margins shape how a book is held and read. Test the text block as a spread, allowing for the binding as well as the visible white space.
Book design
Choose body type for sustained reading
Body type has to work across many pages, not only in a specimen sentence. Compare candidates using the actual prose and the characters the book needs.
Book design
Balance type size, line length and spacing
Type size, line length and line spacing work together. Change them as a system and compare printed samples before settling the reading page.
Book design
Design a chapter opener that belongs to the book
A chapter opening should make the transition clear and belong to the rest of the book. Build it around the actual heading material, including the awkward cases.
Book design
What should a running head say?
Running heads should give useful orientation while remaining visually subordinate to the text.
Book design
Plan page numbering across front matter and text
Plan the numbering sequence before layout, then distinguish counted pages from pages that display a number.
Book design
Front matter that prepares the reader
Front matter should identify the book and prepare the reader without postponing the text unnecessarily.
Book design
The pages after the ending
The material after the main text should support further reading, verification or use of the book.
Book design
Review widows and orphans without damaging the page
An isolated line can interrupt the page, but forcing it elsewhere may create a worse problem. Review the paragraph and its neighbours before choosing a fix.
Book design
Check hyphenation in a finished layout
Line-end hyphens affect both spacing and reading. Check them in context, especially after the final text changes have moved lines around.
Book design
Write a cover brief around the book and its readers
A cover brief gives a designer something more useful than a preferred colour. Explain the book, its readers and the decisions the cover has to support.
Book design
Test a book cover at thumbnail size
A cover can look clear at full size and lose its hierarchy in a small listing. Test what remains visible in the places readers will actually see it.
Book design
Why the final page count matters to a spine
Spine width depends on the finished physical book. A provisional page count is useful for planning, but the final cover must use the printer’s actual specification.
Book design
Make room for the back-cover information
The back cover has several jobs competing for limited space. Decide what belongs there before the description, barcode and other elements become a squeeze.
Book design
Build a visual relationship across a book series
Related covers need enough consistency to belong together and enough difference to identify each volume. Define both before designing the next book.
Book design
Image quality at the size a book will print
Judge the pixels, the crop and the printed result together before an image reaches the press.
Book design
What colour can hide in a black-and-white image
Colour differences can disappear in monochrome. Check the information as well as the appearance.
Book design
Tables that remain readable on the page
A useful table lets readers compare the right things without turning the page into a wall of rules.
Book design
Footnotes need room to be read
Notes need a visible relationship with the text and enough space to be read without strain.
Book design
When an ebook changes shape
Reflowable books need a stable reading order, flexible spacing and testing at the reader’s chosen settings.
Book design
A reader’s route through an ebook
Make chapter links, note journeys and other navigation reflect the structure readers actually encounter.
Book design
What an image description needs to explain
Describe the information an image contributes, with enough context to make it useful in the book.
Book design
The final print PDF deserves its own review
Combine technical preflight with a slow editorial check of the exact PDF that will be printed.
Book design
Give a designer feedback they can act on
Connect each comment to a reader problem, a location and a clear priority.
Book design
What belongs in a design handover
A handover should preserve the finished output and the ingredients needed to revise it.