In desktop publishing, a good page layout is about more than just applying the principles of graphic design or creating cutting-edge design. A workable page layout is one that delivers the intended message to its primary audience. A workable page layout focuses on the practical aspects of the document such as method of distribution, visibility, and handling.
Difficulty: Average
Time Required: It could take a few minutes to several hours to plan a workable page layout
Here's How:
- Build the page layout around the main message.
All elements of the page layout including images, fonts, and colors must be appropriate to the message the piece is designed to convey. If you can't identify or haven't been told the main message of the project you may have trouble creating an appropriate serious, playful, formal, or casual page layout that delivers the message effectively.
Tips for matching the page layout to the message. - Choose a page layout size that fits the intended or expected use.
Choose a standard tri-fold format for a brochure, tabloid size for a newsletter, or an oversized postcard size for a direct mail piece only after considering the recipient, budget, need for portability or filing, and postal regulations. Let the audience and use not your available templates or desire to do something different dictate the size of the layout.
Tips for matching the page layout size to use and handling. - Plan a page layout around how a piece is seen and handled.
Think about the visibility and use of a piece when arranging page elements. Does the title, headline, label, or key visual need to be visible, readable, or recognizable from a distance, from a magazine rack, on a shelf, in a binder?
Tips for matching the page layout to distribution method and use.
What You Need:
- Purpose and Main Message for the Page Layout Project
- Audience Characteristics and Intended Use of the Desktop Publishing Document
- Paper Sizes and Common Page Layout and Document Sizes
- Folding Requirements
- Postal Requirements
