22.4.2026 -_____ (Week 1 - Week__)
Caitlin Ong Lynn Dee / 0343801 / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative
Media
Publishing Design
Exercises
LECTURE
Publishing Design: Formats (1)
Regarded as one of the oldest publishing formants in history and one of the
most influential formants. Books are used to document and transmit, ideas
knowledge, records, history, etc. When it comes to designing a book, it
requires you to have a comprehensive understanding of typography, a good
sense of space, an eye for details, and a good understanding of a publishing
software.
Historical Formats
Other than books, countries around the world have adopted different types of publishing formants throughout the ages. And their unique maybe the possible reason for their decline.
Mesopotamian Civilization: Iran & Iraq
According to Denise Schmandt-Besserat (1995) in her essay on the token
system “Record Keeping Before Writing” the first writing system developed
from a counting technology. Tokens ranging from simple to complex slowly
evolved into bullae and eventually pictographic writing on clay tablets.
|Ancient Egyptian Civilization: Egypt
In ancients Egypt, scribes are the only people that could read and write
Hieroglyphics where else most of the population are illiterate. Scribes
primarily wrote on a special type of paper called papyrus, which is made
from a pith of a papyrus plant. Additional, scribes would also write on
the tomb wall.
Indus Valley Civilization: India, Pakistan & Afghanistan
Although there is not much search about record keeping in the Indus Valley
Civilization, but it is a fact that their writing system is very complex.
One of their earlier known writing systems is called Cuneiforn. It is
where documents are written on soft clay tablets by using sharp pointed
tools. They wrote records about their government, religion, and trade.
Han Chinese Civilization: China
During the early period, Chinese characters are written in vertical
columns. To accommodate this writing structure, people use a thin strip
bamboo as a single column. If people want to create a longer document, two
lines of thread link each bamboo strip to its neighbors.
The First Printed Book: Diamond Sutra 868 CE
The earliest known printed book is called the Diamond Sutra; it was
produced in China during the end of the Tang dynasty. Discovered in a
cave at Dunhuang in 1899. The document is made from paper in a scroll
format. Paper was invented in 179-41 BCE.
Chinese Publishing: 10th – 11th century
Printing from wood block is hard work. All Confusion classics are
published for the use Scholar officials. There are around 5000 scrolls of
Buddhist and Daoists works since the time of Sima Qian. It is a laborious
investment of labour with the carving of characters in the reverse side of
wood block, but it stays till the introduction of movable type. This
innovation was achieved by the Koreans.
Historical formats of books were first seen in the invention of the Parchment. This is first invented in Turkey and then later spread to Europe. Parchment is made from animal hide thus thick and heavy. Later the Europeans are the ones who started making parchment books.
Usage of paper travelled from China to Persia – Arab via the Ottoman empire to Europe. Later in the 1860s wood pulp is used as an ingredient to make paper and it was first used in the Boston Weekly Journal.
Books originated from starting with wooden blocks sewn together and then
usage of parchment and then later the usage of paper. The paper was sewn,
bound and glued together.
Publishing Design: History of Print (2)
2nd – 8th Century AD
Korea and Japan: AD 750-768
The invention of printing is considered one of the greatest
achievements for Buddhists in East Asia. The world’s earliest known
printed document is a sutra printed on a single sheet of paper located
in Korea in AD 750.
Moreover, Korea isn’t the only country who start using
printing. During the AD 768 of Japan, the devoutly Buddhist Nara, the
empress commissions a huge edition of a lucky charm or prayer. It is
said that the project takes six years to complete and that the number
of copies printed, for the distribution to pilgrims, is a million.
Many have survived.
The First Printed Book: AD 868
The earliest known printed book came from China during the end of the Tang Dynasty. Discovered in a cave at Dunhuang in 1899, it is a precisely dated document which brings the circumstances of its creation vividly to life.
It is a scroll, 16 feet long and a foot and a foot high, formed by
several sheets of paper glued together at their edges. The text being
the Diamond Sutra, with its first sheet in the scroll containing the
world’s first printed illustration, depicting an enthroned Buddha
surround by holy attendants.
Chinese Publishing: 10th – 11th Century
Movable Type: From the 11th Century
Movable type in the sense of separate ready-made characters that can be arranged for a text, and it then can be reused is important step before printing. This method however was not practical as the Chinese script has too many characters and Chinese printers cast their characters in clay then made to pottery which is too fragile.
Type Foundry in Korea: c.1380
Unlike the Chinese, the Koreans establish the movable type in bronze
which is stronger for repeated printing. This happened in the late 14th
century several decades before the Europeans started printing. The
Koreans invented their own national alphabet known as han’gul in 1443 as
the Chinese had too many characters in their writing. At the same time
Gutenberg is also looking at movable type in Europe.
Saints and Playing Cards: AD c.1400
Six centuries after printing in invented in the east, in 1400 Europe
started printing from wood blocks. Playing cards is the early part of the
western trade as in the east where the main market is printing holy images
to pilgrims. In the 15th century printing became a cornerstone of western
civilization with Germany ‘s technical advances.
