THE REAL USEFUL DTP-BOOK

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3. Align, align!
Don’t centre everything. It may sound silly, but the natural instinct of most inexperienced designers is to centre all their lines of text. The result usually looks very silly (there are always exceptions). There are five ways to lay out a column of text:

• Justified means that both sides of the column are straight. The drawback with this is that if it is used on too short a measure, ’rivers’ of white space can appear in the text as the word spacing is extended to make the right side of the column flush. Another drawback is that e x cessive word breaking can occur because of hyphenation. The big advantage of justified text is that it can give a nice, tight, organised look to a document.

• Left ranged is when the left hand side of a column is straight, but the right side is ragged. This overcomes the problems associated with justified text, but can look a little ’informal’.

• Right ranged is the opposite of left ranged, and it is usually used as a design tool, to associate captions with the relevant picture, or to mirror a column of left ranged text.

• Centred text is fine for some uses – rolling film credits, for instance. But most times on the printed page it simply looks like amateur design.

• Ragged text is that free-form style where the text is not quite centred, and not quite justified. Both edges of the column are irregular. Ragged text is always used as a design feature, and it is pretty difficult to emulate in DTP. Choose wisely!

There is a natural tendency for inexperienced designers to centre their text. The symmetry is appealing, but the copy is rarely as readable as it could be. Get to recognise which alignment is appropriate.

Judiciously applied colour can make a mundane document much more striking. Pictures are even more arresting. Use them whenever you have the opportunity.

4. Use colour and pictures to create emphasis.

Now you’ve got yourself this great powerful DTP package, aren’t you going to use it? A little imagination and a little use of colour can transform a dull document into a real eye-catcher. If you aren’t too sure, stick with just one or two colours (plus black) and see what judicious application of them fo your document can do.

The real wonder of DTP is its ability to combine pictures and text in the same document. No matter what you are designing, the addition of some form of image will bring it too life.

Even if it’s just your letterhead or a business card, a logo will give it impact, and make people remember you when other, plainer cards are consigned to the hin.

5. A classic cheat: rotate things slightly.
This can make a page a bit more attention-grabbing, and it helps make black and white look more dynamic, especially combined with unusual fonts.

As a design feature it’s slightly hackneyed, though, and can make text difficult to read. Keep the rotation angle constant, and keep it small – much over five degrees and your reader won’t bother to read at all.

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