Resource Links

• Sample Student book file “a is for ladder”—Trisha Juanitas
• Printing to Epson Printers Tips
• Typeface Anatomy

Assignment

This assignment will be ongoing for approximately two weeks and overlap other assignments that will be given to you. This is because this assignment requires you to first become very visually in tune with your day-to-day surroundings. That skill of close observation will naturally take some time to develop. The goal of that skill in this assignment is to see letterform of specific typeface design reflected in the design and form of objects that are all around us.

So, in this assignment you are looking for letterforms that exist in the environment around you. Look at objects, shadows, parts of buildings, etc. for the existence of letters. Look for unusual sources or locations for these photos. Photograph these “Environmental Letters” by cropping in closely around just the letter shape itself. After you have photographed all of the letters of the alphabet, open them in PhotoShop to color correct and do final sizing and cropping—image editing. Then export each of your PS files to a custom InDesign doc. where the pages are 7 1/2 inches tall by 12 inches long. Be sure to UNCHECK the Facing Pages option in the Document Setup.

The next major step is to locate a specific typeface which most closely resembles each image letter of the alphabet that you photographed. You are looking for main identifying characteristics of the letterform which match as closely as possible, the corresponding photograph/letter. (refer back to the earlier letterrform assignment to help you identify specific characteristics). In other words, you are not simply putting a letter “A” with a photo of an “A” shape. You are instead looking for identifying characteristics of a letterform which are either there because of the font and typeface it belongs to or the very specific characteristics that belong to that individual letterform. You may mix and match upper and lower case (majuscule and miniscule) forms.

Size and position each letter with its corresponding photo letter. Write a paragraph describing this comparison between the photo letter and the actual typeface letter that it resembles. (refer to the pdf example below). Import your written description along with the photo letter and typeface example that goes with it, all into InDesign for final layout and assembling into multi-page book form.

In Photoshop

• Image>>Adjust>>Correct Curves and Levels as a minimum amount of color correction.
• Image>>Image Size
  • Choose the “Bicubic Sharper“ option
  • Images should each be five inches tall (width will vary from letter to letter)
  • Resolution 150 DPI
• Image>>Mode>>RGB color space
• Layers Window>>Options>>Flatten Layers
• File>>Save as JPG

In InDesign

• Create a custom InDesign document that has non-facing single pages
  (UNCHECK the Facing Pages option in the Document Setup.)
• Page size should be set at 7″ high x 11″ wide, landscape orientation
• Set up the guides, margins, folio information, ruled lines, etc.(any element that you wish to appear on every page in the exact same location) on the Master/Parent page.
  • From the Master/Parent Page create guides for 2 Columns
  • Also from the Master/Parent Page, set Margins to correspond to Golden Mean, Fibonacci Numbers (1,1, 2, 3, 5, 8…) (Fibonacci Numbers and Margin spacing)
    • using Points and Picas as the measurement system, an example might look like this:
    • bottom 5p0 (read 5 picas 0 points)
    • left 5p0
    • right 3p0
    • top 2p0
• Change Document Color mode to CMYK for the pages and RGB for the cover from the File menu
• Import (Place) each of your images into your book file by first creating the “X-Box using the Rectangle Frame Tool. (again make sure that these images have been changed to 150 DPI, 4” tall, RGB flattened files in Photoshop first.)
• Find a typeface where the main characteristics match your object/images characteristics
• Add information about the typeface
  • Below is an example of the kind of information you should find about each typeface that you match to your letter/object images. The sample information below is for the typeface Rockwell.

    • Rockwell is a slab-serif typeface designed by Frank Hinman Pierpont for the Monotype Corporation in 1934. Slab serif typefaces in general were introduced in the early nineteenth century. They are sometimes described as sans-serif fonts with added serifs. A slab serif typeface is characterized by thick, block-like serifs. Rockwell’s terminals are angular. It is generally characterized by geometric design with minimal variation in stroke width. It is  distinguished by a mono-weight stroke, a serif at the apex of the uppercase “A”, while the lowercase “a” has two storeys, and its capital “O” roughly circular.

Print the Pages

• Sample Student book file “a is for ladder”—Trisha Juanitas

• Save your completely assembled Indesign book file and title it.
• Did you check spelling and grammar?
• Did you check for typographic widows and orphans?
• Did you correct line length?
• Did you use correct dashes and kern/adjust the spacing around them?
• Did you kern all years?
• Did you leave enough margin space for binding?
• Did you use Diminuido on first paragraph of descriptions?
• Did you resize and color correct mages in PhotoShop before placing in InDesign
• Did you make all images CMYK?
  –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
  The following are optional “front or back matter” pages you may choose to add, They typically do not have page numbers on them:
  • Did you create a Table of Contents (TOC)?
  • Did you create an introductory page?
• Did you create a colophon page?
  
  • (Text paper is Hammermill 28 lb text wt. laser print)

• Did you print a b & w proof of at least one page to the Brother printer before printing final?
• Was your layout approved?

• Printer is Ricoh laserjet color printer

Cover Design

• Cover design is a separate Adobe Illustrator (Ai) file. Set this cover size at 7 high” x 40″ wide”, landscape orientation.
  This size includes the front, back 2x( 7″ high x 11 1/8″) and spine (7″ x 1″), plus inside flaps 2x (7″ x 8 3/8″ ).
• Add title
• Possible add subtitle
• Add your name

 

Print Cover

• Be sure your Ai doc is saved in RGB
• Convert cover text to outlines
• Be sure to bleed any image that touches the edges of your design
  • create bleed from the Document Setup window
  • extend images out to the red bleed lines
• Change the orientation of your Cover design to vertical or Portrait orientation.
  • first rotate the artboard 90 degrees
  • second, select your design, group all parts, rotate 90 degrees
  • make sure your design is aligned to the new vertical artboard
• Cover paper is BFK Rives paper 
• Print to the Epson SC 6000
  • manual feed
  • use the standard or plain paper profile
  • custom page size 8.5″ x 40″

 Binding and Assembly

• Add a blank page before the first page and also after the last page. The cover flaps will fold around these blank pages.
• Fold the cover in the exact middle first, then fold 1/2 inch on either side of center. This will be the spine.
• Punch the hols for all pages using the comb binding machine
• With the cover folded in half, punch the holes for the cover.
• Still with the cover folded in half. thread it on to the comb binding with all the pages.
• Mark the flaps where they should fold to neatly wrap the first and last pages.