Gutenberg & Western Printing: AD 1439 – 1457
In 1439 Gutenberg was being sued by two of his business partners. At the
time he seems to be already printing small items of text from movable
type. He was able to develop printing press that can apply an equal and
rapid downward pressure. Gutenberg was a goldsmith thus he has skills to
master manufacturing individual pieces of type which creates a master copy
of each letter. He Is able to develop a suitable alloy to cast the
letters. These letters are then arranged and aligned in a from which will
hold firm to transfer ink evenly to paper.
There were no dates in Gutenberg Bible (known as the 42-line Bible). These
were printed simultaneously on six presses in the mid-1450s. One copy is
known to have been completed with the initial red colored letters by hand
by 24th August 1456. The first book, Mainz Psalter was printed in 1457. It
has outstanding color printing in tis two color initial letters.
The World’s Largest Book
The World's Largest Book stands upright in Kuthodaw at the foot of the
Mandalay Hill in Burma. Each stone tablet has its own roof and precious
gem in a small cavelike structure (Stupa) There are a total of 729
stupas around the central golden pagoda.
Fig 2.11 Some of the 729 Stupas at Kuthodaw Temple (1/5/2026)
Conclusion
Paper was invented in China 179-41 BSE. The earliest printed document
was in Korea. Text carved into wooden blocks and used for printing was
in 750-768 CE in Korea and Japan. The moveable type was first introduced
in 1000-1100 CE. This was pioneered by the Chinese but achieved in Korea
where they established a foundry to cast movable type in bronze.
Publishing Design: Typo Redux (3)
Typography
Typography is one of the most important aspects of graphic design. In terms of art the arrangement and composition of the text is meant to be a medium for expression and communication. Playing a central role in any design work.
Character in a Typeface:- Small Caps
- Numerals
- Fractions
- Ligatures
- Punctuations
- Mathematical Signs
- Symbols
-
Non-Aligning Figures
Ligature
Weight in a Typeface
When working with typography it is important to make sure that the body of text is readable. However sometimes this rule can be bended, if the designer intends to make the content expressive.
The first step in making type legible is to choose text typefaces that
are open and well-proportioned i.e. classical serif typeface such
Garamond, Bodoni, Bembo, Minion Pro, Baskerville, Jenson, Caslon; and
the sans serif faces Frankin Gothic, Frutiger, Gill Sans, Helvetica,
Myriad Pro, and more.
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Underline – Many programmes handle underlining incorrectly
(Fig___). The underline should be lowered so that they do not touch
the characters as this impedes readability. There are two types of
underlines, one that effects entire sentences, and one that effects
only the words
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Small Caps & All Caps – Small Capitals are good for
subheads or for the first line of a paragraph. Text set in All Caps
should be used in short headlines or subheads. All Caps should
never be used for long sentences and for emphasis.
-
Special-Purpose Style – Many formatting styles exist within
software’s for making footnotes, references, and mathematical
formulas. These tend to be embedded or nested within the tools
sections and a lay user may not be aware of its functions.
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Text Scaling – Some programs allow for the user to create a
pseudo-condense or pseudo-extended font by horizontally or vertically
squeezing or stretching a font. This distorts the original design of
the font. Avoid doing this, as it changes the fonts and gives the
messaging an unprofessional appearance.
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Outline & Shadow – Another style that tends to be abused a
lot is the outline or shadow styles. This happens when deluded
individuals through a flick of a mouse, and the aid of a software,
think they can do magical things. It takes many years of practice and
many more years of experience before one can format text beautifully
and effectively. Please avoid outline and shadow as far as
possible.
Type Size, Line Length & Line Spacing
Factors such as type size, line length, and spaces between lines of type
(line spacing or leading) help the text to flow seamless when read.
All those factors are associated with one another. Even with a well-designed typeface, legibility will suffer if one of these factors is out of balance.
A column of type usually has about 50 characters within a single line, no more than 65 characters. If a type is too small, it will cram too many letters per line making the copy hard to read.
Font size determines line length, which also determines line spacing. The
following below showcases the appropriate line length for the font size. The
number of characters per line is at 50.
Leading or line spacing, refers to the amount of space between lines of type. There are no rules for how much line spacing to use; however, there are some major factors to consider:
- The Font Used – some fonts require more line spacing than others to keep their ascenders and descenders from touching.
- The Line Length – longer lines require more leading for easier reading
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The Type Size – the larger
the type size, the more line spacing is required. This rule mostly
required. This rule mostly refers to body copy; headlines, which are
normally set larger, may be set with tighter line spacing.
