Ideas taken from http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/info10/module19 and Microsoft Online.

DTP Basics then Design

Rules
What is Desktop Publishing?

Using a personal computer or workstation to

produce high-quality printed documents. A
desktop publishing system allows you to use
different typefaces, specify various margins and
justifications, and embed illustrations and
graphs directly into the text.
Which would rather you read?

Exhibit A Exhibit B

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White Space
Columns are one method that you can use
to open up a document and create white
space. (Adjusting the kerning, leading and
margins are other ways to do this.)
White space helps to organize elements by
setting them off from others. White space
refers to the overall "colour" of a
document.
The colour of a document a can also
influence a reader to read it. Too little
white space implies long boring dry
reading.

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 How do columns define the
design of a document?
Newspapers tend to use four or five columns, while magazines
tend to use three. Books normally use one or two columns.

The number of columns you use gives

the reader a message as to what type
of material can be expected.
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Which do you Prefer?

Exhibit A Exhibit B
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headlines are centred, text is If the text is flush left, make the
flush left headlines line up!
Indents are "typewriter" wide On a type writer, the standard indent
image is centred in the column is five spaces. On a computer it is
All of these unaligned objects more like two.
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Design Rules for DTP
Graphics - Images are used to attract the
readers eye, and persuade them to read
the publication. Therefore, photographs or
graphics should accompany the text they
support.
Graphics also help to break up long "gray"
passages of text, to make it more
palatable for the reader.

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What's Wrong?

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Revealed
Have you ever read
an article in the
newspaper where
the image has
nothing to do with
the text? It is
disconcerting, even
downright annoying
when the reader has
to search for the
meaning of the
picture in the article
that accompanies it.

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Tips for Image Use: Make them
Relevant Use pictures to clarify key concepts and attract
attention to them.
Consistent Unify your publication with your choice or
treatment of pictures. You can give your pictures a consistent
look in several ways.
can use a small palette of colours or a single accent colour,
a common graphic style
the same camera angle or point of view
consistent lighting.
the same filter effects to each image (Use Adobe Elements)
the same human models in a progressing story line.

Human Most people like to look at other people. Portraits

of people will draw readers' attention, especially if the
images are relevant and tell a story and perhaps do what you
are suggesting.

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Taken from
Cambridge
University
Guidelines S. Mann
Captions help to explain
pictures or images in a
publication. Captions
accompanying an image also
draw the reader in and
encourage them to read the
Captions
publication.

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 Headline & Subheads
Headline - a brief, enticing summary of the article.
Headlines help the reader to decide whether or not to
read the document. Headlines should be short and
concise so that the reader can get their meaning
quickly. Headlines can be differentiated from the body
text in two ways. They can be set in a contrasting
typeface, or they can use the same type face in a
larger size.
Subheads follow the headline, but are not part of the
body copy. They provide more information that might
entice the reader to the article. Pick out the headline
and the sub head from the text below.

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Botched Newspaper Headlines
Headlines should be short and concise so that
the reader can get their meaning quickly.

bold messages entice readers to purchase copies.

work within restrictions of time and space.
compact large-size print into narrow column
widths.
brief messages must clearly state the theme of
each story.
be attractive to the eye and catch the reader's
attention.
a fraction of the time needed to come up with it.

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 Newspaper Ambiguity
Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
Miners Refuse to Work
after Death
Ambiguity, having more
Juvenile Court to Try
than one meaning, may be
Shooting Defendant
a result of syntax or of
semantics. Red Tape Holds Up New
Bridges
Man Struck By Lightning
Examples from Newspapers
Faces Battery Charge
Astronaut Takes Blame
Iraqi Head Seeks Arms for Gas in Spacecraft
Is There a Ring of Debris Kids Make Nutritious
around Uranus? Snacks
Prostitutes Appeal to Pope Chef Throws His Heart
Panda Mating Fails; into Helping Feed Needy
Veterinarian Takes Over Hospitals are Sued by 7
Foot Doctors
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Other Tips
Minimize the number of type faces. Follow the
"Rule of 3" never more than 2 or 3 type faces on a
single page. Try to choose type faces that reflect
the nature of the publication.
Be consistent in placing and spacing! Line
things up vertically and horizontally as much as
possible. Align elements on your page as much as
possible. Not having consistent spacing and
alignment is the sure sign of an amateur layout
artist.
Justification - Finally, in most instances in most
publications, layout artists will "fully justify" their
copy. Full justification means that the words are
aligned both on the left side and on the right side
as well. This eliminates the "jagged edge" which
detracts visually from the layout of a piece.

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 Pull Quotes
Pull Quote - A pull quote is a short phrase, or quote
taken from the article that appears in a larger font size. The
use of a larger bolder element against smaller text creates
interest for the reader. These also serve to break up long gray
passages of text that are visually uninteresting.

Look at this paragraph of text.

Where does your eye go first?

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House Style
http://www.cam.ac.uk/cambuniv/style/

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Consistency: How Achieved
Applying a specific font scheme and colour scheme for all of your
company's publications gives them a uniform and consistent look.

Using a font scheme makes it very easy to change your publication if

doesn't look the way you want. If you started with one, you can
always change it, and it will make sure that every character, every
heading, and every title stays within that scheme.
A colour scheme is basically the same idea it designates a certain
colour for the various parts of your publication text, headings,
bullets, And just as with font schemes, you can create your own colour
scheme.
The master page contains the design elements that you want to
repeat on multiple pages. When you need to change the look of your
publication (or just add an element), instead of having to do that on
each and every page, you can update the master page. Master pages
can contain a variety of design and layout elements, such as headers
and footers, page dimensions, pictures, margins, and just about
anything you can put on a page.
You can also create more than one master page. If you have a catalog
that has the same elements on the front and back covers but want the
pages inside to look different from the covers, you can create two
masters one for the covers and one for the inside pages.

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In publisher how you control the
look of a document.

See Presentations
on Publisher 2007

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Questions to ask.
Are readers persuaded to read the document.
Is it attention grabbing.
Is it attractive.
How crowded or busy is the page?
Is there too much or too little white space?
Is the colour scheme effective?
Is the text scheme effective?
Are the different elements of the layout suitably
balanced?
Do the different elements line up where they are
supposed to?

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View Presentations for Publisher
Specific information.

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