What Is a Book?

Type and grid part one: sections, ratios and grids.

A book is a printed object. Leaves are individual sheets within a bound book, pages are leaves that have a font and back which are referred to as a page, and spreads, when bound right and left (recto + verso) are centred on a gutter. A perfect bound book consists of pages, leaves and spreads of equal aspect and ratio size. Columns are divided with a space, not a single line. 

Magazine 1:

From the layout, I have traced over the spread and marked out the column layout. I have then defined the image and text boxes.














Magazine 2:

Magazine 3:

Magazine 4:

Magazine 5:

Magazine 6:

Magazine 7:

RGB Vs. CMYK

RGB is an additive type of colour mode, that combines the primary colors, red, green and blue, in various degrees to create a variety of different colours  When all three of the colors are combined and displayed to their full extent, the result is a pure white. When all three colors are combined to the lowest degree, or value, the result is black. CMYK is a four color mode that utilizes the colors cyan, magenta, yellow and black in various amounts to create all of the necessary colors when printing images. It is a subtractive process.

Converting RGB format pictures to CMYK mode for printing can be a complex task. It often involves using RGB to CMYK conversion tables, or various software utilities, to ensure that the colors seen on the computer screen will match the colors that appear on print. One way of making this process quicker and more efficient is to simply convert a file to CMYK format as soon as it is created if there are any future plans for converting the documents to printed format.

Subtractive Colors
Subtractive colors are seen when pigments in an object absorb certain wavelengths of white light while reflecting the rest. We see examples of this all around us. Any colored object, whether natural or man-made, absorbs some wavelengths of light and reflects or transmits others; the wavelengths left in the reflected/transmitted light make up the color we see.

This is the nature of color print production and cyan, magenta, and yellow, as used in four-color process printing, are considered to be the subtractive primaries. The subtractive color model in printing operates not only with CMY(K), but also with spot colors, that is, pre-mixed inks.

Red, Green, and Blue are the "additive colors " - combine red, green and blue light, and you get white light. Cyan, Magenta and Yellow are "subtractive colors" - if you print cyan, magenta and yellow inks on paper, they ought to absorb all the light shown on them. Your eye receives no reflected light from the paper, and perceives black

Difference between serif and sans serif

Serifs are small decorative flourishes on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. An example would be the Times New Roman font. Sans serif does not have these details or flourishes. An example would be the Arial font.

Serifs are the usually perpendicular projections found on the termini/endpoints in type. For instance, a capital "I" is usually rendered with 2 crossbars. Those are serifs.

Sans-serif just means "without serif." The definition of serif / sans-serif typefaces should be self-explanatory.

Another name for serif is "roman"; likewise, sans-serif typefaces may also be referred to as grotesque /grotesk or gothic.

There are also different types of serif, such as slab serif—also referred to as Egyptian, mechanistic, orsquare serif—versus bracketed serifs.

Additionally, there are some typefaces with serifs that are still considered sans-serif. Bell Gothic is an example of this. And, lastly, some typefaces have what are called petit-serifs ("small serifs") or semi-serifs.

Serif font:
A serif is the line that trails off a letter shape. The most common serif typefaces are Times New Roman, Baskerville, Caslon, Garamond and Bodini, and there are plenty more. Serif fonts have always been seen as more of a traditional typeface. There are ongoing debates as to whether serif or sans serif is easier on the eye to read. 

San Serif font:
Once you understand what a Serif is, its easy to explain a San Serif, without the trailing lines. Popular san serifs include Helvetica, Arial, Geneva, Tahoma and Veranda. San serif fonts are used widely on the internet. They are considered as more contemporary than the Serif font. 

Slab Serif font:
Although Serif and San Serif are the main types there are others included Slab Serif. This is a font with a thick bold serif. Rockwell is the best known Slab Serif although typewriter style fonts are also slab serif like Courier and American Typewriter. Urban brands like 'the cowshed' have brought back the use of typewriter style fonts.

