Typography

[creative-lefty2.livejournal.com]

I'm taking a book design class right now. The funny thing about book design classes is that it makes you notice little details about books that you've never noticed before, such as that the Typographer is listed on the copyright page of the first three books as published by Greenwillow but not in the fourth, that they only tell which font they use in the third and fourth book (so is it Caslon in just those or in all four?) And that in each book they treat the story hour differently.

The interior designs of the first two books are done by Christopher Stengel, who also did the cover designs. In TT story hour is shown in a san serif while in QoA it is in the same serifed font (presumable Caslon) as the rest of the book. (I should probably take a moment to say that serifs are the little feet things on letters. This font I'm using is a san serif.) Why would he do this? In both cases the stories are set apart story-telling-wise from the rest of the text by having it as it's own section. There are no "the Magus said," "Gen said," or "Eddis said"s in any of the stories. And since interiors were designed by the same person for the same series, it seems like they should match.

The third book is set by Chad W. Beckerman and he portrays the story hour in italics. There are a couple of interjections during this story, but they are shown in the regular font face. In this case, the slight change in type makes sense, although it is surprising they tried to set it apart at all since Gen and Phresine both make comments during the story. This is also the first book with little diamonds bracketing the page numbers. (Exterior designer is still Stengel.)

The fourth book, which has not interior designer listed and present story hour in a fourth way. Let's say most of the book is set in 11 pt Caslon with 13 pt leading (leading is the height of the letter plus a little more which makes the spaces between the lines.) Then you reach story hour. This is set in 8 pt Caslon with 13 pt leading with bigger margins. Why? Why do all four (approximately...all the ones in TT are treated the same) stories look different? These books are a series, they should match! And clearly, at least for the first two, this is not explained by changes in the design personnel.

And so ends the triple-post of doom.

Comments

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

And so ends the triple-post of doom.

No need to apologize. I enjoyed this post.

Well, I'm a lover of language and calligraphy and such, and I married a librarian, so I guess I'm not typical. But who is?

And I've learned something more general from it, namely, that "san-serif" is a commonly used form of what I've always thought of as "sans-serif". Thanks!

Dr. Whom, Consulting Linguist, Grammarian, Orthoëpist, and Philological Busybody

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

So, does the "san(s)" mean without, like in French? Or, since there really is no "s", is it completely unrelated to to French?

(I'm like you--always read it as "sans".)

[creative-lefty2.livejournal.com]

I'm just spelling it the way my typography books spell it. But I could also still be spelling it wrong. I'm assuming the origin of the word is Latin, which is related to French.

[traboule.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia says you can spell it both ways; I've always seen it as sans-serif, but I wouldn't take my word on anything interior design-related.

I wonder if the different designs have anything to do with the fact that the books were published years apart? I'm getting the impression that interior designers have moved towards using more san(s) serif fonts in the past decade, and maybe it was trendy when they were publishing one volume but not when they were publishing another.

[creative-lefty2.livejournal.com]

Maybe...but they are still changing the fonts as they go. Besides, it is incredibly easy to change fonts in programs such as InDesign. All you have to do is create a new style (which takes at the most a couple of minutes) then click on the paragraphs you want to be in that style. Also, the books were redesigned in other ways before each publication: the leading and margins in the Puffin edition of TT is different than in the most recent edition. So, it would not have been all that difficult to change the fonts to make the interior of the books look the same.

[traboule.livejournal.com]

Err, sorry - didn't mean to say that it would be harder to change the fonts so match (although do you know when interior designers started working with the easy Adobe programs? Maybe it was harder to match a design in 1996 or 2000? Not sure why that would be, since the typesetter should be able to match the specs, right?). All I'm wondering is if design trends trumped continuity at some point.

Your point that, if the covers match the interiors should too, is very well taken - I agree with you. I'm just trying to figure out why they don't. Also, I know some people who work on book design and getting them to do any interior design except they one they want to use is like pulling teeth. I have no idea why.

[creative-lefty2.livejournal.com]

I don't know how much trends play into continuity in series designs.

However, I think it's interesting that the first two books have the same designer yet the interiors are different.

[crazededdisian.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I loved this! I think I want to take a book design class now . . .

[(Anonymous)]

I have first edition copies of The Thief and The Queen of Attolia with me right now (from the public library) and you can guess, different editions means different type-face and the like.

