Moorpark College Graphic Design

The minimum number of pages in your book should be 16 pages including front, back and inside covers. You can, of course, go over the 16-page minimum.

The topic of your book is an art and design portfolio. If you choose this topic, please include every project and exercise that we did during the semester. The accompanying text should explain the objectives of the project and an overview of what you learned from the project. Your book can also include projects you worked on outside of class, however, if you do so, create a division between the work from our class and outside work.

Step 1: Create a Dummy book. You’ll create a “mock up” of the finished product, beginning with either the minimum, or anticipated number of pages. Use your Dummy to plan out page numbering and content, remembering that even pages are always on the right and odds on the left.

Step 2: Choose a ‘Style/Format’ for your book. Examples:  Magazine, Newspaper, Comic book, Newsletter, Novel, etc. Your book should include the appropriate sections that comprise the style of book that you have chosen. For example, a book is not printed on the inside front cover, while a magazine is. A book has a title page and the copyright page is on the reverse or in book language, “verso.”

Step 3: Choose the appropriate type of bindery for the type of book you’ll be creating. Consideration should be given to the way in which the book will be handled and used by the intended readership. The type of binding determines the publication’s final page count and dictates the size paper and style of printer or printing press on which the book is printed.  Bindery and usage are of critical importance in the production of the artwork in InDesign, the final step before outputting PDF files to send to “the printer.”

In designing the look of your book, you will be choosing everything! This may be the last time you are given choices, which means…let those creative juices flow. Among your choices as a designer are:

• Page Size (8.5×11 or 3×5 to name a few possibilities)
• Book Cover
• Text Fonts, Headline Font
• Art/Images – captions
• Accompanying text…story…narrative
• Margins – how much space between the text and images and the edge of the page?
• Columns – How is the horizontal space divided on the page?
• Rows – How is the vertical space divided on the page?
• Grid – Following RW’s Design Principles, how do we utilize the grid (columns and rows) to create a “page environment” that has the flexibility to change content from one page to the next, while maintaining a sense of continuity and rhythm that unifies the pages and their content.
• Printing – how and where do you intend to print your final book. Make plans now!
• Paper – what type of paper do you want to print on?