Award-winning Designer Reveals Secrets to Attractive Page
Layouts
Copyright 2006 Karen Saunders
The way a book interior is designed has a part in whether the
book will sell or not. A customer will not read--or buy--a book
that is designed in a way that is difficult to read. If the type
in your book is too small, or the spaces between the lines are
too narrow, many prospective customers will move on to another
book. Your goal with book design is to create an interior that
is inviting, pleasing, and easy to read. This involves good use
of fonts, word spacing, leading, line length, and alignment.
Here are some techniques that professional typesetters use.
Fonts
Go to bookstores and peruse books in your category of interest.
Take notes on the ones you find attractive, easy to read, and
that appeal to you. Make sure it is appropriate for both the
reader and the book. After all, fonts (like people) have
personalities, and different designs will appeal to people of
different ages. For example, if your readers are either very
young or senior citizens, then choose a simple, well-designed
font in a large size so the font can be read without strain.
Good choices for body copy are Garamond, Caslon, Goudy, Stone
Print, New Century Schoolbook, and Janson Text 55 Roman. For
your chapter heads and subtitles, choose a bold font with the
right personality for your piece. Some common bold fonts are
Helvetica Bold, Gill Sans Bold, Eras Bold, Univers Black, and
Franklin Gothic Demi. Don't use all caps for your heads,
subheads or table of contents, because this style is difficult
to read.
Leading
Leading is the space between lines of type. Leading is measured
in point increments and specified in conjunction with the point
size of the font. For example, 10/12 (read 10 on 12) is 10-point
type with 12 point leading. In most cases, the leading of body
copy should be about 120% of the point size of the text. (For
example 10/12 or 12/14.4.)
Also make sure you set your leading in proportion to the line
length of your text. In general, short lines of type require
little or no extra leading but you should increase the leading
as you increase the length of the line.
Alignment
Using full-justified type makes a page look full and creates a
tighter, more formal appearance than type that is not full
justified. Most books are set with full-justified copy, because
the reader's eye can move more quickly across copy that has a
consistent column width.
Length of Line (Column Width)
Reading many long lines of type causes fatigue. And lines that
are too short break up words or phrases that are generally read
as a unit. The length of line depends on the size of the type. A
good rule of thumb is to set a line about 65 characters long.
Set your column width to allow for at least a 1" to 1.25"
gutter, and .5" border for top, bottom, and outside edges.