10 Things Every Graphic Designer Should Know.

After all the investigations into type, colour and layout our final brief was to produce either a publication or 10 double page spreads. I chose to produce a small publication. The 10 things I chose were;’

1.    Take risks

2.    Don’t be afraid to fail

3.    Typography isn’t the be all and end all

4.    You need colour theory too

5.    Print vs. Digital

6.    Grids & Layout – Guides not laws

7.    Communication is key

8.    Photoshop // Illustrator // InDesign

9.    Notes & Sketches

10.  Type & Image

We had to create the publication on our own custom size paper. My publication page size is 150mm x 130mm, meaning a double page spread is 150mm x 260mm.

In terms of design I wanted to create an extremely simple modernist publication, focusing on the use of different grids and layouts and filling in the content as appropriate. 
As part of my development I looked into interesting magazine and publication layout to get inspiration (see Design Context blog). After I had done this i produced a variety of different thumbnail layout designs that I could have potentially used.

The Design:

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I chose to use Helvetica Bold for the majority of the publication, as it is the ultimate modernist functional font. All of my type’s point sizes are the Fibonacci sequence so they all look proportionally correct with each other.

Once I had finished the design I printed it. Printing a booklet requires specific printing setting on InDesign and with the printer its self. The first change is you do not press print but print booklet. You must ensure that the bind is set correctly – 2-up saddle stitch and short-edge binding is selected and you should check ‘print blank pages’. This can change depending on how the publication is to be bound. Other standard printer adjustments should be made, such as page size and orientation.

Once printed it can simply be folded and stapled if that is how you wish to bind it.