Square peg in A4 hole

[Struan Gray]

I am working on taking my own advice and doing a print-on-demand magazine through HP's Magcloud (www.magcloud.com). I'm not really interested in becoming a publisher of a periodical, but it seems the best way to distribute work in reasonably high quality print for a reasonably low price.

I have the software, the images and even the stubs of the essays ready to go. My stumbling block is an inability to find a truly satisfying way to put square images onto a vertical A4 page. My question then, is whether anyone has some good examples of where this has been done successfully?

My book designer friend suggested a Gordian approach: order a hundred or so and use the giant guillotine at another friend's print shop to cut the top and bottom off. We giggled at the idea of a DIY version for those who buy direct from Magcloud with "cut here" dotted lines on all pages. But that's an act of desperation.

I have a general preference for a book style derived from the ideas of the London Underground, Jan Tschichold, Jost Hochuli, and, minus the dogmatism, Edward Tufte. Asymmetry and mutliply-sized images would be fine if done well, but my natural bent is for a classical one-image-per-page look.

Any ideas?

[Richard Mahoney]

I am working on taking my own advice and doing a print-on-demand magazine through HP's Magcloud (www.magcloud.com). I'm not really interested in becoming a publisher of a periodical, but it seems the best way to distribute work in reasonably high quality print for a reasonably low price. ...

My stumbling block is an inability to find a truly satisfying way to put square images onto a vertical A4 page. My question then, is whether anyone has some good examples of where this has been done successfully? ...

I have a general preference for a book style derived from the ideas of the London Underground, Jan Tschichold, Jost Hochuli, and, minus the dogmatism, Edward Tufte. Asymmetry and mutliply-sized images would be fine if done well, but my natural bent is for a classical one-image-per-page look.

Any ideas?

Struan, I'm going to suggest another option. At the moment I'm proofing my first book with Lightning Source, an 8x10 with colour plates. I've found their documentation, procedures and service first rate. I've also been pleasantly surprised at the quality of their colour laser printing. Despite the 240% maximum ink limit the quality is more than I would have thought possible short of offset.

I've just pulled down a volume I've always found attractive -- Le Corbusier's `The Modulor' (Faber, 2nd impress. 1956). It's about 190mm x 190mm and suits square images well. Lightning Source offer a Colour Interior Medium Paperback at 216mm x 216mm. At this size saddle stitch is available for between 4 and 48 pages. It would end up looking more like a periodical than a magazine but it may be worth considering.

Lightning Source
http://www.lightningsource.com/


Kind regards,

Richard

[Struan Gray]

Richard, thanks for the recommendation. Lightning Source don't seem very keen on telling you how much their books will cost, but I'll register and see how the numbers turn out.

I'm a little aghast at the trend towards $100 photo books. I am not immune to the charms of a handmade book - my wife's great uncle was a fine-art bookmaker in the 30s and I've seem some stunning examples of his work - but I see myself for now as being in the business of visual communication, not the production of beautiful objects. So I care about design and production values, but am aiming for well-made affordability. With Magcloud I can sell a reasonable package of work for $10-15.

I don't mind looking like a periodical - I just don't want anyone to get the idea that I'm on a regular publication schedule (see my ceci n'est pas une blog for a pertinent example).

There is also the thought that when I do get round to making my subscribers' edition letterpress volume with tipped in carbon prints, there will be a clear delineation between the two activities.

Thanks again.

Struan

[mdm]

Thanks for the link to pamir times. my favourite part of the world.

[Richard Mahoney]

Dear Struan,

Richard, thanks for the recommendation. Lightning Source don't seem very keen on telling you how much their books will cost, but I'll register and see how the numbers turn out.

I'm a little aghast at the trend towards $100 photo books. ...

Agreed. A strong argument for becoming a publisher and dealing directly with a printer and distributor rather than through an intermediary providing `author services'. LS charges, by the way, are included as appendices to their contracts. I believe that the rates are more than reasonable, especially when one factors in the value of Ingram's distribution channels.

Initially, I found the following article helpful:

Self-Publishing Review :: Blog :: Publish With Lightning Source
http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/...htning-source/

For the preparation of CMYK images I found the following advice and associated profile invaluable. I applied this profile -- using `tifficc' (v. Little CMS) -- to all images appearing throughout the publication and the LS proofing went smoothly without issue:

Living Within Limits
How to Deal with Lightning Source’s 240% Total Ink Limit on Book Covers
http://www.newselfpublishing.com/TotalInkLimit.html


Kind regards,

Richard

[Frank Petronio]

Without seeing your images and with all the qualifiers possible, why not simply center everything?

Especially with squares, which seem to lend themselves to that kind of formality.

Note that by centering, to look right you may cheat a little higher and a little closer towards the gutter to achieve a sort of balance.

Nothing beats making full size mock-ups and then test runs. Look at them on the toilet and forget they're yours.

[Struan Gray]

Thanks for the link to pamir times. my favourite part of the world.

I've only been there once, in '87, but it left a lasting impression. I discovered the Pamir Times after the Attabad landslide blocked the Karakorum Highway a while back, and it has become compulsive reading. A useful antidote to the mainstream western media's portrayal of the region - reading it brings back the dislocation I felt on the ground between what I had been told, and what I was experiencing for myself.

Zulfiqar Ali Khan's photography often approaches a style which is common among European art landscape photographers. It helps that the area's colour palette is exactly in sympathy with my own tastes. Somewhere at the back of my to do list is a blog post about how he uses pollarded trees to indicate the loss of a recently viable rural economy, while the foreign press regard them - wrongly - as symbols of war and destruction.

[Struan Gray]

...A strong argument for becoming a publisher and dealing directly with a printer and distributor rather than through an intermediary providing `author services'. LS charges, by the way, are included as appendices to their contracts. I believe that the rates are more than reasonable, especially when one factors in the value of Ingram's distribution channels.

Thanks for the help and encouragement Richard. I liked the description of LS as a "book manufactory". They seem to use a steepish learning curve and the expense of not knowing what you're doing at the outset as a way of weeding out less than serious customers. A lot of custom scientific equipment houses do something similar.

Like everyone else I'd prefer a hugely talented team of book designer/editor/marketing manager and long liquid lunch planner to descend from on high and turn my pictures into a river of gold. Failing that, I've got a lot of learning to do. I like learning, but I'm trying to triage my life so that I mostly learn the things that will be of continuing benefit.

Without seeing your images and with all the qualifiers possible, why not simply center everything?

Especially with squares, which seem to lend themselves to that kind of formality.

Note that by centering, to look right you may cheat a little higher and a little closer towards the gutter to achieve a sort of balance.

Nothing beats making full size mock-ups and then test runs. Look at them on the toilet and forget they're yours.

It's the quality of the 'cheats' that separate a good designer from a merely competent one. Getting the pages to give a balanced and centered impression when the magazine is held in the hand - at an angle, with a gutter, and floppy covers - is the real trick.

I want if at all possible to mix the images and text together, but at the same time keep the images as large as possible on the page. 'Real' magazine layouts chop the text up too much for my liking (although the UK Black and White magazine used to do a pretty good job), and the book layouts which I think most competently solve the problem (I like the old Time Life series) use a more square page to start with. I suppose that should be a hint.

We have what the kids call the 'drawing room' - the old formal dining area of our 50s house - dedicated to homework, art and board games. My daughter is complaining that my mockups are getting in the way - and that the glue sticks are always used up.