Design and typography in easy steps

Design and Typography in easy steps addresses dynamic design and graphics elements for paper documents as well as for on-line viewing. Starts with the basic design principles and what you need. Then, it looks at text, fonts, typefaces, using columns and grids, working with space and typography, spicing up design with boxes, tints and bullets. A whole chapter is dedicated to common design mistakes and how to avoid them. Then, it looks at graphics and how to use tints and duotones effectively. Finally, it covers using full colour.
Designing on your computer effectively need not be expensive, elaborate process. Now, anyone can create stunning, professional documents, screens and web pages.

Table of contents

Starting your design

What is design?
Your work environment
Using contrast in your design
Balance as a design principle
Types of publication
Choosing a format
Looking at your material
Using space in your design
Using appearance in your design
Using alignment in your design
Sketching your ideas
Managing design

Typing your text

Spacing after full stops
Spacing after paragraphs
Typing and using tabs efficiently
Typing correct characters
Special characters

Understanding typefaces

Aspects of a typeface
Sans and serif typefaces
Matching a typeface to a purpose
Combining typefaces
Digital typefaces
Typefaces for business documents
Typefaces for display materials
Typefaces for web pages

Spacing your text

Spacing between lines of type
Choosing leading
Spacing between paragraphs
Indents for paragraphs
Spacing within titles
Spacing within text
Spacing text in presentations
Spacing text in reports
Spacing text in posters

Organising your space

What are grids?
Margins
Columns
Guidelines
Setting up a grid
Using grids for reports
Using grids for newsletters
Using grids for web pages
Using grids for advertisements

Grids and typography

Columns and line lengths
Symmetry and asymmetry
Alignment
Hyphenation
Grids, spacing and typography in reports
Grids, spacing and text in newsletters
Cover designs for reports
Tables (1)
Preliminary pages
Slide presentations
Using templates

Spice up your design

Rules
Boxes
Tint panels
Pull quotes
Initial letters
Bullets
Reversing text
Rotating text
Mixing these effects

Avoiding common design mistakes

Using emphasis effectively
Work your typefaces hard
Choose appropriate typefaces
Using capitals
Effective use of alignment
Effective use of bullets
Diagonals

Graphics in your designs

Improving your pages with graphics
Working with logos
Working with clip art
Graphics formats
Line drawings and diagrams
How scanning works
Working with scanned images
Adding photographs
Adding effective captions
Banners for newsletters
Managing graphics

Tints

Adding tints to black and white
Using tints in reports
Using tints in posters
Using tints in newsletters
Using true colour

Designing web pages

Design principles for web pages
Creating and publishing web pages
Designing text for the web
Helping readers navigate
Graphics on web pages
Other content on web pages
Getting and keeping visitors
Index