research design laboratory

160 pages

We are currently entering the final phase of the Mapping Memories book design... a process that was as intense as it was rewarding. I think we all learned a lot by taking on this project with such a quick turn around. The expected launch date is September 2011. The main points to remember in doing a book projects are: make sure your text is as close to final as humanly possible before importing into InDesign--I love InDesign but it's not copy editing software. Plus, you'll want a clean copy of your final text in another format. For text, it's important to create paragraph style sheets to make changes that apply across the document. This is why you need to layout the entire book conceptually first, and then come up with an appropriate design for each type of text--highlight boxes, main text, title, author names, quotes, and so on. Prep images--especially for darker skin tones--carefully. The rule is to reduce the midtones by 10% but each printer has their own colour intensity and so it is absolutely necessary to make a few tests before signing off. Colours are also highly unpredictable, from monitor to print, it barely matches up. Finally, it's important to get your book, promo materials, DVD, website, etc. to all follow the same design strategy--which is easier said than done--and requires a lot of time for re/vision and adaptation. There you have it - lessons learned. In sum, changes you have made are more expensive than changes you take on yourself–so again, it's important to let clients know that details have to be sorted as much as possible before it gets to the designer, and before it gets to the printer.

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