Pre-Planning for Results

Desktop Publishing Defined

• The production of camera-ready art via computer

Purposeful Design

What is your objective?

Visualize your readers?

What do they like?

What’s the most

important element?

What do you want them to

see first? Second?

What action do you want

them to take?

What specifications

must you meet?

Basic Design and Post Design Planning Questions

What is your purpose?

Who is your audience?

How will your piece look?

How will readers use your piece?

How will you reach your audience?

Where else might you use your

content?

When do you need the job

delivered?

How many pieces do you need?

How much should you spend?

How will your piece reach your

printer?

What help do you need?

What services do you want from your printer?

You can have two …

Good

Cheap Quick

What is your purpose?

Entertain

Inform

Sell Inspire

Don’t waste a professional’s time and your money because

you have no idea what you want

Who is your audience?

Keep it consistent with the best standards of your clients, customers or members have come to expect from similar organizations

How will your piece look?

Dignified or informal

Conservative or

speculative

Products or services

Writing quality

Pay equal attention to the

quality of the written message

Poor writing can ruin a printed

piece as easily as poor design

Every sentence you cut saves on

paper and printing

There is a fine line between being specific enough to get

what you want and general enough to stimulate creativity

How will readers use your piece?

Read quickly? •Brochure •Newsletters

Absorb over time? •Books

Life expectancy? •Menus? •Instruction Manuals? •Catalogs with pricing?

Mailing? •Format •Size •Paper •Printing •Folding •Packing

How will you reach your audience?

Envelopes?

Spiral binding?

Wrapping? Boxes?

Shipping?

Where else might you use your content?

Website

“Any device in, any

device out”

CD TV Ad

When you need it delivered?

First in, first out

Set deadlines and stick to

them

Plan backward from the deadline

Cutting production time 1-3

•use common ink, paper, formats Standardize

•Files and specs right the first time Avoid alterations

•PDFs reduce pre-press Exploit technology

•Keep it under one roof Reduce buyouts

•give up perfection, get the job done Lower quality

•Reduce the number of people who review copy and proofs Expedite approvals

•Use correct terms and symbols Communicate clearly

•Eliminate unnecessary turn-around time Cut dead time

•Pick up the job today Speed delivery

•Find designers and printers who can accommodate rush work Shop for speed

• If you want it fast, you’ll pay for it Pay for speed

Pricing is determined by how many

• 10% over or under • Quantity up, price per piece goes down

What printing quality do you need?

• One or two colors, toner not ink • Newsletters, real estate flyers Basic • Standard materials, toner or ink, colors saturated • Hardcover books, Time Newsweek Good • High Grade materials, ink, very sharp • National Geographic, upscale clothing catalogs Premium • Best materials and machines, First class, photo quality • Museum-grade art books, resorts Showcase • Quality highly variable • Acceptable for internal consumption

DIY

How much should you spend?

Fixed costs Design and prepress

Price of paper

Press time

Finishing

Few copies, pay attention to fixed costs

Variable Quantity

More copies, pay attention to variable costs

Accountability for the accuracy of the final copy

lies with you

What help do you need?

Writers

Photographers

Illustrators Designers

Agencies

Overhead

Stock photography Fonts

Print brokers

What services do you need?

Price?

Flawless production?

What aspects are important?

Finishing?

Shipping?

What is "good“ when it comes to design?

• It’s a matter of opinion. • What is “good” to one person, may not be

“good” to another. • It depends on your specific objective and

your target audience

How are you going to draw them in?

• Time Available: 1-7 Seconds about 4 words per second

• What’s in it for me? • Headlines & Titles

– Maximum 28 words – 9-5 is the best and

should be twice the size of the subheads

Photographs

• Photographs – Inspire curiosity and involvement – Help readers imagine themselves

there – Vary size, shape alignment,

layering, isolation

Photography Concerns

• Captions – People will read captions, no

matter how long, before reading body text

Does the design convince the reader to invest more time? Confirmation • Time Available: Up to 90 seconds • Was I right? • Looking for a reason NOT to read.

