This is a nightmare! That new layout looked OK on that one page, but it gets really difficult when you apply it to the rest. Brennen, I’ll send you the PDF, which is rather rough.

Perhaps I’m being too harsh. Some of the pages are OK. Some look sort of OK, but there’s something slightly wrong about them.

Some need a decision on how to lay them out. They worked before, but now we’ve changed how we’re doing it, they don’t really work.

And there’s also a question of ornaments. As you’ll see, I’ve used diamonds throughout, just to say “I will put an ornament here”. I’m thinking of using things like clocks, knives and cocktail glasses, with a few murder weapons, too. This sort of thing.

I’ll send

1. I have an examination next Wednesday.
2. We’re at the stage, with layout, where I need to go through the whole book and lay it out as Brennen and I agreed. That’ll take time.
3. Something else I forget.

So, there’ll be a short break, and then we’ll get back to updating this blog.

Graham

I’ve changed the body typeface to Joanna, which I like: it does seem to fit well with Gill Sans.

As for the bullets, I’ve changed them to diamonds, which matches that text ornament (which isn’t there any more, but I’ll come to that). The spacing between bullet and text is changed, too.

I also increased the spacing between bullet items. This meant the text block occupied more space, so I widened that text block on the right. Gridwise, the left and right edges are no longer positioned on the grid, but on imaginary gridlines halfway between the real gridlines. Is that OK? I don’t know.

What else? I changed the text ornament to diamonds and took the full stops off the end of the headings. I just wanted to see how it looked.

So how’s this?

What’s next?

About the bullets. The circle is a little boring, but you don’t want to freak out too much with your bullets. Squares and triangles are more interesting. You can find them in Wingdings.

You might find a good Art Deco bullet, but be careful. It’s like hot pepper. A little goes a long way.

Tabs

I think tabs usually default to half an inch. That’s way too much for bullets. I usually space my text about 1p (1 pica, which is 12 points) or 1p6 (1 pica 6 points, or 18 poins) away from the bullet. Try a few different spacings and see which one looks the best.

Item Spacing

I usually put the same amount of space between my bulleted items as I do between my paragraphs. Usually. If it’s just a list, it’s not necessary. If it’s a series of instructions, definitely.

I really like your ornament. It really works well with Gill Sans to capture the Art Deco feel. I’d try visually centering it between the two paragraphs, though. It’s a bit too high, but just a bit.

I like the box you drew as well. You might want something with some funky corners…maybe reincorporating the text ornaments. I don’t like the fact that there is more space at the top than the bottom, though. I don’t know exactly how to fix that yet. It might be an editing thing.

Joanna

I’d suggest considering changing your text font to Joanna, which is a serif face designed by Gill. It pairs really well with Gill Sans.

A type-paring trick

The same way you can recognize a painting by your favorite artist, or a writer’s phrasing, or a musician’s style, type designers have their own personal vocabulary of type design tendencies. They might always use the same types of geometry, or weird serifs, or stresses.

This means that a Serif and Sans by the same designer will usually work well together.

Univers, my favorite alternative to Helvetica, pairs well with Glypha, both by Adrian Frutiger.

Good job, Graham. I think you’re getting the hang of this.

So, as well as changing the heading typeface, I’ve replaced the fleuron (which didn’t fit) with a text ornament. It doesn’t look quite right, because it’s at a low resolution, but you get the picture. The box, on the right, is a quick attempt at an Art Deco border.

Not perfect, and I’m sure something I’ve done will cause you to wince, but see what you think.

I like it. It’s flamboyant and elegant. I can see what Brennen means about kerning, though. And it wasn’t free.

Now, I’m not totally set on a script typeface for headings. If I do use a scripty one, I’d like it to be as flamboyant and elegant as Nadine: not grungy, as many handwriting fonts are. Additionally, it has to look English.

There is a foundry called Suditpos, who also do beautiful script typefaces. Of these, I like Miss La Gatees, which has the flamboyance and elegance:

Mr Canfields, for similar reasons:

Herr someone-or-other, for different reasons:

And Belles Artes, which is like like handwriting and more like an Art Deco typeface:

Talking of Art Deco typefaces, I’d use one of those for a heading, if I could find a good one. It needn’t be a script typeface. It must look English, though: some fonts scream “New York” or “Germany”, and they’re not right.

This font, Smart Frocks, isn’t quite good enough, but I like the style.

I’d welcome some opinions.

Graham, you’ve chosen a great typeface for the text. A lot of typographers consider Garamond to be the most beautiful typeface ever designed. Jan Tschihold, the guy who gave us the formula for margins we’re using designed a version of Garamond called Sabon, which is considered by many to be the best version of Garamond. To take it further, Sabon LT Next is the best version of that.

If you wanted to make it more English, though, consider using Caslon. The English typographers of old had a saying, “when in doubt, use Caslon.”

They’re both beautiful typefaces.

Other good serif typefaces for text are Baskerville, Minion, Palatino, and Century. Avoid Times. Keep in mind that there are usually multiple versions of typefaces available by different companies and designers. A quick Google for “what is the best Garmond” or something like that will land you on a type forum where people are unusually helpful and strangely civil when encountering a contradictory opinion.

ITC typefaces are generally crap. The x-heights are too high because that was the fashion in the 70s. Using an ITC typeface is like putting bell-bottoms or hot-pants on your text, and not in a good way. The exception is Bodoni. ITC makes a kick-ass Bodoni in three different optical families.

Let’s talk terminology for a moment.

People use the word font when the mean typeface or type family. A font is a single typeface at a single size and weight. For instance, Sabon 10 is one font, while Sabon Bold 10 is another, and Sabon Bold 12 is yet another. The whole group of fonts in every size and weight is called a typeface or type family.

Display

Graham, you’ve done a horrible job choosing your display (heading) typeface. Nadine is poorly kerned, inconsistent in the angles, and a bit goofy. I think I know what you’re going after, but it’s not this.

Choosing a good display typeface is a bit subjective, but not entirely. You can take a Cordon Bleu chef into a hamburger joint and he’ll say “This tastes like crap!.” Meanwhile, Joe 6-pack says, “Whadya mean, you pompous jerk? Tastes great to me. Your Escargo Napoleon is the crap.” They’re both right, but I’ll bet they can both tell the difference between Kobe or Angus and the cardboard they serve at McDonalds.

Unless you’re really experienced I’d stay away from free typefaces. Ironic, huh? They’re (usually) free for a reason, with a few exceptions.

I know you’re set on using a script for a display face, which I’m advising against. I don’t think it’s really going to add much, and they’re hard to read. You’re going to have to choose one that is well designed.

Why don’t you share the few alternatives you’ve found and we can discuss them?

I’ve got one “widow”, in the sense of a single word at the end of a paragraph. So, I’ve noted that’s a bad thing, but I won’t change it now, because we’ll change other things before we’re done, and that will affect the text flow.

What’s next? Are we ready to publish yet? When can we talk about fonts?

An Orphan is when you begin a paragraph on the last line of a page. A Widow is then the last line of a paragraph is on a new page. Go ahead and bump the Orphan to the next page. You can get rid of Widows by editing your text or by bumping a line from the previous page to give her some company.

To get even more confusing, Widow is also a term for a single word on the last line of a paragraph. One of my early art directors told me that the last line of a paragraph should be at least 1/3 the width of the text area. I don’t know where he got it, but it sounds (and looks) good to me…and someone had to make all of this stuff at one time.

So no orphans and widows.