Book design: rules, samples

All publishers work with clear rulesdesign of books. All of them are general and are subject to execution by all authors. In order to independently design your work, you need to be aware of some set of rules. In this article we will consider what is the design of books, what you need to know for him, and also find out how to arrange the book yourself.

Why make a book

The book is the same commodity as any othersubject. We look at its cover and appearance, and then we already determine whether it will be interesting for us to read it, whether it is nice to hold it, whether it is convenient. It is believed that guided by the appearance of the book is wrong. You can not judge by the cover. But we do just that. And that our works are of interest to a potential reader, we will have to try and bring the design of books to a beautiful and interesting implementation. If you do not properly cover the cover, the printed product will be a dead weight to stand on the shelves in the bookstores, completely without attracting buyers. Because of the lack of quality cover, many publishers simply will not undertake to print a book. In this case, the author is usually offered the services of designers of the polygraph. But you can also organize the design of books yourself, as the writer himself imagines.

What is included in the design stages

There are several mandatory items thatmust be registered in the places intended for them. In addition, there are printing standards for the cover and the body of the book itself. So, to the mandatory stages include the following elements: the choice of the format of printed products, the selection of fonts for text, the design of the cover of the book, the appearance of the reversal, the layout and design of illustrations in the text. This peculiar layout is created in the electronic version, and then live publications are printed from it. At the time of registration, the constituent parts are being created, the question of how text strips, columns, footnotes, diagrams and illustrations will be arranged, what will be the style of headers and footers.

General recommendations

The cover of the book is one of the most importantcomponents of output of printed products for sale. Its appearance depends on the author's idea and can be completely different. However, special attention should be paid to this particular, particularly noticeable part of the book. Very often the cover is made of simple, thick paper. If more rigid material is used, such a cover is called a binding. The main element is a lid of wicker material, to which the book end pieces, captal and gauze valves are glued. A dust jacket with additional valves can be put on top. It serves to protect the publication, and may also contain additional advertising. Some particularly expensive specimens (for example, gift editions) are put in a special cardboard case. This greatly increases the price of the binding, so they use the device rarely and only for certain books. All information reflected on the cover elements should help to identify the book and coincide with its contents and output.

Book design: first page

The first page should tell the reader the namesall authors. They must match the names on the title page. It is advisable to place no more than three names. If the book is issued officially by any organization, its name should be indicated here. The rules for the design of the book require you to indicate the title of the work on the first page. If the work belongs to the series, you must specify its title and the serial number of this part.

Registration of the book's back

Information on the spine is indicated in the case,if its thickness is more than nine millimeters. On the spine the author's name (or several names) is indicated, the title of the book and the serial number of the volume. For dictionaries and directories, the following rule is used: on the spine the first and last letters of the alphabet are denoted, the information about which is located in this volume. The information is printed exactly in this sequence, from top to bottom. If the thickness of the book is more than forty millimeters, this data can be placed horizontally.

Making the fourth page of the book

On this page there is a bar codepresented edition. In addition, authors and series of books can be listed here again, a table of contents and a search system for the content of the book and the entire series can be presented. The fourth page can also contain information about the publishing house, which issued this printed product.

Element numbering rules

In order to understand how it is necessary to number elements, we first need to understand which types of numbering exist.

• End-to-end numbering. With this technique, all elements are assigned a sequence number in accordance with its location. It fits if the elements are not very large. For example, figure 1, figure 2 and so on.
• Page numbering. In this method, the elements are assigned a double number consisting of the page sequence number, and through the point - the element number. Used if you have a large number of formulas and tables. For example: 36.1, 36.2, 43.1.
• Structural numbering is assigned according to sections. For example, Table 1.1, Table 3.1.

Note that it makes sense to create a numbering of objects in the following circumstances:

• A reliable search method is needed when references to the same element can occur in the text several times.
• A method of additional search for information on a large number of text is needed.
• It is necessary to compare the structural elements in the text, separated by different sections in the book.

Design of internal content

Signature is a technical element of the publication. It is created to help with folding, printing, forming blocks, final verification. It should be located on the left. The beginning of the chapter should be separated by a large white indent and the use of a drop cap. Small pictures should be placed in the text so that the indentations from the top and bottom trimming equal one to two or three to five. High and long illustrations should be placed in the middle of the strip. Samples of book design must have on each printed sheet a signature, which contains the sequence number of the sheet and the keyword. This word is most often the author's surname. The design of the title page must correspond in all parameters to the general style and content of the book. The space between the title and the name of the publisher should not seem too empty. In this place you can place a stamp or the arms of the publishing house. The page where the output data is located should be located at the end of the book. Headers in the title are typed without dots.

Making a book with your own hands

In order to arrange the book properly,have to spend a lot of time. The design of the pages of the book and its appearance can be assigned to the designers of printed organizations. But for this pleasure will have to pay a fairly large amount, especially to novice writers. Having studied the rules of registration, all these operations can be done independently. It is enough to know the principles of the work of graphic editors and the rules of formatting. For the future implementation of such a factor as the design of books is of no small importance. Photos about how this process is carried out are presented in this article. In order to understand the rules of text formatting, you can get acquainted with the work of Jan Chichold. In his book, he collected a lot of advice on how to make the contents of the book not only instructive, but also a pleasant reader's eye. He was a true master of artistic design of books. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and made a significant contribution to the printing and design of literature.