Typographic Book ReDesign

The Purpose of this project was to redesign the layout of text within a book; After reviewing and identifiying problems within a few books with classmates I selected "The Stranger Returns" by Michael R. Perry

The Stranger Returns Spread 2

The Stranger Returns Spread1

‘The Stranger Returns’ by Michael R. Perry has a number of design elements that could be improved for greater readability. Firstly, while the font size reads well, the typeface is slightly too bold, making the text quite chunky on each page. The kerning of the headings is fine but the leading between the headers and the body copy is a bit too tight, creating potential confusion for the reader.

The leading of the body copy is quite tight and could be opened up slightly for a more comfortable feel.

Like many publications, this decision is a tactical on for the publisher as it will reduce the number of pages and increase profits per book. It is also quite hard to differentiate paragraphs, some using a single space and some using double, making the flow of the storyline confusing, as there is not a big difference between the two. The chapter breaks occur on the same page as the pervious paragraph ends. While this again was likely a decision based on

The page numbers are set well and consistently, centered at the bottom of each page and making the novel easy to navigate. Similarly, the headers are consistent and centered nicely but as mentioned earlier, require more spacing from the body text. The margins are inconsistent across pages, likely a result of outdated, inaccurate print production. In general these are too narrow, allowing little room for the type to breathe and creating an uncomfortable position for the reader to hold the book. Bringing these in slightly from all edges would create a less cramped feeling and resolve the issue for the reader. There are quotes throughout the novel, which have been right justified and aligned to nothing specifically. There are also dates that are typeset differently, being left aligned and in a different typeface. The fact these are separated to the body copy is fine although they feel inconstant with each other and could be better designed with a more cohesive approach. The italics used are a nice decision, separating them subtly from the body copy.

For my re-design I focused on the points above. I started by alligning all content to the baseline grid, from there I established margins and an appropriate font size by conducting test prints. The random allignment from the origonal book was the main reason I selected it and to fix its problems, I kept the text flush left, aligned all secondary content flush right.