Overly long or short lines of type also tire the reader and destroy a pleasant reading rhythm
Fig 3.14 Overly Long & Short Lines of Type (7/5/2026)
Character & Word Space
Spacing between characters is
something that requires extra attention to be adjusted especially with
dealing larger types sizes. Doing so helps to eliminate widows and orphans
in a paragraph
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Kerning – Inter-character spacing, known as kerning, creating a
more pleasing look to the text. Most word processors do not allow
kerning adjustments, and most page-layout programs apply kerning
automatically; however, certain letter combinations may require manual
adjustments.
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Word Spacing – Factors such as chosen
typeface, the size and weight of the type serve as an impact to the word
spacing. Consistent word spacing provides an even typographic color
a term referring to the overall lightness and darkness of the text.
- Italic
- Capitals
Alignment
Paragraph Spacing
Paragraph Spacing is an automatic space between each paragraph. It is
always applied when starting a new paragraph; once set, it can apply space
either above the paragraph or below it.
Paragraph spacing is a more elegant way to space out paragraphs than
simply double-spacing returns.
Paragraph Indent
Usually, indents are applied at the beginning of each paragraph, on the
other hand indent have a lot of uses, including adding an element of
design to the page.
- First-Line Paragraph Indents – only should be used if there is no paragraph space because the indents and the paragraph space because the indents and the paragraph space exist to inform the reader when a paragraph stops and a new one begins. Using both the indent and paragraph space is overkill.
-
Indents Size – The standard amount of indent is equal to the
type size. (e.g. if a type size is 12pt, the indent is 12pt). Although
in case of design purposes the first-line indent can be extended.
Widow & Orphan:
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Widow – a single line of text at the top of page or column,
separated from its paragraph
-
Orphan – is a single line of text at the bottom of a page or
column, separated from its paragraph.
Special Formatting
Hyphens & Dashes:-
Hyphens – usually used only to divide words or numbers, but they
also are to break words from one line to the next. Headlines and
subheads should never be hyphenated at a line ending.
Dashes – come in two varieties called the en-dash and the em-dash. En-dashes are slightly longer than hyphens, and they are used to separate ranges of items, such as dates, quantities, and time. It can even be a substitute for the word “to” or “through”
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Drop Caps – typically used to start off new chapters and
special sections of a report. With drop caps the font, the style, and
the colour can be altered. There are some programs offer settings to
automatically create drop caps; some of them don’t which it best to
avoid.
- Quotes, Inch Mark & Foot Mark
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Sidebar – it is a text that accompanies the main body copy.
The main purpose of it is to add in a description/fact to that has
relation to the main narrative but isn’t important enough to be part
of it. It also be used to describe an image. When writing a sidebar,
it is important for the leading to be like the main body.
INSTRUCTION
Task 1/ Exercises
Exercise 1: Text Formatting
For the text formatting exercise, Mr. Vinod provided us a template to write a 3000 – 3500 worded story complete with a subtext and a pullquote. In addition, we are allowed to use AI to either assist on writing or to write fully.
The story I wrote is about young woman estranged from her controlling
parents. After years of enduring pain and trauma, she continues to
find peace.
Exercise 2: Mock-up Making
We are tasked to measure a paper size that is bigger than A5 and
smaller than A4. We must come up with 3 sizes and select one to create
the mockup book.
- 182 x 222 mm
- 159 x 237 mm (Chosen Measurement)
-
164 x 254 mm
Final Book Mockup
Exercise 3: Signatures Folding Systems
To make a Signature, we must fold the A3 paper 3 times until it
forms 8 pages on both sides,16 pages in total. In its folded
form we numbered the pages and then we trimmed the edges that has
the folded parts. Finally, we bind the pages together using a
stapler.
%20and%20trimmed%20(r).jpg)
Exercise 4: Classical Grid Structure (Van De Graff)
In this exercise is where we learn the Van De Graff technique using InDesign
[image of Vann De Graff]
[image of Vann De Graff layout with text (without guidelines)]
[image of Vann De Graff with text (with guidelines)]
Once we lay out the text within the layout we integrated with the subtext, pullquote and images. We go through trial and error on the arrangement
[collection of images showing the process of arranging text, subtext, pullquote & images within Vann De Graff layout]
Final Layout
[PDF of the final Vann De Graff layout]
FEEDBACK
General Feedback:
- Mr Vinod brief us on the module criteria and given us a series of physical exercises and Indesign exercises allowing us to strengthen our understanding of publishing
- When creating our visuals, try experimenting on different ideas. Make sure the visuals is symbolic representing the content and it is not literal
General Feedback:
- Mr. Vinod reviewed our texts. And then he shows how to format our text in InDesign using the Van De Graff technique
- Transfer the 3K narrative to the given template
- Remember to finsih the subtext and pullquote in the 3K text
- Remember to do the Signatures Folding Systems and Mock-up book
Week 3
General Feedback:
- Mr Vinod told us to collect visual inspiration and layout references. We are also advised come up with a colour schemes and typography to develop a clearer visual direction for the book
- Mr Vinod like the design direction for the illutration
-
Don't hesitae to add in another colour in the colour scheme
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