Legibility vs. readability

Legibility is concerned with the very fine details of typeface design, and in an operational context this usually means the ability to recognise individual letters or words. Readability however concerns the optimum arrangement and layout of whole bodies of text:

An illegible type, set it how you will, cannot be made readable. But the most legible of types can be made unreadable if it is set to too wide a measure, or in too large or too small a size for a particular purpose.(Dowding 1957, p.5; in Lund, 1999 )

Point size

Point size is perhaps the element most used to describe the legibility of a type face, but it can also be the most deceptive. Point size is a legacy from the letterpress system, where each letter is held on a small metal block. The point size actually refers to the size of this metal block, and not the actual size of the letter. The letter does not have to take up the full area of the block face, so two fonts with the same nominal point size can quite easily have different actual sizes. ( Bix, 2002)

X-height

X-height refers to the height of the lower case “x” in a typeface. It is often a better indicator of the apparent size of a typeface than point size ( Poulton, 1972 ; Bix, 2002 ).

Counters

Counters are the “negative spaces” inside a character. They are also good indicators of the actual size of the type.

Define the colour pantone system

Define the colour pantone system

The Pantone Matching System (PMS) is a recognised system for specifying colours. By standardising colours it is possible to keep colours consistent by different printers or manufacturers. Pantone is a set of colour codes, and the colour has to work systematically.
The Pantone Matching System was created to meet the needs of graphic designers who want to use a solid spot or special colour in specific. If a print job only needs one or two colours, for example, when printing business stationery, then it would be more economical to use two inks instead of the four colours used in process printing; cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
The system uses a small number of inks which can be mixed according to a book of colour swatches. These inks are physically mixed prior to going on a printing press, whereas, process printing uses half-screen dots of CMYK colours to create the illusion of solid colours in the human eye.


Pantone is a standardized color matching system, utilizing the Pantone numbering system for identifying colors. By standardizing the colors, different manufacturers in different locations can all reference a Pantone numbered color, making sure colors match without direct contact with one another. It is a popular colour matching system used by the design industry. The color formula guide provides an accurate method for selecting, specifying, broadcasting, and matching colors through any medium around the world. It is the ideal way to ensure true colours when you select your imprint.


By standardizing the colors, different manufacturers in different locations can all reference a Pantone numbered color, making sure colors match without direct contact with one another. The most commonly referenced colors are in the Pantone solids palette. The Pantone Solid palette consists of 1,114 colors, identified by three or four digit numbers, followed by a C, U, Or M suffix.. Originally designed for the graphics industry, the pantone solids palette is now used by a wide range of industries, and is the most commonly used palette. For example, Pantone 199 Red can be identified as Pantone 199C (C= Coated Paper), Pantone 199U (U= Uncoated Paper) or Pantone 199M (M=Matte Paper).

The history of pantone

Pantone was founded in 1962, when the company at the time manufactured colour cards for cosmetic companies, was bought by Lawrence Herbet, who had been an employe since 1956. He started to develop the first colour matching system in 1963. Herbet remains the CEO, chairman and president of the company  The companies primary product include the pantone squids, which consist of a large number of small (approximately 6x2 inches or 15x5cm) thin cardboard sheets, printed on one side with a series of related colour swatches and then bound into a small flip book. For example a particular page might contain a number of yellows varying in luminance from light to dark. The idea behind PMS is to allow designers to colour match specific colours when designers begin the production stage. This system is commonly used by graphic designers and reproduction and printing houses. There are various types of stock available, coated matte or uncoated.

The Pantone Matching System mixes cyan, magenta, yellow, and key, or black, together to create a single color. Graphic designers have a swatch book of thousands of Pantone colors to choose from. Each color has a specific number which a printer can look up to determine how the inks should be mixed. In this way, the graphic designer can ensure that the color of his or her choice is reproduced in the finished product.

PMS stands for Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, primarily printing, though sometimes in the manufacture of colored paint, fabric, and plastics. By standardizing the colors, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colors match without direct contact with one another.

http://www.ubsolutions.net/downloads/pms-chart.pdf

Glossary of terms

Alignment:
A term used to refer to the proper positioning of all typefaces and size variations along an imaginary reference line.