The font in QoA is listed as "Electra"; that kind of info isn't available in this copy of The Thief, but it looks the same as QoA's font, so I guess the same can be assumed. They set the type for story-time differently though; in The Thief, stories are visibly seperated with a san-serif font while in QoA's story just gets a larger line break between plot narrative and the story narrative.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

I notice little things like this too. So I found this entire post fascinating! =D Comes of loving everything about books in general.

Do you mind if I ask what degree/area of study led you to take a book design class? Just out of curiosity. Sounds really, really fun to me!

[(Anonymous)]

I don't mind. Mostly because it's about the most amazing program ever. It's part of Portland State University's Masters in Writing program. Specifically, the major is in book publishing. There are other masters publishing programs around the country, but PSU's is the best, simply because we, the students, make real books that people like you can buy! The name of the press is Ooligan Press.

[creative-lefty2.livejournal.com]

That we me, if it wasn't obvious. I don't know why I didn't get signed in.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

That's awesome!!

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

Wow, everything is about books this week! :) I just came back from 'publishing and editing' class, where we watched a movie about wood type (this place: http://www.woodtype.org/). And I'm taking a book-making-as-art-form class in which I'm learning how to use a letter press on Monday!

And I FINALLY understood what "mind your Ps and Qs" is from!!! Don't mix up the movable type... Heh.

What I wonder is why Greenwillow decided to release various versions of the books over the years. (They WERE originally published by Greenwillow, right?). And why some of the editions are better bound than others (I love the unified covers with hands/hook/sword/horse but, no offense to Greenwillow, they're flimsy compared to the Eugenides on a Boat or Scary-Cut-Off-Hand QoA covers).

[creative-lefty2.livejournal.com]

That Hamilton wood place looks awesome.

I do have an answer for why there are different editions over the years: it has to do with what type of covers sell and giving the series a unified look. Currently popular cover designs are more photographic for YA and more action based for middle readers. I think it says something special about these books that they have artistic covers yet are still doing well. The unified look lets people know at a glance that all four of these books deal with the same characters, which is good for business.

And with the quality of books, in theory a book costs 6 times the amount it costs to make it. This is skewed slightly for YA and children's because we have this preconceived notion that a paper back has to cost somewhere between $7.99 and $9.99 (depending on the size of the company). This leads to the use of cheaper materials which makes the books fall apart faster. (Even worse, they print their pages in the bad direction, but this is getting terribly technical and I will only bore you with the details if you are still interested.) They also make it so that the books fall apart so that they are disposable/you buy more copies.

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

Currently popular cover designs are more photographic for YA and more action based for middle readers. I think it says something special about these books that they have artistic covers yet are still doing well.

Interesting!
I suppose styles must have changed as the books came out. Now I think of it, my version of The Thief (with Gen reaching for the Stone and looking over his shoulder) does look dated.

I do know about the printing-in-the-wrong-direction thing (paper grain going the wrong way, right? as a printmaker I have to pay attention to these things!) and I noticed it too. My copy of QoA snaps closed at the least provocation. :(

[creative-lefty2.livejournal.com]

My copy of QoA, too! Only it doesn't snap closed. One (at least...I lent it so several people in quick succession) of my friends broke the spine. But it has funny wrinkles on the title page that really shouldn't be there. How dare they take the cheep way out with these books?

[reader-marie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this fascinating post! I know next to nothing about typography, but what little I know has always made it seem to be a fascinating field!

I confess that I have for quite some time been in love with one particular feature of Adobe Caslon (I'm looking at my copy of KoA, which is the hardcover one). This feature is the capital Q (as in "My Queen")--the tail of the Q does a very distinctive sweep, almost all the way under the next letter (u). I've always thought it rather striking. It's a pretty picky thing to get excited about--but a discussion about typography is the perfect place to bring it up!

[stubefied-by-gd.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that, too, how it makes "My Queen" look just so lovely! I wasn't feeling well during my most recent re-read of KoA, and I confess to just lying there staring at the words My Queen quite a bit.

[creative-lefty2.livejournal.com]

That could very easily be the reason why the font was chosen. It it definitely why it's on the front cover of QoA. (And look at the pretty small caps! And oh my! Is that an appropriate use of an underline?)(Sorry, spent all day working on a book interior.)