Give them what they want to read

• Short Body Text – Increase comprehension – Every 2-3 Paragraphs

• Use Sub-heads, sidebars, pull quotes, summaries, teasers

• Unfinished statements will get 30-60% more people to keep reading

Proportion - Grids

Layout - Headlines

Layout “Z” Path Formatting

Layout Elements

Rule of Thirds

The eye is drawn to the intersections of an image when divided into thirds

Page Layout Breakdown

Layout Elements

• Numbers & Outlines – Use bulleted lists – Call-outs – Quizzes – get people

involved (helps establish the need)

– Table of Contents

Illustrations

• Non-photographic Art – Charts – Graphs – Tables – Clip Art – Illustrations – Watermarks – Infographics

Illustrations - The Eyes Have it

• Your eyes will follow the direction of eyes in artwork

• Use it to draw attention to your written elements

• Align the text with the illustration

Illustration - Implied Motion

• Attention follows the direction indicated ... The movement is implied

Graphic Devices

• Rules • Drop Caps • Dingbats • Bullets • Screens • Boxes (use sparingly to highlight

items)

Decreased Readability

– ALL CAPS – Underline – Italics – Color

Graphic Devices - Rules

• Pick two or three MAX per publication and use consistently

• Do not intersect Rules

Graphic Devices - Drop and Initial Caps

• Draw attention to the beginning of the body text

• Use large initial letters to indicate the beginning of a chapter, articles or section of text

Graphic Devices - Dingbats

• Bullet Points • End-of-article markers to create a visual end-

point • Highlight important copy • Can be custom

Graphic Devices - Boxes and Bullet Points

• Indicates “This is the primary point”

• Relate to one another • Use boxes and bullets like an

outline

Design indicates action

• Time Available: As much as needed • What do I do? • Long body text

– Break up for skimmers – Assume the general public has a

6th grade education – Break up with graphic devices

Call To Action

• Offers Proof – Connects message and reader, creates memory

• Call to action – Statistics – Track record – Testimonials – Issue a challenge – Visualization – Impact Statement

Layout Design

• Symmetrical – Copy is centered and art is

distributed evenly

• Asymmetrical – Unusual shapes, white space and

color achieve balance

6 Rules of Balance

Anything located in the upper left quadrant (primary optical area of the layout has more optical weight

6 Rules of Balance

Large items are noticed more, seen for a longer time, and remembered better than small items

6 Rules of Balance

Elements that are dark carry more optical weight than black and white

6 Rules of Balance

Color conveys more optical weight than black and white

6 Rules of Balance

White space serves to draw reader’s attention to whatever is in the “non-empty” space

6 Rules of Balance

• Rectangles are “expected” • Triangles, ovals, circles, cubes

convey optical weight

Resolution and Image Types

Raster vs Vector

• Raster or bitmap – Pixels and grids

• Used with photography and scanned pictures, good for photo manipulation

• Not good for scaling

• Vector – Math and algorithms

• Vectors popular with logos and symbols

• Easily scalable to any size • Can edit different parts of

piece easily

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Raster vs. Vector

• Vector images created by math • Raster images are perfectly square, all the same size one color at a time

72 dpi vs 300 dpi

72 dpi vs 300 dpi

Stock Photos

I’m using an image I found through Google. If it’s on the internet, doesn’t that mean it’s free? • No. Just because an image is on the internet, it doesn’t mean the image is free to

use.

• You may still need the correct license to use it. There is a difference between an image being online and an image being “in the public domain” (the term given to content that is not owned or controlled by anyone).

• http://www.stockphotorights.com/faq/#dtoi

Finding Good Images via Google

• Search tools – Size: Large – Usage Rights: Labeled for reuse

• Saving the image

– Don’t save the first one that comes up – Click through to “View Image” – Then save the image

• Standard Piece of paper at 300 dpi: 2550 by 3300 pixels

Stock Photography

• Stock Photography websites are a good place to find pictures and vector images for advertising, corporate media, etc

• Examples: – Istockphoto.com – Gettyimages.com

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Stock Photography

• Advantages – Almost endless search detail – Good to use stock photos as templates for illustrations or heavy photo

manipulations • Disadvantages

– Most pictures look extremely fake and staged, so choose wisely and be creative

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Stock Images

• Morgue File

• Flickr's Creative Commons pool

• Image*After

• Stock.xchng

• Everystockphoto.

• Studio.25: Digital Resource Bank.

• Freepixels. • Robin Good • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s

Pictures/Graphics site

• http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/

• Earth from Space

• Flickr

• ImageAfter

• Freerange Stock

• Pixel Perfect Digital

• Free Media Goo

• openphoto.net

• Stockvault

• deviantART’s Stock Images section

• Dreamstime’s Free Section

• Fotolia’s Free Section

• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)