Publishing Design - Task 1: Exercises

October 24, 2024

Publishing Design - Task 1: Exercises

26/9/2024 - 7/11/2024 (Week 1 - Week 7)

Tiffany Tan Xuan (0362472)

Publishing Design / Bachelor of Design (Hon) in Creative Design

Task 1: Exercises

INSTRUCTION

LECTURES

Lecture 1 - Historical Format

Mesopotamian Civilization

First writing system replaced counting tools.
Pictographic writing on clay tablets developed from tokens.

Ancient Egyptian Civilization
- Hieroglyphics recorded on papyrus by Egyptian scribes.
Indus Valley Civilization
- Used cuneiform on clay tablets for trade, governance, and religion.
Han Chinese Civilization
- Early writing on bamboo strips tied with thread; inspired modern Chinese character for "book."
- Paper invented in 179–41 BCE led to the first printed book, Diamond Sutra (868 CE).
European Civilization

Parchment replaced papyrus; later paper became common in the 1400s.
Folding book format evolved with sewn, bound, and glued pages.

Lecture 2 - History of Print

Chinese Printing
- Started with stone carvings of Confucian texts (175 AD).
- Paper rubbings created white text on a black background.
Korea and Japan
- Korea’s first printed sutra (750 AD).
- Japan printed Hyakumanto Darani (768 AD) as a large-scale project.
Movable Type
- Developed in China but less effective due to complex characters.
- Korea improved with bronze movable type and the Hangul script (1443).
European Printing

Woodblock printing started in 1400; Gutenberg's press (1439) revolutionized Western printing.

Lecture 3 - Typography

Basics
- Typography is key to design and communication.
- Legibility depends on font choice, size, spacing, and alignment.
Tips for Legibility

Use balanced type size and line length (50-65 characters per line).
Avoid excessive use of special styles (e.g., shadows, outlines).
Align text for readability (ragged right or flush left).
Use proper paragraph spacing and smart quotes.

Lecture 4 - The Grid

Purpose
- Divides space into sections for logical and clean layouts.
- Ensures readability, organization, and clarity.
Modular Grid
- Offers flexibility for layout variety while maintaining consistency.
- Improves comprehension and engagement by balancing text and visuals.
Conclusion

Designers like Muller-Brockman and Jan Tschichold showed how grids enhance design clarity.
Effective grids make content clear while staying in the background.

Lecture 5 - Elements

Key Elements of Books
- Text, color, and images.
Variation and Consistency
- Keep some design elements fixed (e.g., typeface, hang line) but vary layout combinations.
- Surprise readers by making every page fresh while following a modular grid.
Conclusion
- Exercises like "form and movement" build decision-making skills for grid layouts.
- A well-designed book engages readers naturally, guiding them without distraction.

EXERCISES

Week 1 - Week 4

1. Text formatting

Week 5 - Week 7

Exercise 2 - Mock-up making of the book sizes

In this exercise, our task is to make three different sizes which smaller than A4 but larger than A5.

16cm*22cm
17cm*24cm
17.6cm*25cm

I decided to create a book with dimensions of 17.6cm*25cm (B5) because this size is the most suitable for my book. It's neither too small nor too big, and I feel it's just the right size for my book.