Ascender:
The part of a lowercase letter which rises above the main body, as in the letters “b”, “d”, “h”, and “k”.

Baseline:
An invisible horizontal line on which the feet of all characters on a line of type are set, used for proper alignment of type.

Bleed:
A printed image that extends beyond one or more of the finished page margins and is later trimmed so that the image “bleeds” off the edge of the sheet.

Body copy:
The main portion of a book or other document, excluding front matter and back matter.

Cap height:
In typography, the distance from the baseline to the top of the capital letters.

Descender:
In typography, the portion of lowercase letters that extends below the character’s baseline as in “g”, “j”, “p”, “q”, and “y”.

Font:
In typography, a set of all characters in a typeface.

Gutter:
In typography, the term refers to the space between columns of type, usually determined by the number and width of columns and the overall width of the area to be filled.

Heading:
In typography, display type used to emphasize copy, act as a book, chapter, or section title, or otherwise introduce or separate text. More commonly referred to as simply a head.

Kerning:
In typography, the reduction of letterspacing between certain character combinations in order to reduce the space between them, performed for aesthetic reasons.

Pantone:
A brand-name for a popular color matching system, or series of printed color swatches used to match, specify, identify, and display specific colors or colored ink combinations.

Sans serif:

In typography, characters (or typefaces) without serifs, which are lines crossing the free end of the stroke. “Sans serif” means “without serif”.

Serif:

In typography, an all-inclusive term for characters that have a line crossing the free end of a stroke. The term serif refers to both that finishing line and to characters and typefaces that have them.

Typeface:

In typography, a specific variation within a type family, such as roman, italic, bold, etc.

Subjective Colour

Contrast of saturation:
The contrast is formed by the juxtapositioning of light and dark values and their relative saturation.

Contrast of hue:
Contrast is formed by the juxtapostioning of different hues. The further away the hues on a colour wheel, the greater the contrast.

Contrast of compliments:
The contrast is formed by the juxtaposition of hues, warm and cool

Contrast of tone:
The contrast of light and dark, the contrast is formed by the juxtaposition of light and dark values

Contrast of extension:
Contrast is formed by assigning proportional field size, with regards to the visual weight of a colour.

Simultaneous contrast:
Contrast formed when boundaries between colours perceptually vibrate.

Source: https://guymanningphotography.wordpress.com/tag/contrast-of-extension/ 

1.  Contrast of Hue

2.  Light-Dark Contrast, or contrast of Value

3.  Cool-Warm Contrast

4.  Complementary Contrast

5.  Simultaneous Contrast

6.  Contrast of Saturation

7.  Contrast of Extension or Contrast of Proportion

That section covered the first four types. Here we continue with the others.

Simultaneous Contrast

In the “real” world, the one defined by physics, objects have no inherent color. Instead, their surfaces contain materials that absorb some wavelengths and reflect others. Our eyes take in the reflected light waves and convert them into signals. Then, our brains translate the signals into color. If we see a green colored object, it is because the surface of the object absorbs all colors except green.

The only way to accurately describe any color is with an instrument like a spectrometer. Furthermore, the only way to accurately perceive a color by eye, with all of its qualities intact, is when it is isolated from other colors.

All colors interact with the colors adjacent to them. Simultaneous contrast is the name given to the effect colors exert on their neighbors. In the case of two colors side by side, the left will influence the one on the right. In turn, the right one will influence the one on the left. They influence each other simultaneously, therefore the term “simultaneous” contrast. The affect is not real in the physical sense but a result of the way the brain and eyes operate in the real world.

Below is a discussion of seventeen effects observed as colors interact. Keep in mind that some of these effects will be minor and difficult to perceive. If they are, keep looking by holding your gaze on the example, simultaneous effects will increase over a short time. In other samples, the effects should be readily obvious. When studying the samples, if you are sure that the examples are not accurate between the samples, copy them, and measure them in your photo-editing program. Use of the HSL scale will help you make the most sense of the comparisons. You will find the samples accurate.

Any color will change appearance when put in proximity of another color.

