I received a journal on health from Johns Hopkins a few days ago. It came unsolicited in the mail. But even though I have no background in science and health, and very little personal interest in the subject (if truth be known), I found myself paging through the print book repeatedly. It felt good. I liked the format. In fact I actually started to read some of the articles. In my book (so to speak), that’s success in the intangibles. Or, rather, that’s success in the very tangible qualities of paper texture and appearance, paper brightness and whiteness, color fidelity, and page design. If a print book piques my interest in spite of the subject matter, there’s clearly something for me to learn by analyzing it.
Paper Qualities
The Johns Hopkins Health Review is printed on what appears (under good blue-white light) to be an uncoated, bright-white sheet. Under a loupe I can see the rough tooth of the paper, but it still feels very smooth to my touch.
There’s something very calming about the combination of an uncoated press sheet and the smoothness of the paper. It has an organic feel that would not be conveyed had the designer chosen a coated gloss paper. It feels more personal and less corporate. Given the subject matter in the journal—migraines, sex, and one’s immune system, among other topics—the personal, tactile nature of the paper is a good choice.
The paper also gives a softer look to the color photography, area screens, and numerous illustrations. In fact, I would say that the soft, smooth nature of the paper anchors the numerous graphics, giving them a cohesive feel that unifies the diverse media and styles of the images. On a smooth, coated sheet they might look more random.
Given the smooth, uncoated feel of the paper, I’m inclined to look for telltale signs of laser printing, but when I check the 4-color images under a loupe, I still see the rosette pattern indicative of traditional halftoning of offset printed materials.
Cover Coating
The interior and exterior cover images—all advertisements–seem to have been printed on a coated stock. They are much smoother than the text, and they have a glossy appearance under a loupe. The brightness of the cover stock makes the 4-color images really stand out, but it is the brightness and whiteness of the press sheet that make the imagery so bright and crisp. Having such a brilliant substrate off which the ambient light can be reflected makes the colors seem particularly saturated.
When I compare the interior covers to the exterior covers, I see that the front, back, and spine have been wrapped with what seems to be a matte film laminate. This dulls down the imagery, which echoes the uncoated look of the interior, while protecting the heavy coverage of ink on the front cover. On the back cover, the coating protects the advertisement. Interestingly enough, the designer went ahead and spot gloss coated the title of the journal (Johns Hopkins Health Review), which gives the words a bit of a glow in contrast to their surroundings.
Binding
Perfect binding the journal gives it a feeling of substance. It’s more like a print book than a magazine. There’s even a faint press score running parallel to the spine, about half an inch from the bind edge, which holds the cover tightly against the interior pages while allowing for easy opening of the print book. These subtle production qualities work subconsciously on the reader, providing an overall tone of seriousness and quality.
Imagery and Design Grid
As noted before, the images in the journal fall into a few distinct categories. There are the photos, many but not all of which are within ads. Their realism gives a nice contrast to the more stylized and in some cases whimsical illustrations. This treatment also lends itself to small images of book covers and to head shots of individuals.
The illustrations fall into a number of categories, including Infographics, color drawings to illustrate themes, and much smaller black and white line drawings of people. Again, the contrast is pleasing, and it makes for a natural rhythm throughout the book, as does the balancing of larger and smaller images.
Overall, the journal has a sense of cohesion and pacing. However, due to a judicious pairing of typefaces, even a shift from two-column layout (with a scholar’s margin) to three-column layout, to a larger type treatment introducing some articles, maintains the sense that all page designs belong to the same publication.
Moreover, the contrast in page design alerts the reader to levels of importance (such as when a new article is beginning; what material is an amplification of the text; and what material highlights the text, such as the pull-quotes). Your eye knows immediately where to go first, second, and third. And the ample white space affords an airy, uncluttered reading experience. Finally, full-bleed area screens set apart certain pages (definitions pages, supplementary material) in a subtle manner.
Even a judicious use of numerous short articles on selected pages to give brief insight into various topics or to provide short bits of information still does not create a cluttered look. I think this uncluttered appearance is also due to the uncoated book stock, which is easy on the eyes.
What You Can Learn from Such a Publication
I never went to design school. What I learned, I learned by observing. I think many designers have come into publication design the same way. I firmly believe there is no time better spent than in discovering a design you love and then determining why you love it. In my case it was in spite of the subject matter. (Actually, I am finding some of the articles interesting. Nevertheless, I still think the graphic presentation is what makes me want to read the articles.)
Consider all aspects of a publication: paper texture, surface, coating, brightness, and whiteness; treatment of imagery; typefaces; binding; and the design grid. Ask yourself why they work well together. Then ask yourself if the design and production values of the piece reinforce or conflict with the editorial message (a good designer knows how to pair the look with the message). There’s no better way to learn.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, May 28th, 2016 at 6:05 pm and is filed under Magazine Printing.
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