This is easiest seen using a neutral grey on a colored field. In the example below, the grey patches in the colored field are identical. However, there appears to be variations between them. In the next example, the identical blue-violet squares shift color even more dramatically than the greys did.

You will notice that the colored rectangles of the background between the two samples show a change in intensity. To see this best, move your gaze back and forth from one quadrant on the left to the same quadrant on the right. The colored squares interact with their colored backgrounds, creating a perceived difference between the backgrounds of the samples.

Dark colors and dark values look darker when exhibited against light colors and light values, than if against dark colors and values.

Light colors and light values look lighter when exhibited against dark colors and dark values, than if against light colors and values.

In this pair of samples, the four small squares are identical for each position between the two samples. In addition, the yellow squares on the left side of each sample are of the same hue, just as the blue squares in each sample are of the same hue. The difference between each hue pair is in the luminance/lightness measurements, one is lighter than the other is. Viewing the visual differences in value between the squares in the sample will prove the statements underlined above. For instance, when comparing the light blue squares, the one on the left will appear lighter. When comparing the dark yellow squares show the one on the right to appear darker.

Any color will influence an adjacent color’s hue in the direction of its own compliment. An adjacent color will be pushed toward the other colors direct compliment. Below, the light blue bars tend toward the compliment of the field color. The bar in the orange field picks up a slight bluish tint while the bar in the green field picks up a slight reddish tint.

This second pair of samples shows different bar colors on the same background. This illustrates how the complimentary push works regardless of the color associated with a given background. Looking closely you will notice how background colors are influenced by the bars, just as the bars are influenced by the backgrounds.

A non-complimentary color will create a shift toward its own compliment in the adjacent color’s hue.

This is something of a restatement of the one above. Colors push adjacent colors toward their own compliment. For example, a red field will push overlying colors toward cyan. Direct compliments cannot affect its opposite hue.

Any color will appear to gain intensity, and appear lighter, when exhibited against a black ground.

Any color will appear to loose intensity, and appear darker, when exhibited against a white ground.

These are pretty self explanatory, and commonly known to most image makers. To get the most intensity from a color, show it on a black background. To reduce the intensity of colors, show them on a white background. A mid grey background is used to show the image off in a neutral manner.

Dark colors on a dark complimentary ground will exhibit more intensity than when on a non-complimentary ground.

Light colors on a light complimentary ground will exhibit more intensity than when on a non-complimentary ground.

Any two complimentary colors will exhibit higher intensity contrast when side-by-side, than either color viewed alone.

In a section above it was mentioned that direct compliments do not affect each others hue. This is true but they will affect each others apparent contrast or brightness. The samples below exhibit more contrast when adjacent, than they do when alone in a field.

A high intensity color used with a lower intensity or toned down field of the same hue, will further reduce the intensity of the field.

In both sets of samples the colored field appears to be less intense when the smaller block of higher intensity color is included.

Intense colors next to less intense colors exhibit the strongest contrast when the colors are compliments.

In the two samples below the blue appears more intense on the degraded yellow compliment than it does on the split complimentary green or other colors. The backgrounds vary only in hue, the saturation and value settings are constant between them.

Light colors on light, non-complimentary backgrounds gain strength by use of narrow borders of black or dark complimentary colors. 

Dark colors on dark, non-complimentary backgrounds gain strength by use of narrow borders of white or light complimentary colors. 

OUGD406 (Studio Brief 1) Final cover

OUGD406 (Studio Brief 1) Further design development

Due to the submission deadline on secret 7's web page, I submitted a design that I didn't feel was completely finished, if there was more time with this brief, I would have maybe played around with using the stitched illustration to stand on its own. I feel like when manipulating the design on photoshop, it lost tactile quality. 

I took more photographs of my stitched piece, some on different angles.

I edited them only slightly on photshop, and formatted them in a 7x7 square to see how they would look as the final vinyl cover.

I think that these work well alone, the detail of the stitch is a lot clearer than when placed on a background, and it is more noticeable. The quality of the illustration has also improved from my previous designs. 

If I was to resubmit I would chose this design. The quality of image is greater, and it looks cleaner and well refined.

This is now my chosen final cover for Lordes track 'team.'